I'm trying not to look on the Apple order site, still waiting for my first EVER 27" iMac which i ordered on the 7th of January at about 10am (UK time)
You are most likely guaranteed a change to Preparing For Shipment status this week, most likely on Friday. That's what happened last week for a guy that placed his order on the 4th. It went to Preparing For Shipment on Friday morning, then later on in the day it went to Shipped. Then it arrived at his house the following Monday. Pretty nice, over-the-weekend shipping.
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I really hope we do see a flurry of status changes later this week. And I really hope that mine is included in this flurry. It makes sense that it MIGHT, because when I talked to the Apple rep, he told me they are seeing the 27" iMacs ship about a week or so ahead of schedule for orders placed in January. Not to mention someone with almost identical specs, placed his order on the evening of January 4th, and his went to "Preparing For Shipment" last Friday, went to "Shipped" later on that day, and was delivered to his door step the following Monday (this past Monday). So since I placed my order six days after him, and in the morning, it makes sense that it might go to "Preparing For Shipment" this Thursday or Friday, and hopefully the same delivery routine. When I get the "Shipped" notification, I'm going to check which day it's say to arrive, and on that day I will have a lawn chair, a little table, and a cooler with Pepsi in it on the driveway, and I will be waiting for FedEx starting at 9:00am. (FedEx leaves their center close to my house here at 9am, and the truck that comes by my place finishes his deliveries by 3:00pm, always. Usually FedEx delivers to my house around 11:30am. Unless of course I have something shipped Overnight Priority, which case it will arrive before 10:30am. And now that I'm thinking about it, the iMacs going out just MIGHT be shipping via Overnight Priority, because this other guys was delivered over the weekend, and in the early morning. Well, all I can do is hope..... Hope hope hope hope hope......... DANGIT!