Do Macs always ship from China if bought online?

[Cloudane]

I'm pretty much decided on buying an iMac as soon as Leopard comes out.

However I'm facing a dilemma! Nowhere locally has the newer models, only the white ones, and even if they did it wouldn't have Leopard. I'd rather have it preinstalled. I could go and pick one up from the nearest Apple store on Saturday, but the nearest one is in Manchester (UK), which is about 150 miles away. I don't trust my car much (or my driving for that matter, in cities) so I'd probably be going by train. And I'm not really sure walking around a city train station on my own with ~£1000 worth of computer kit (in that loud-and-proud Apple packaging) is a very good idea.

So that leaves the option of mail order. But I'm impatient, especially when it comes to tech! I'm not bothered about customising it (I'll add more RAM later on at about 1/10th of the extortion Apple charge for it) so one of the ready-built "ship in 24 hours" models is fine.

Question is, if you don't build to order, do they still come from China like the new iPod did? I don't really fancy that painful wait all over again, it took ages

 

[Mindflux]

No. If the Apple distributor in your region has what you want in stock it may come from there.

 

[roland.g]

No iMac you buy this weekend will come with Leo pre-installed. Most likely it will come with the DVD in/attached to the box or something. Reason is that all the Macs in the stores were manufactured and put into the distribution channels prior to the release. So it may be a few weeks or longer before a Mac bought in store comes with Leo pre-loaded on it. Now if you want you can install Leo and clear out the Tiger install in the process, or if you are really worried about it, you can use the disk utility on the Leo disk to completely reformat the drive using a 7-write zero pass before installing Leo. Even if you order and it comes from China, anything stock will probably have Tiger and include the disk. BTO orders may have it preinstalled.

I bought my iMac in August when they came out and I seriously doubt I want to backup everything off it before I install Leo just so I can wipe the drive super clean. That would mean transfering all my data to an external and after the process is complete, I would have to re-setup everything again, incl. installing all my 3rd party programs. So I will just upgrade.

 

[moez]

Also, shipping doesnt take that long... usually 2=3 days so even if it comes from china, if u order today, u will have it by tuesday latest!

 

[Whoshnot]

Also, shipping doesnt take that long... usually 2=3 days so even if it comes from china, if u order today, u will have it by tuesday latest!

I think it depends a lot from where you live. Usually 2-3 days? It took 2 weeks for me! Those new alu iMacs are very popular apparently and that is probably causing some delay on several shipments...

 

[ucfgrad93]

Mine came from China via Anchorage, Alaska. I don't remember exactly how long it took, but it was only a few days at most.

 

[Cloudane]

Yeah admittedly the iPod Touch was pretty quick arriving once it'd finally shipped!

Thanks all. The only thing that concerns me with getting a disk with it, is that there's more that can go wrong

Upgrade route: I've never liked upgrading OS'es. It was bad with all versions of Windows and Linux, and always seems a bit messy to me (it did even with Tiger).

Clean install: Then it's getting the bundled apps back (iLife etc) afterwards. With my G4 Powerbook, this was a pain.

Ah well. I'll have a ponder. Got my desk ready for it anyway

 

[GSMiller]

When I ordered mine it took them 3 days to build it and 5 days to get here FedEx Ground. It was shipped from California and had to come allllllll the way to Kentucky.

It took them 3 days to build it because I configured it with more RAM, a bigger hard drive, so on and so forth. If you buy one pre-configured it should ship within 24 hours (most often it'll ship by that evening if you order early in the day).

 

[Mundy]

I ordered mine on Monday. It shipped on Tuesday from Shanghai, but was apparently received by FedEx after their cutoff. So it didn't actually leave China until yesterday. A few minutes ago it cleared customs in Anchorage. Hopefully I'll have it by Monday.

 

[montycat]

What if I order on line this weekend? Will my iMac come with Leopard installed? I do not want another few weeks. I spoke to Apple and they said they did not know. Montycat

 

[Cloudane]

What if I order on line this weekend? Will my iMac come with Leopard installed? I do not want another few weeks. I spoke to Apple and they said they did not know. Montycat

The above posts seem believable (unfortunately!) The truth is nobody knows, because everything is kept secret... there's a chance Apple may have pre-loaded and shipped a bunch ready for the release, but IMO it's unlikely, it's almost impossible to time it correctly so they'd have a bunch of old Tiger machines they'd have to re-package. This would be expensive. I can't see it happening.

We have a fair enough choice - be patient and wait a few weeks, or go ahead and grab it / take the upgrade risk!

Hoping it'd at least have the disc with it. Having to pay again to have one shipped would be a little annoying.

 

[kdawg]

Aren't they are all made in china?

 

[GSMiller]

What if I order on line this weekend? Will my iMac come with Leopard installed? I do not want another few weeks. I spoke to Apple and they said they did not know. Montycat

I read (on MacRumors) that if you order a new Mac after 6 PM Eastern tonight then it will come preloaded with Leopard.

 

[Cloudane]

Posting from my all-new iMac 20" 2.4GHz What a beauty.

I couldn't be bothered to wait for delivery, so went down to the Trafford Centre store (after half an hour of trying to park... it was HEAVING, and the Apple store was too). Just basically went straight in, collared a sales guy and asked him for an iMac, no messing about with talking or demonstrations, just straight in there, he looked like it was his birthday (don't know if they get commission, would assume so).

Came with Leopard on a disc... no problem, easy to install and by the time I'd finished admiring the box and reading through the fine manual (as if it's needed) it was done.

Loving the glossy screen, I was a bit doubtful about it, but there is absolutely no reflection where I'm sat so it's all the benefits without the disadvantages.

No dead pixels or anything either. Life is good

 

[Csmitte]

When I ordered mine and i seen Shanghai i am almost died a little bit on the inside, ut the next day it was in anchorage, then nashville. It took 2 1/2 days total. I am so easily impressed. Good job

 

[ctsport]

I've bought 5 macs in the past few years from apple.ca and they've all originated from Shenzhen China.