Pre-orders start time...

[mazakii]

Originally Posted by Midgar777

Soo after reading all of this thread...I'm going to try refreshing the store after midnight tonight (UK time). If there's nothing by about 00:30 then ill go to bed...I'll try again at 08:00 in the morning and again at 09:00 when I get to work!

I'm still torn between the 21.5 inch high end with the fusion drive upgrade (which I'm estimating about £1099 + £160 = £1259) or the low end 27 inch with the fusion drive upgrade (estimated £1249 + £160 = £1409). I've subbed to CS6 creative cloud and all I'm using it for is creating apps and website / design work - surely more screen space for £200 extra is worth it?

What do you guys think?

Please note that these prices are estimates based on an edu discount as I work at a university!

Good luck everyone!

You can go to bed earlier as there is nothing happened in either NZ or AU store. So I'm guessing it's Cupertino time 9am or mid-night.

BTW, really jealous at your edu discount. I would go for a maxed out 27 inch if I had that discount.

[Midgar777]

Originally Posted by mazakii

You can go to bed earlier as there is nothing happened in either NZ or AU store. So I'm guessing it's Cupertino time 9am or mid-night.

BTW, really jealous at your edu discount. I would go for a maxed out 27 inch if I had that discount.

Well I've just tested my VPN and it works for online university systems but the education store thinks I'm not on campus :< Looks like I have to wait until 09:00 GMT tomorrow and see what is left.

I hear you on the edu discount though man, it's pretty awesome - wish I could go for the fully maxed out version but it's not realistic for me...I just moved house so I need to spend as little as possible on this :P!

[Siderz]

Originally Posted by Midgar777

Soo after reading all of this thread...I'm going to try refreshing the store after midnight tonight (UK time). If there's nothing by about 00:30 then ill go to bed...I'll try again at 08:00 in the morning and again at 09:00 when I get to work!

I'm in the UK and have the same plan.

Except I might just wait until 1:30AM.

Otherwise I'm gonna try and order one as soon as I wake up. (It will feel like Christmas getting up early and ordering!)

[APPLE-FANATIC]

Are iMacs normally released for pre-order at 12am PST or typical Apple style of 10am PST?? First iMac, not sure if they follow the same release pattern of the ipHone and iPad

[Aluminum213]

so no one knows what time they go on sale online, great

[joe-h2o]

Originally Posted by Midgar777

Good shout buddy...is the 3 year warranty applicable to all UK education purchases? I've heard nothing about that if so!

I've got a VPN account too because I work in the web team so I need access to certain systems from home. I really hope it works from home...I guess I could try it now because cheaper prices show online at the moment anyway (I checked at work earlier today )

I'll post back to confirm !

The 3 year warranty applies if you buy from the online store (and I believe by phone if you confirm your ID, but not 100% on that) and go via the Education Routing and select your university from the dropdown list - ie, University of Nottingham for me. You have to be visiting from an ip address belonging to your campus, however, or it will simply block you. If you buy the iMac this way you'll get the biggest possible edu discount (my 27" monster is getting at least £200 off) and you'll qualify for the three years free "AppleCare" (it's basically everything AppleCare is, just without the phone support). It'll show up as valid on your purchase a week or so after it all goes through.

It's part of Apple's deal to provide computers to UK HE establishments - it has to provide this 3 year hardware warranty to students and staff of the universities that take part who buy products for themselves, over and above the various deals it has for the university itself buying stuff through the regular order channels.

It's a really sweet deal for those who qualify, essentially free Apple Care.

Edit: direct store link to Edu routing page:

http://store.apple.com/uk/browse/hom...ur_institution

Edit 2: Apple's terms and conditions with the relevant section quoted;

10.1.1 All Apple-branded desktop and portable computer products sold after October 1st 2005 within the framework of the HE National Agreement shall be subject to a 36 calendar month warranty period (the “HE National Agreement Warranty”) commencing from the date of delivery.

[marvz]

http://9to5mac.com/2012/11/29/apple-...l-stores-soon/

I think this will be the same store downtime, so iMac orders at 9 PM!!!

[Midgar777]

Originally Posted by marvz

http://9to5mac.com/2012/11/29/apple-...l-stores-soon/

I think this will be the same store downtime, so iMac orders at 9 PM!!!

Is that 9PM EST? or GMT / PDT / RES / PECT?

----------

Originally Posted by joe-h2o

It's part of Apple's deal to provide computers to UK HE establishments - it has to provide this 3 year hardware warranty to students and staff of the universities that take part who buy products for themselves, over and above the various deals it has for the university itself buying stuff through the regular order channels.

It's a really sweet deal for those who qualify, essentially free Apple Care.

That's really good to know...I had no idea they were doing that - as if the money off isn't good enough! Awesome

Yeah I know man, I've tried that...Leeds Met for me - it works at uni but not from home using the VPN so I'm not sure. As long as they don't go on same before 9am tomorrow GMT then I'm happy as I can look when I get to work knowing that the VPN will work.

Thanks and good luck with your purchase!

[pubjoe]

Originally Posted by Midgar777

That's really good to know...I had no idea they were doing that - as if the money off isn't good enough! Awesome

It is good but they're not doing it out of charity. It's a tax break initiative that Apple entered and in true Apple style they're as tight as they can be about it. They were forced to include a reasonable warranty to be allowed on the scheme; they hide information about it to such an extent that most staff don't even know about it; they continue to try and upsell you to phone support; and after the tax deduction, they actually charge a higher price for HE sales - presumably they do this to offset their cost of including the 3-year warranty, but then it is no longer free and what's more, customers who were upsold "full applecare" are overpaying.

