2011 iMac - First Impressions

[jduffy]

Took 2 hours of wait to get my iMac. They had some inventory foul-up. They had the product, but could not sell it. So I waited until it was all worked out.

Got the base model 21.5 with 500GB drive. Thought about upgrading to the next larger system, but my winbloz hard drive was under 180GBs of usage. So 500GBs should be fine. The 21.5 inch monitor is plenty big for me. Looked at the 27" version and that is just too big for me (personal preference).

First, this is my first iMac. I have a Mac Pro and a Mac Mini currently.

Getting rid of the windows tower and display really cleaned up the desktop. Love it!

Second, set-up quick and easy. Using the App Store allowed me to load all the apps I have bought in the past, quickly and easily.

Bought Bose speakers to go with this, but speakers on this system sound great. May take the speakers back.

All I can say is that this thing is FAST!!!! I just installed Fusion and ran the XP virtual machine. It was the fastest start of XP I have ever saw even on a Windows system.

Windows7 under Fusion also started very quickly and watching the Activity Monitor while it was starting showed that the processor was running at the most 12% usage! Usually 90% of the processor resources were free.

All the other CPU intensive programs I have running start very fast. So in a nutshell, I am very happy with this system. Worth the wait, but wish I had gotten out of there 90 minutes earlier!

 

[jpjandrade]

If you posted some benchmarks of games running under Windows in Boot Camp I bet a lot of people here would really appreciate. I know I would

Congratulations on your new machine.

 

[jduffy]

If you posted some benchmarks of games running under Windows in Boot Camp I bet a lot of people here would really appreciate. I know I would

Congratulations on your new machine.

I understand, but I do not do any gaming and I don't use bootcamp, just VMware Fusion.

Sorry, wish I could help.

Duffy

 

[ndraves]

Any chance on a geekbench score from OSX please?

 

[nafai23]

Could you take the bose speakers you purchased and put them in the nearest trash can?

Took 2 hours of wait to get my iMac. They had some inventory foul-up. They had the product, but could not sell it. So I waited until it was all worked out.

Got the base model 21.5 with 500GB drive. Thought about upgrading to the next larger system, but my winbloz hard drive was under 180GBs of usage. So 500GBs should be fine. The 21.5 inch monitor is plenty big for me. Looked at the 27" version and that is just too big for me (personal preference).

First, this is my first iMac. I have a Mac Pro and a Mac Mini currently.

Getting rid of the windows tower and display really cleaned up the desktop. Love it!

Second, set-up quick and easy. Using the App Store allowed me to load all the apps I have bought in the past, quickly and easily.

Bought Bose speakers to go with this, but speakers on this system sound great. May take the speakers back.

All I can say is that this thing is FAST!!!! I just installed Fusion and ran the XP virtual machine. It was the fastest start of XP I have ever saw even on a Windows system.

Windows7 under Fusion also started very quickly and watching the Activity Monitor while it was starting showed that the processor was running at the most 12% usage! Usually 90% of the processor resources were free.

All the other CPU intensive programs I have running start very fast. So in a nutshell, I am very happy with this system. Worth the wait, but wish I had gotten out of there 90 minutes earlier!

 

[martinm0]

Can you see if the SATA ports are 6Gb/s under More Info? I'm itching to find out if these can take SATA III drives and 1600MHz RAM like the new MBPs do. Thanks!

 

[ndraves]

Can you see if the SATA ports are 6GB under More Info? I'm itching to find out if these can take SATA III drives and 1600MHz RAM like the new MBPs do. Thanks!

Nearly everywhere it says that the RAM is 1333MHz including on the spec delivered with the computer from Apple. I would have thought that it will therefore the 1333MHz but I may be wrong

 

[daneoni]

Nearly everywhere it says that the RAM is 1333MHz including on the spec delivered with the computer from Apple. I would have thought that it will therefore the 1333MHz but I may be wrong

The same can be argued for the 2011 MBPs but they do support 1600MHz RAM unofficially. 1600MHz RAM makes no difference in real world usage...it's only good for bragging rights and to make benchmarks looks better.

