Aluminum iMac Disassembled and First Impressions
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macenforcer
macrumors 65816
Yep. The back comes off only on the 24". That is why the wall mount only works on that model and not the 20" or the 17". Lame huh?
Eidorian
macrumors Penryn
I forgot about the VESA mount on the 24" models.
OutThere
macrumors 603
Crucial is not inexpensive in the slightest. On the contrary, they're typically one of the most expensive you can find.
The memory advisor tool will give you a money-back guarantee that the memory will work in your computer, but they charge for it. If you use the tool, find what you need, and compare the the same piece of RAM found without using the tool on Crucial.com with the one found with the tool, you'll see how much they charge you for the guarantee.
I usually try to find new-in-box crucial memory on eBay, which tends to be much cheaper for the same product.
zorinlynx
macrumors G3
Arrgh. They STILL haven't fixed the biggest annoyance: The hard drive is a bitch to replace.
Hard drive failures are common, especially in lab environments where you have a large number of machines to knock that MTBF number down for the total systems. The thought of having to go through this procedure to swap failed hard drive on lab systems really annoys the crap out of me.
This WILL keep the iMac from being adopted in corporate/university/etc. environments where you have a lot of machines and frequent hard disk failures.
Why did you let us down again Apple? Why?
Hard drive failures are common, especially in lab environments where you have a large number of machines to knock that MTBF number down for the total systems. The thought of having to go through this procedure to swap failed hard drive on lab systems really annoys the crap out of me.
This WILL keep the iMac from being adopted in corporate/university/etc. environments where you have a lot of machines and frequent hard disk failures.
Why did you let us down again Apple? Why?
Multimedia
macrumors 603
From The Palo Alto Apple Store On A New Alunimum 24" iMac Keyboard
This thing reflects light from all over the place and the keyboard is horrendous. I can't tell you how bad this thing looks because I'm looking at so many reflections of stuff throughout the store behind me that it is pathetic you can't buy this baby matt. It's a lovely piece of art but this is a case of form preceeding function instead of vice versa. Not good.
This thing reflects light from all over the place and the keyboard is horrendous. I can't tell you how bad this thing looks because I'm looking at so many reflections of stuff throughout the store behind me that it is pathetic you can't buy this baby matt. It's a lovely piece of art but this is a case of form preceeding function instead of vice versa. Not good.
zorinlynx
macrumors G3
This thing reflects light from all over the place and the keyboard is horrendous. I can't tell you how bad this thing looks because I'm looking at so many reflections of stuff throughout the store behind me that it is pathetic you can't buy this baby matt. It's a lovely piece of art but this is a case of form preceeding function instead of vice versa. Not good.
That's what I don't get.. WHY are they forcing glossy displays on their "consumer" models? They still offer matte on their pro products... What, "consumers" are supposed to suffer with horrid reflections all the time?
Sorry Apple, you lose this time. It's going to be hard to recommend your products in the future. Give us a choice.
age234
macrumors 6502
For some reason I didn't realize that the whole screen was covered in glass, I thought it was just the black portion around the screen. Oh well.
I haven't seen one in person, but from the pictures it looks great. I was skeptical of glossy screens, but I saw them at an Apple Store and last week got a glossy MacBook (with iWork '06 preinstalled...good move, Sherlock), and I have to say I love it. There are reflections from time to time, but I've already come to not even notice, and you can't beat the brightness and contrast.
Looks great to me.
I haven't seen one in person, but from the pictures it looks great. I was skeptical of glossy screens, but I saw them at an Apple Store and last week got a glossy MacBook (with iWork '06 preinstalled...good move, Sherlock), and I have to say I love it. There are reflections from time to time, but I've already come to not even notice, and you can't beat the brightness and contrast.
Looks great to me.
Multimedia
macrumors 603
From A Matt 20" ACD On A 2GHz C2D Mini In The Palo Alto Apple Store
Wow! What a difference the "old" keyboard and a matt screen make. It's no contest from where I stand in the Palo Alto Apple Store. This keyboard rocks and I just got my Bluetooth version today that I ordered yesterday from the refurb store for $49 after I saw what is replacing them yesterday morning.
There are ZERO reflections from behind me and looks plenty bright to me. I gotta stick with matt for the rest of my life so I guess I won't be buying any iMacs for this lifetime anyway. My keyboards need to have real traveling distance and cups for my fingers to feel rested in before they press down a significant distance. The "new" iMac is probably the WORST new Mac to come along since I can't remember when. Total disaster from where I stand.
Wow! What a difference the "old" keyboard and a matt screen make. It's no contest from where I stand in the Palo Alto Apple Store. This keyboard rocks and I just got my Bluetooth version today that I ordered yesterday from the refurb store for $49 after I saw what is replacing them yesterday morning.
There are ZERO reflections from behind me and looks plenty bright to me. I gotta stick with matt for the rest of my life so I guess I won't be buying any iMacs for this lifetime anyway. My keyboards need to have real traveling distance and cups for my fingers to feel rested in before they press down a significant distance. The "new" iMac is probably the WORST new Mac to come along since I can't remember when. Total disaster from where I stand.
Fiveos22
macrumors 65816
Wow! Look at that cooling system!
I'm sure its all necessary, but its still like the blue ball machine! Way to go Apple, wring every last drop of energy out of your engineering staff!
I'm sure its all necessary, but its still like the blue ball machine! Way to go Apple, wring every last drop of energy out of your engineering staff!
