iMac 24" 2.8 rocks !

[Hibbsy]

After much waiting and in spite of an evil plot by TNT to hold it in china I finally have the new imac.

Installed my 4Gb of Kingston value RAM and we were up and running. I love the new imac it really was worth the wait and well worth the money.

24" screen is HUGE after the 17" imac G4 that I had previously on my desk. I really like the new glossy screen, i do get some glare in the daytime but its not distracting and overall the impression a glossy screen gives to photos, movies etc more than outweighs this.

Front row is new to me and works really well on such a big screen and makes you want to start ripping DVDs just to see them on the screen. I bought the 750Gb HD for just this purpose, so will download handbrake next and get going. Sound is also much better than I expected from the built in speakers, much better than the old imac (last intel one).

I have found a couple of dead pixels not really bad unless using an all white screen. Not sure if this is worth sending back because of them....how long do you get to return it ? Are dead pixels common ?

Can't believe how easy it is to setup, and copy all my stuff across. My wife was out when I unboxed it and when she returned 40 mins later took one look and said "great screen...have you really finished...do you remember the days it used to take you to setup a new PC". No news to mac fans but you can forget just how stupid a new PC setup is.

Apple have a winner here, only the real gaming PC hard core have anything to complain about and in spite of what has been said publicly this is still not apples main target market with the new imac. This will sell by the bucket load, I expect to see Steve on stage in Jan 08 with some pretty impressive graphs behind him.

Not really tested the speed but unlike old imac I can open loads of applications and have several things running at once with no slow down at all.

Overall impression is that this is one cool machine and a very worthwhile upgrade.

Positive:
- New keyboard (best i've used)
- Screen huge and glossy works for me
- Performance (thus far)
- Ease of OSX transfer (nothing to do with new imac)
- USB 2.0 (never had this before and its fast vs USB1.1)
- Sound is much better than expected
- Value for money (£1500 for this setup is pretty good)
- Build quality is pro standard
Negatives:
- Wired mighty mouse feels cheap and cable is very short...should have gone wireless (tried to change order but apple wouldn't let me)
- CTO Blueray drive and built in TV tuner would have been nice on this screen was surprised that the former was not an option
- Shame that Leopard was not ready ... having new OS at same time would have made upgrade that bit more WOW, paying for it in 2 months when it was supposed to be here by now seems bit low.
- Few more ports would be nice another firewire 400 and a couple more USB
- Sleep light? No reason to ditch it with all that black surround?
- remote that matches the alu look and sticks to side of screen?
- dead pixels

Unless you are a hard core gamer then the new imac really is the Ferrari of desktops right now.

 

[millap]

The dead pixels problem could become more of an issue now that Apple has switched to using glass over the top of the LCD panel. On the older models, you can sometimes bring dead pixels back to life by gently massaging the screen with your finger.

Anyone else having this problem ?

 

[flopticalcube]

The dead pixels problem could become more of an issue now that Apple has switched to using glass over the top of the LCD panel. On the older models, you can sometimes bring dead pixels back to life by gently massaging the screen with your finger.

Anyone else having this problem ?

That only works with stuck pixels, not dead ones, and only sometimes. Stuck pixels can also be coaxed back to life using an exerciser program like jscreenfix.

 

[R.Youden]

You can download a short quicktime file that plays the red-blue-green screen in random order and speeds which has been known to fix 'stuck' rather than dead cells. Its a bit like massaging your leg if you have cramp. I had a stuck pixel on my old PowerBook, I left this film running over night and it fixed the problem. I will try and find a link for you...

EDIT: Found, try this overnight this

 

[Hibbsy]

You can download a short quicktime file that plays the red-blue-green screen in random order and speeds which has been known to fix 'stuck' rather than dead cells. Its a bit like massaging your leg if you have cramp. I had a stuck pixel on my old PowerBook, I left this film running over night and it fixed the problem. I will try and find a link for you...

Great thanks

Excuse my ignorance but how do you tell the difference between a dead and stuck pixel exactly?

 

[flopticalcube]

Great thanks

Excuse my ignorance but how do you tell the difference between a dead and stuck pixel exactly?

Dead pixels are black, all the time. Stuck pixels tend to stick to one or two colours most of the time, but not always black.

 

[daneoni]

You can download a short quicktime file that plays the red-blue-green screen in random order and speeds which has been known to fix 'stuck' rather than dead cells. Its a bit like massaging your leg if you have cramp. I had a stuck pixel on my old PowerBook, I left this film running over night and it fixed the problem. I will try and find a link for you...

EDIT: Found, try this overnight this

Pressing F11 activates Expose so any other way of going full screen?

 

[AlanTheBrit]

"Dead" Pixels...

The dead pixels problem could become more of an issue now that Apple has switched to using glass over the top of the LCD panel. On the older models, you can sometimes bring dead pixels back to life by gently massaging the screen with your finger.

Anyone else having this problem ?

Some "Dead" pixels may be specks of dust/grit trapped under the glass (protective) screen cover (those with cats or inquisitive tots will know why the glass is there).

Anyhow; Apple say up to seven dead/stuck pixels is acceptable - though - of course - this doesn't appear in the ads!

In my experience of several displays, I've yet to detect a single dead/stuck pixel.

My 24" 2.8GHz (Intel X7900 NOT an overdriven X7800) is the light-of-my-life (at least until my wife returns from an extended visit to a friend).

ONE VERY IMPORTANT POINT: The default cooling-fans "kick-in" temperature is set (by Apple) WAY TOO HIGH! Download 1) Temperature Monitor 4.2 and 2) smcfancontrol_2_1_2: I HALVED the excessive heat in my 24" using these excellent tools! My PSU was running at 84 degrees Centigrade before; and is now at 45 degrees Centigrade (with the same usage conditions).

 

[marcg007]

Do you have links to the apps you suggest?

Would you kindly post links to the sites that provide those applications? I actually use a widget called iStatPro which tells me temps and stuff but would love to have the fan controller app when my iMac arrives.

Thanks.

 

[maczter]

Would you kindly post links to the sites that provide those applications? I actually use a widget called iStatPro which tells me temps and stuff but would love to have the fan controller app when my iMac arrives.

Thanks.

I find this Preference Pane based fan speed control utility handy...

http://www.lobotomo.com/products/FanControl/

It's listed as being for use with MacBook Pros, but I'd be willing to bet it would work with the new iMacs as well.

 

[oduinnin]

Source please ...

My 24" 2.8GHz (Intel X7900 NOT an overdriven X7800) is the light-of-my-life (at least until my wife returns from an extended visit to a friend).

How is it that you know the 2.8GHz processor is an X7900 and NOT an overclocked X7800? Most reviews I've read say it is a X7800.

 

[RichardI]

If you want more ports, the solution is simple (and not expensive). Add a hub. I suggest a powered one so as not to use the Mac's power and voila! - more ports.

Rich

 

[rainydays]

- CTO Blueray drive and built in TV tuner would have been nice on this screen was surprised that the former was not an option

I'm not surprised that a built in TV tuner isn't an option considering that they would have to support several different standards. And I think it would be a problem for them designing the interior to fit one, and they would have to make a hole in the back panel.
Besides they would rather sell you TV series over iTunes.

Blueray would have been a nice option though. Are there any slim slot loading blueray drives available though?