Just returned new iMac 5k :(

[aevan]

I have a iMac Retina with the i5 and M290X. I see absolutely no delay in scrolling and zooming into the NASA pdf. I also have no issues with Mission Control.

Same here for the PDF files. Tried each one linked here, perfectly smooth, i5 and M290X.

I do have issues with Mission Control when I have several Safari tabs open + Photoshop. Or when I have quite a lot of windows open. Preview also lags on large photos - but that's it. Everything else works perfect. Better than my Retina MacBook Pro - and I don't hear a lot of people complaining there.

The M290X runs great, and i5 is the fastest i5 currently, which means it's really fast.

 

[familychoice]

Just to point out the Mission Control lag has been witnessed by people across lots of different Mac models (search the forums here), so that's a software issue. Saying that I don't get the lag so it's not consistent which probably explains why Apple are having problems tracking it down.

Likewise the whole PDF thing does not seem to affect everybody so my guess is that is software too.

A lot of replies are saying it's a software issue, but it's a new machine without any modifications - what could be wrong with a factory OS setup that could cause serious performance issues for some, for basic tasks such as .pdf viewing and accessing Mission Control but not others running the same software?

That's a genuine question by the way - I'm interested to know before we completely move over to Mac OS and abandon our Windows desktops.

I'd also add support tested our OS setup, checked everything and ran diagnostics and couldn't find any issues.

2012 iMac 3.4GHz i7 2GB Graphics Card GTX 680MX
With video and all playing in the background + at least 6 webpages opened up I downloaded the Nasa .pdf + the other one in this thread and everything was perfectly smooth me zooming in to the max and doing everything.

Must be your computer as mine is perfect.....

You've got a completely different spec though. The .pdf works perfectly on my mid 2012 MacBook Pro.

Same here for the PDF files. Tried each one linked here, perfectly smooth, i5 and M290X.

If the majority of i5/M290 of users aren't having the issue that means the iMac they supplied me with either had a software issue (unlikely as it was fresh as a daisy, other .pdf software demonstrated the same issue, and their support were unable to find any problems with the software, and gave it the thumbs-up) or a problem with the hardware on that machine. The worry with the latter explanation is that I've seen quite a few people confirming the same problem, so Apple's lack of quality control doesn't fill me with confidence to buy another.

 

[Remrod]

@OP: Did you re-format and re-install OSX new? That helps to fix a lot of bugs anyway. When I bought my retina machine (295x, 24GB) the first thing I did was to re-format and install everything to rule out any misconfiguration or similiar. I never encountered any issues that the people here in the forum are talking about and I am total in love with my machine.

I also tried out out different PDF with the Preview and I have 0 lag.

 

[aevan]

If the majority of i5/M290 of users aren't having the issue that means the iMac they supplied me with either had a software issue (unlikely as it was fresh as a daisy, other .pdf software demonstrated the same issue, and their support were unable to find any problems with the software, and gave it the thumbs-up) or a problem with the hardware on that machine. The worry with the latter explanation is that I've seen quite a few people confirming the same problem, so Apple's lack of quality control doesn't fill me with confidence to buy another.

The way I imagine hardware problems is things beeping, screen not coming on, graphical glitches or wifi not working. Stuff like that. I don't see how they can cause performance degradation.... the only exception is the HDD, they can slow things down before breaking completely. But, then again, if you had a brand new iMac 5K, that PDF was most likely on the SSD part.

So how is it possible you have a totally different experience? I have no idea. There are many factors that could've been involved. It could be some troublesome software you installed and forgot all about it. For example, when I got my iMac, I put Sketchbook Pro on it and was surprised to see it had some graphical issues (a slightly colored square was present around the pointer) and it responded poorly to my Wacom stylus presses. I thought it was a GPU issue and attributed it to the M290x (somewhat disappointed, to be honest) until I realised that the whole issue was caused by a small app called Yoink. It had issues in this specific case and only this case - and I would never discover it without some luck. Uninstalled the app and Sketchbook Pro works perfectly.

I'm not saying you had some apps installed that caused problems, I'm just giving an example how something minor could cause a problematic issue and you could've sworn you did nothing to cause it while in fact, inadvertently, you did. I've seen it time and time again - happened to me also.

