I received my 21.5" 2.7 GHz iMac this past Thursday from Amazon. Hooray! I thought it would be helpful for prospective buyers to see how everything unpacks. This probably old news to current owners. Here goes.
The shipping box is not from Amazon. It looks like Apple's own packaging.
There's a sticker on the box with what looks like the date of manufacturing. The computer is relatively fresh.
Inside is the iMac package. It's a snug fit.
Crack open the iMac package and you are greeted by the packed keyboard and mouse.
The arrangement is clean and neat. Documentation, warranty info, and stickers are on the right. There's not much in those documents you couldn't find better online. Still, you may want to thumb through it for the novelty of it.
Underneath the documentation is the neatly wrapped mouse and a slip of paper showing a quick overview of the gestures you can perform on the surface of the mouse.
Take out the Styrofoam and you can pull out the computer. Be warned, it is hefty and it felt huge! I'm glad I didn't get the 27" display size model.
The computer is neatly wrapped all around like a freshly diapered baby. Peel carefully just in case you need to return the computer.
The screen is covered with a protective plastic covering. After taking off the plastic covering you can see the clean and shiny glass front. Even if you don't like glass fronts it is still beautiful to behold.
Here's a side by side view of my iMac next to my older PPC G5. I thought it was interesting to see that the overall height of the computers is about the same.
Here's what desk used to look like with the PPC G5.
Here's what the desk looks like now with the iMac.
It fits perfectly. Again, I'm glad that I didn't get the 27" display. The bigger screen is probably awesome by itself but it wouldn't fit into where I work. For what I do the 21.5" is just dandy.
I read some of the reviews on Amazon for the other 2011 models that these iMacs were shipping with Snow Leopard instead of Lion. My iMac came with Lion.
I had the system check for updates and install them. Now I am at v10.7.3. I know a lot of people aren't too hot for Lion. I am coming from Leopard having skipped Snow Leopard so I had no prejudice.
I spent the rest of the evening downloading the latest versions of my PPC G5 programs like Firefox, VLC, Neo Office, etc. It is nice to finally be current. While I did all that I transferred my iTunes library through Home Sharing. I had 2,258 files to move. 13 of those files were movies. Everything else was music. It took all night.
After transferring my iTunes library I connected my iPad and iPhone to create that sync. I should have Google'd this because it was more complicated than I anticipated. iTunes wants to delete the iDevice when it is synced up to a new computer for the first time. I diddled around and successfully got my apps transferred but having the instructions from online ahead of time would have helped.
My keyboard tray in my desk has an edge on it to keep traditional sized keyboards from sliding off. The iMac's keyboard is extremely thin and shallow so it ends up "sinking" under the edge. I like the keyboard's feel so I will adapt my desk for a better fit. The lack of a numeric keypad is a huge hit for me and I will eventually get a wired keyboard with the pad. The mouse takes some getting used to but it is truly awesome! My fingers tend to hover and lay on the mouse in what must be odd spots because sometimes I induce unintended gestures.
Overall, I am very excited about and very pleased with my new iMac! I hope it survives as long my PPC G5.
-=- Boris
The shipping box is not from Amazon. It looks like Apple's own packaging.
There's a sticker on the box with what looks like the date of manufacturing. The computer is relatively fresh.
Inside is the iMac package. It's a snug fit.
Crack open the iMac package and you are greeted by the packed keyboard and mouse.
The arrangement is clean and neat. Documentation, warranty info, and stickers are on the right. There's not much in those documents you couldn't find better online. Still, you may want to thumb through it for the novelty of it.
Underneath the documentation is the neatly wrapped mouse and a slip of paper showing a quick overview of the gestures you can perform on the surface of the mouse.
Take out the Styrofoam and you can pull out the computer. Be warned, it is hefty and it felt huge! I'm glad I didn't get the 27" display size model.
The computer is neatly wrapped all around like a freshly diapered baby. Peel carefully just in case you need to return the computer.
The screen is covered with a protective plastic covering. After taking off the plastic covering you can see the clean and shiny glass front. Even if you don't like glass fronts it is still beautiful to behold.
Here's a side by side view of my iMac next to my older PPC G5. I thought it was interesting to see that the overall height of the computers is about the same.
Here's what desk used to look like with the PPC G5.
Here's what the desk looks like now with the iMac.
It fits perfectly. Again, I'm glad that I didn't get the 27" display. The bigger screen is probably awesome by itself but it wouldn't fit into where I work. For what I do the 21.5" is just dandy.
I read some of the reviews on Amazon for the other 2011 models that these iMacs were shipping with Snow Leopard instead of Lion. My iMac came with Lion.
I had the system check for updates and install them. Now I am at v10.7.3. I know a lot of people aren't too hot for Lion. I am coming from Leopard having skipped Snow Leopard so I had no prejudice.
I spent the rest of the evening downloading the latest versions of my PPC G5 programs like Firefox, VLC, Neo Office, etc. It is nice to finally be current. While I did all that I transferred my iTunes library through Home Sharing. I had 2,258 files to move. 13 of those files were movies. Everything else was music. It took all night.
After transferring my iTunes library I connected my iPad and iPhone to create that sync. I should have Google'd this because it was more complicated than I anticipated. iTunes wants to delete the iDevice when it is synced up to a new computer for the first time. I diddled around and successfully got my apps transferred but having the instructions from online ahead of time would have helped.
My keyboard tray in my desk has an edge on it to keep traditional sized keyboards from sliding off. The iMac's keyboard is extremely thin and shallow so it ends up "sinking" under the edge. I like the keyboard's feel so I will adapt my desk for a better fit. The lack of a numeric keypad is a huge hit for me and I will eventually get a wired keyboard with the pad. The mouse takes some getting used to but it is truly awesome! My fingers tend to hover and lay on the mouse in what must be odd spots because sometimes I induce unintended gestures.
Overall, I am very excited about and very pleased with my new iMac! I hope it survives as long my PPC G5.
-=- Boris