 

[ndraves]

The same can be argued for the 2011 MBPs but they do support 1600MHz RAM unofficially. 1600MHz RAM makes no difference in real world usage...it's only good for bragging rights and to make benchmarks looks better.

Fair enough. I realise there isn't a real world difference in speed. I mean my Xeon processors only support 1066MHz and it's still a pretty powerful beast!

 

[skarstein]

Why arent there any unboxing videos on youtube yet lol?

 

[Thedutchjelle]

Hello,

I got a question. Is saw that the only keyboard was a wireless one, so I was wondering how it gets it power. Is it a battery based one, or is it rechargeable? I hate having a "subscription" to the local mall for batteries. Rather have a wire

 

[theSeb]

Hello,

I got a question. Is saw that the only keyboard was a wireless one, so I was wondering how it gets it power. Is it a battery based one, or is it rechargeable? I hate having a "subscription" to the local mall for batteries. Rather have a wire

It has batteries. Apple can sell you rechargeable batteries or you can get your own (rechargeable or not).

 

[100Teraflops]

Hello,

I got a question. Is saw that the only keyboard was a wireless one, so I was wondering how it gets it power. Is it a battery based one, or is it rechargeable? I hate having a "subscription" to the local mall for batteries. Rather have a wire

If you order online, then you can opt for the wired keyboard. Go to the Apple store and check it out. Hope this helps.

 

[Badger^2]

Why arent there any unboxing videos on youtube yet lol?

done: http://blog.macsales.com/

 

[HKhalil]

Can you please try to connect a PC or a Mac Laptop to it using Target Display Mode and tell us if it works ?

Thanks

 

[Thedutchjelle]

If you order online, then you can opt for the wired keyboard. Go to the Apple store and check it out. Hope this helps.

Thanks!

I wasn't planning on buying soon, but it had me worried that all future macs might not have a wired keyboard.
Thanks for clarifying this

 

[jduffy]

Thanks!

I wasn't planning on buying soon, but it had me worried that all future macs might not have a wired keyboard.
Thanks for clarifying this

I have had the wireless keyboard on the Mac Mini now since October and the batteries are still very strong. The Apple wireless mouse tends to eat batteries though and they need to be replaced every two months. I would like to have a wireless keyboard that has the numeric pad attached. I think the only keyboard with the numeric keypad is the USB wired version. I may go to that eventually and go back to a USB mouse. I just don't like the feel of the Apple wireless mouse as it sits to low to the desk and the "sharp" edges don't feel comfortable. The USB keyboard also has two USB ports on it so you can plug it in, plug your mouse into the keyboard, and still gain one USB port.

In any case, I now have most all files moved over from Windows to this new iMac. I also ordered 8GBs of memory from Crucial for just under $90 so I will have 12GBs of memory which should be very helpful with VMware Fusion.

I just love this display and the shine of the screen. Makes everything look sharp and brilliant on the display.

 

[jduffy]

Could you take the bose speakers you purchased and put them in the nearest trash can?

LOL....no I actually decided to give them a try and really like them. They're keepers. You're not a dumpster diver are you?

 

[rockyroad55]

Could you take the bose speakers you purchased and put them in the nearest trash can?

But, hey, you can't deny that the founder of Bose was a good guy. I think he gave the company to his alma mater, MIT.

Anyway, your review definitely helped me more. I just bought a 2011 MBP last night and am still deciding if I should get an iMac for home use with the MBP reserved for school work.

 

[jduffy]

But, hey, you can't deny that the founder of Bose was a good guy. I think he gave the company to his alma mater, MIT.

Anyway, your review definitely helped me more. I just bought a 2011 MBP last night and am still deciding if I should get an iMac for home use with the MBP reserved for school work.

Great, I purchased the 2010 model of the MBP after the latest model was introduced. MicroCenter had them for $899 on closeout and decided to save a few bucks rather than going with the latest model. Very happy with it. Now with the exception of a few Windows systems, we are pretty much a Mac family now.