Multimedia
macrumors 603
Buy The 1GB 24" Model + The OWC 4GB Kit For $230 and Up The Processor To 2.8 GHz
You buy the low end one 1GB stick 24" and ADD 2.8 GHz for $250. Then you buy TWO 2GB sticks from OWC for $230 and you have a really fast dual core iMac with plenty of RAM for the future.
Wow! What a difference the "old" keyboard and a matt screen make. It's no contest from where I stand in the Palo Alto Apple Store. This keyboard rocks and I just got my Bluetooth version today that I ordered yesterday from the refurb store for $49 after I saw what is replacing them yesterday morning.
There are ZERO reflections from behind me and looks plenty bright to me. I gotta stick with matt for the rest of my life so I guess I won't be buying any iMacs for this lifetime anyway. My keyboards need to have real traveling distance and cups for my fingers to feel rested in before they press down a significant distance. The "new" iMac is probably the WORST new Mac to come along since I can't remember when. Total disaster from where I stand.
I totally agree. The glossy screen sucks bigtime and the aesthetics of the thing are horrible.
I totally agree. The glossy screen sucks bigtime and the aesthetics of the thing are horrible.
In a lot of environments an all-in-one computer is a good idea, but if you're going to lock people in there have to be choices at the point of purchase like a matte finish on the display.
Getting stuck with Steve Jobs' "selections du jour" is a big reason why I'll never buy an all-in-one. I return his lack of interest in selling a mid-priced box with expansion capabilities by refusing to give Apple my money. I let corporations buy or lease high end Macs and then buy from them when their financial cycle ends. A two year old pro tower is plenty of computer for home use.
I think this trend toward 6-bit displays with a gloss finish is terrible. Beyond the annoying reflections and dithering to get more than a few thousand colors is the simple fact that viewing angles suck on those things. The edges of modern wide displays are at a sufficiently different viewing angle from the middle to distort everything you're looking at, and a small shift in your chair changes the look of the whole screen. I will admit that there are fewer video artifacts on such displays, but video is a tiny fraction of the content I view on my screen.
This thing reflects light from all over the place and the keyboard is horrendous. I can't tell you how bad this thing looks because I'm looking at so many reflections of stuff throughout the store behind me that it is pathetic you can't buy this baby matt. It's a lovely piece of art but this is a case of form preceeding function instead of vice versa. Not good.
How long do you think it will be to someone offers a non reflective stickon screen for the iMac.
Cheers
matticus008
macrumors 68040
It's an 8-bit panel. Your complaint might be valid for notebooks, but then it wouldn't be a "trend" at all--it's never been any different.
These are contradictory concepts. If the edges are wide enough to shift colors, you're not able to look at them simultaneously with the center. Either you're sitting too close to the display or you mean something else. Your eyes shouldn't travel more than 15 degrees off-center to reach the edge of a display at the recommended viewing distance, and any photograph will show a consistent image across the screen at that distance.
If it truly bothers you, here's a solution: screen cover film
CanadaRAM
macrumors G5
Any thoughts on Kingston? I want to upgrade to 4gb and thought about getting this stuff from my local computer store. I know Kingston is a reputable manufacturer. I would get Micron or Samsung from OWC, but I'm not sure yet, especially because I'm in Canada and have reservations about warranty/customs. And is the warranty really void if you buy third party? That doesn't make sense to me.
Honest thoughts, plz.
Kingston RAM is good, but the KTA-MBP667/1G /2G are the ones that Kingston recommends for the intel Macs, not the KVR- ValueRAM series.
There are some good options for mail order within Canada too, for Kingston Micron and Samsung.
Evangelion
macrumors 68040
Like I said in the other thread: the old Apple Keyboard sucks big time, and I know: I own one. The keys get repeatedly stuck when you try to push them. I constantly had problems with the Apple Keyboard, where I was typing some text, only to notice afterwards that some of the letters were missing because the keyboard got stuck. After talking with other users around the net, they just commented that "yeah, the keyboard does that". Totally unacceptable. I literally punched the keyboard several times when they keys simply would not budge.
As to the gloss.... I wouldn't be one bit surprised if we got an aftermarket matte-solution that replaces the glass in front of the screen.
Again: like I said in the other thread: instead of wasting your money on the old Apple Keyboard, get one of the modern predecessors of the IBM Model M. Sure, it might not look as good as the Apple Keyboard, but since we are talking about keyboards, the function (typing-comfort, speed etc.) is way more important than the form of the keyboard.
Jim Campbell
macrumors 6502a
I totally agree. The glossy screen sucks bigtime and the aesthetics of the thing are horrible.
I don't get it ... up until a very few years ago, practically every monitor you could buy was a CRT with glass over the front of it. Strangely, everyone seemed to manage just fine but now ... the merest sniff of a reflection on a screen and everyone seems to freak out ...
Not having a go at anyone, I'm just puzzled.
Cheers
Jim
I hated it then, and I hate it now. I don't like how things look in it. This is a preference of mine. No one can change that, including Steve Jobs. He may transition all displays to glossy, but it's not going to change my view of glossy screens. I am thankful that when I bought my MBP I had a choice of Matte.
atzeX
macrumors newbie
Jim, all the good CRTs did _not_ reflect. The surfaces are chemical etched to avoid rerflection.
It is cheaper to build glossy LCDs...
The glossy displays will bring you headaches for free!
ps. i do not believe Jobs that the most customers want it glossy!
The 20" is TN Film (6-bit).
The viewing angles for the 24" suggest a S-PVA or S-IPS (8-bit), but I would like confirmation of this before I buy.
Personally I wouldn't by another TN Film based iMac or monitor.