iMac - Getting into it...

Hello,

Some of you may remember my previous thread - iMac after one day. It can be found here: http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=3270100#post3270100

I've been using my iMac for over a week now, and have some more impressions on it. Some members liked reading my semi-blog because it was a true "straight from a PC" article. Well, here's an update (if any one cares, lol).

Firstly, the amount of support available on this site is incredible. Nice people who are knowledgeable - replies come up very very quickly. Keep it up! I look forward to learning more about my machine so that I can help others.

My next comment is that any time in the future when I get a new desktop, laptop, or whatever, it will be a Mac - no question. It really is better - people aren't making any of it up. I had issues (and might still have), but I will cover all of that.

Firstly, when I got the computer, I was messing around with it and really messed something up. Not sure what it was, but everything crashed. The toolbar on top was flashing and nothing worked. I called Apple and they told me to erase the HD and start over. Everything worked perfectly after. While installing the OS, I actually got a kernel panic, and had to restart, but the installation resumed right after that.

I remember when I first got the machine that day, I was astonished as to how quiet it was. My P4 that the two-footer replaced was like a jet engine, particularly during start up. It was loud, and annoying. So the iMac was completely different because you couldn't hear it. However, now that I'm really into the computer and am pretty much done messing around with it (lol...), it seems to be making some light noise. It's not brightness related like other members reported (i.e. humming sound on low brightness levels). I actually keep the screen to maximum brightness (I don't see how people can find it too bright - bright is amazing!). It sounds like the fan...on a pretty low level, but it's still there. And it's kind of annoying because it's pointing right at me. Other people who I showed the computer to claimed not to notice anything...probably because they're used to their loud PCs, but I hear it. It's very low, but it's there - you can tell the computer is on. Once you put some light music on or anything like that, you can't hear it. My room is otherwise silent, so maybe it's more apparent. Or maybe I'm crazy. Anyway, I wish it didn't make the light humming sound. I considered getting a replacement from Apple, but supposedly I have a very common problem and I'd be furious if I got a replacement and it had the same problem...and a DEAD PIXEL! That would destroy me, considering all of my pixels are accounted for, sir! So in view of this, I will just keep my machine and try to live with it.

On another note, yesterday the computer was on screen saver, and when it woke up, kernel panic! I did a hardware check with my included Mac OS X cd, and everything turned out normal. I decided to reformat the computer, hoping it would be rid of the fan noise. I didn't really care because I had very little data and all of it was on an external HD...very very easy to restore everything. So I put my CDs in, let it do its thing, then when it started up again, the little noise was still there. Oh well. Before I formatted, iCal also crashed (I had to do a force quit). So the Mac OS is not perfect. It still does crash, but not like my old computer does. Ok, so that's all the bad about the computer. The reason I have so many problems with it is because I'm a gadget nerd, and always mess around with everything. I feel liek I can't stop messing around with it until I know how to do everything. I'm so used to seriously troubleshooting my PC so I'm always messing around with the Mac. And I'll keep doing that until everything is perfect. A normal user wouldn't have had to format once, or even twice!

Aside from the small problems I have been experiencing, I can say a lot of great things about this machine. There's one feature that I absolutely love. When you plug in a new printer into a PC (which I just did a few hours ago), it's a nightmare. First, it tries to find drivers. Fails. Then it goes on the internet. Fails. Then you go on hp.com and download the drivers. There are 50000 drivers for the same printer (why?). Download that. Doesn't recognize it. Says it's not plugged in. But it is. Finally, after around 30 minutes of troubleshooting, I get it to work and print a test page. Finally! On the Mac, I plug the printer in. Nothing happens. I'm like "Damn, why isn't it recognizing it?" But it did. Click print...and it just prints. No messing around with drivers. No frustration - it just works. Same thing with my digital camera, and any other device I have. Why doesn't microsoft implement this feature?

Another thing. The Apple keyboard is the best keyboard I have ever used. The keys feel really really good, better than any expensive Logitech keyboard I have ever used. It was so good that I went out and bought the wireless one. The bluetooth is really nice because you don't need any adapter for it - it just works. Never looses connection. I password protect my computer so when it starts up, I have to enter a password. It's kinda annoying because the keyboard has to pair up on the boot up, and I can never enter my password right away. Kind of annoying, but oh well. I don't like the mighty mouse because it's too flat and hurts my wrist, so I got an MX rev, which works great. Too bad it uses up a USB port.

Although I plan on installing boot camp, I don't need it. I thought I would need Windows daily, but haven't desired it once. MS office works fine, even though it's a little slow on the start up. Rosetta is pretty good for what it does. I tried installing bootcamp but realized it wouldn't work because my CD was SP1...I'll try something else when I have time.

Ok, on to Front Row. Really nice, just as good as media center, but less annoying to use. I like how you can get all of the movie trailers from the Apple website instantly. I like movie trailers, and they look great on the screen. Front row is a pleasure to use, and it's integrated perfectly into the OS so as not to annoy you like media center does.

I really like Mail. Much less confusing than outlook, and it works really efficiently. I haven't had time for iCal or Addess book yet. Photobooth is a blast - even though I found it gimicky and dumb, I have so much fun with it . iPhoto is the best photo program I've ever used. Nicely organizes everything, and does these really cool effects to all my pictures that make them such a pleasure to look at. I haven't used iDVD or iMovie. The garageband instruments are cool. Actually, when I start iDVD it says I don't have a superdrive...weird because I actually burned a DVD the other day (Data). About DVD burning- so much better than in Windows. Drag and drop - literally. Very easy and fast. I won't comment on iTunes. It runs just as well as it did on my PC, and it does a fantastic job with my music.

Expose (how do you do an e with an accent on this thing?) the best invention ever. Way better than Alt + Tab and Flip 3d on vista. I use it every 30 seconds, honestly. Dashboard is nice also. The dictionary app is so useful because it brings you up results as you type. That leads me to spotlight. I reprogrammed it as Control + S, so I can get it anywhere. Really incredible...just as good as google desktop except it doesn't slow down my computer! By the way, the Apple key is growing on me. Everytime I use a PC I always go for the apple key and it's not there. I still use windows computers because everyone else in my family uses one (for now...). They're always on my Mac, playing around with it.

Enough for now, I'm sure that those reading this (if any) are thinking "when is he gonna stop!". Hope you enjoyed it!

 

Cool , thanks!

I tried resetting my SMC...still the same noise

 

Yup, you got that right. With my PC, I would have to do some form of troubleshooting on a daily basis. I am dissecting the iMac because I'm always expecting problems when there are none!

 

Yeah, it's pretty noticeable. But I went to turn on my old PC before and it was way more intrusive. Enjoy your machine!

 

Haha, not that brave! I wish!

I notice it less and less everyday (the noise)

Bring on leopard!