They get to sell more macs to people who otherwise couldn't justify the cost, whilst keeping a higher price for the rest of the market and they don't have to lower their unit profit. As always, commercial lawyers capitalise on the loopholes left by the not-as-motivated-or-competent government lawyers that we waste our taxes on. In this case, Apple has stretched it so much that I doubt their terms would hold up in court if anyone was inclined to test them.

I love macs and much of Apple's software and I've been fortunate enough to be able to make use of the education discount too, but please don't feel that they're doing you a favour. They're far from it.

[iLondoner]

Originally Posted by marvz

http://9to5mac.com/2012/11/29/apple-...l-stores-soon/. I think this will be the same store downtime, so iMac orders at 9 PM!!!

"Look to my coming on the first light of the fifth day, at dawn look to the east."

Well, so that's 5am UK time then...

Time for a bit of shuteye. Will set alarm for 4am to see whether the online system is down for updating.

[kfscoll]

Originally Posted by iLondoner

Ha! you beat me to it, just about to post the same.


Were standard configurations available immediately? In other words, was this a month's delay over ordering the base machine?

Yes, standard configurations shipped immediately. The SSDs were constrained.

[Razorhog]

Originally Posted by joe-h2o

Make sure you buy via your campus network! The three year (free) warranty
is awesome.

I qualify for the education discount, but I've never seen anything about a free warranty. Can't find any information on it, either. Does it apply to purchases in the USA?

[bayleaves]

Originally Posted by Razorhog

I qualify for the education discount, but I've never seen anything about a free warranty. Can't find any information on it, either. Does it apply to purchases in the USA?

No - I work for a university in the U.S. and if we want AppleCare, we have to purchase it for both department and personal purchases. No free warranty in the U.S. as far as I am aware.

[nikster0029]

So back to the topic of start times, what do you guys think it will in terms of time zones for east coast for the store to update? Or should we even wait till tomorrow to preorder because not a lot of people are forking out a lot of money at this time. its not like an iphone.


Waiting tomorrow might be ok?...

[bayleaves]

Originally Posted by marvz

http://9to5mac.com/2012/11/29/apple-...l-stores-soon/

I think this will be the same store downtime, so iMac orders at 9 PM!!!

I am very skeptical about this, although I hope you are right. I REALLY hope you are right. Otherwise, I'll be staying up until midnight, and then I'll be tired and disappointed that they aren't available then, and I'll then wait until some unknown time tomorrow and get no work done because I am busy refreshing the Apple store. It would be so lovely just to have the start time.

[MagicThief83]

Going to bed now, will wake up at 12AM EST, if not up by then, will return to bed and get up again at 5AM. Hopefully will be able to snatch one before I'm off to work in the AM.

[Razorhog]

Originally Posted by MagicThief83

Going to bed now, will wake up at 12AM EST, if not up by then, will return to bed and get up again at 5AM. Hopefully will be able to snatch one before I'm off to work in the AM.

What model did you decide on?

[Ktulu]

Can anyone confirm if this is true or not.
http://www.todaysiphone.com/2012/11/...rst-new-imacs/

If it is, I would have to say that availability to order would be 12:00am local time...

If this article is true...

[brooka]

Ok so , from Australia.
I checked online this morning....not able to order. Still not able to order online and its 2:30 pm.
I called the apple store in sydney city and they have the 21.5" imacs and some of them do have fusion drives.
I'm after the 27" anyway and will custom build so Ill have to wait for the online orders to start...hopefully that will be soon!

[Ktulu]

Originally Posted by brooka

Ok so , from Australia.
I checked online this morning....not able to order. Still not able to order online and its 2:30 pm.
I called the apple store in sydney city and they have the 21.5" imacs and some of them do have fusion drives.
I'm after the 27" anyway and will custom build so Ill have to wait for the online orders to start...hopefully that will be soon!

It sounds like in-store availability is, well, when the store opens on the 30th, local time/date.

However on-line availability is going to be based on Cupertino time, but we still don't know what time Cupertino time...

[MagicThief83]

Originally Posted by Razorhog

What model did you decide on?

It's a tough and close one...but I'm leaning towards the 21.5" () What about you? Any last thoughts? (surely not rhetorical)

[Razorhog]

Originally Posted by MagicThief83

It's a tough and close one...but I'm leaning towards the 21.5" () What about you? Any last thoughts? (surely not rhetorical)

I'm going with the 27"
i5
680mx
768gb ssd

[MagicThief83]

The 21.5" will sit flush with my desk, and meshes nicely with the overall schematics of desk/room. The indecisive factor for me is the GPU in the 27" (680MX), but I don't know if that's a valid enough reason to sway me to the 27". I feel I will be able to game reasonably well with the 21.5" for several years to come. In the future if and when I get a better place, then it's def a 27", but for now, I think it will overwhelm me given the paucity of space and restrictive design of my current room, leaving it better suited for the likes of the 21.5". Tick...Tock...Tick...Tock...

[bflowers]

Originally Posted by MagicThief83

It's a tough and close one...but I'm leaning towards the 21.5" () What about you? Any last thoughts? (surely not rhetorical)

As I expect this to last me at the very least 5+ years, hopefully more, I am getting the 27" i7 1TB Fusion and the 680MX graphics. My now 3 year old MacBook runs fine, and is only starting to show it's age on some tasks (games and learning Aperture 3. My old 800MHz G4 iMac still does email and online banking just fine, and it is a decade old. I expect the new one to be able to handle much more than that for the rest of this decade.

[MagicThief83]

Originally Posted by Razorhog

768gb ssd

Whoa!!! Go big or go home huh?!? Glad you're resolute on a certain path.