Another example - there is an entire thread of people complaining how Wacom drivers don't work well with Intuos 4/5/Pro tablets on Yosemite (running on various Macs). They claim the drivers just don't work - with some serious issues. Me? I have used two Intuos 4 tablets and an Intuos Pro tablet (at work) on several Yosemite computers, and am personally using one on two different personal Yosemite Macs and haven't encountered a single issue. Are all those people on the forums lying? No, I'm sure they are not. Are Wacom's drivers faulty? No, I don't think so.

The truth is - who knows why they are having such issues, and who knows why PDF was causing you so much trouble. But I don't think it was due to hardware issues or the power of your (former) iMac 5K. There are some mysteries we may never uncover ) For me, the iMac 5K is working great and the only issues I have are the same issues I have on my MacBook Pro and are mostly Yosemite issues.

Sorry to hear you returning your iMac and I hope you have more luck with some new Mac or PC in the future. Computers, eh?

 

[aevan]

EDIT: I just opened the pdf file from this post on my MacBook Pro Retina and it is having trouble zooming and scrolling through the pages with big photos. I got the beach ball several times in these segments.

I also tried forcing the Preview in low resolution to see if it's retina related - and the problems are the same. I also tried it both with the Iris Pro and 750M, and it's the same.

The document didn't have the beachball on my iMac. So, I'd say it's a Yosemite issue, I guess. Or the document is just too demanding (the large image portions at least, the rest is smooth).

Either way, it's not an iMac 5K issue. As I said, 5K runs better than my MacBook Pro Retina. I guess the 2013 iMac with an i7 and 4x less pixels to push would do some tasks better than a base iMac 5K, but I don't see any serious performance issues with the 5K. Hope this helps.

 

[familychoice]

Sorry to hear you returning your iMac and I hope you have more luck with some new Mac or PC in the future. Computers, eh?

Thank you, I don't want to come across as a Mac basher, or even try to spoil the reputation of the retina iMac. I loved it, the build quality and OS was superb and if I didn't have to work with .pdf's on a daily basis then I'd have put up with it. I hated sending it back!

I didn't try reinstalling the OS, so maybe that would have worked. I discovered the issue on the first day I had it, before installing much software on it though, but I think if I'm in this situation again I'd try a reinstallation to rule a misconfiguration out.

EDIT: I just opened the pdf file from this post on my MacBook Pro Retina and it is having trouble zooming and scrolling through the pages with big photos. I got the beach ball several times in these segments.

I also tried forcing the Preview in low resolution to see if it's retina related - and the problems are the same. I also tried it both with the Iris Pro and 750M, and it's the same.

The document didn't have the beachball on my iMac. So, I'd say it's a Yosemite issue, I guess. Or the document is just too demanding (the large image portions at least, the rest is smooth).

Either way, it's not an iMac 5K issue. As I said, 5K runs better than my MacBook Pro Retina. I guess the 2013 iMac with an i7 and 4x less pixels to push would do some tasks better than a base iMac 5K, but I don't see any serious performance issues with the 5K. Hope this helps.

Interesting, the performance of my mid 2012 MacBook Pro running Mountain Lion handled the .pdf fine, so maybe it is a Yosemite issue. What are you running on your iMac? Maybe swapping to an older version of the OS would have cured the issue on mine.

 

[aevan]

Interesting, the performance of my mid 2012 MacBook Pro running Mountain Lion handled the .pdf fine, so maybe it is a Yosemite issue. What are you running on your iMac? Maybe swapping to an older version of the OS would have cured the issue on mine.

I'd say it's a Yosemite issue, indeed. Mountain Lion and Mavericks were more responsive on my iMac 2011. 5K came with Yosemite and I'm not sure if Mavericks could be installed on it. As for MBP, yeah, I get the feeling Mavericks worked better in several regards (it's on Yosemite now).

Yosemite is fine for most things, but there are certain areas where it lags, slows down, even halts. I'm guessing they will sort these things out in some future update (I don't think 10.10.3 will be that update as they are focused on Photos for this one). Actually, my hopes are 10.11 is a performance and bug-fix version of OSX without too many new features. Just like iOS9 is rumoured to be.

Oh, I just googled this issue, and found this thread
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/6606297

 

[Macsonic]

Interesting, the performance of my mid 2012 MacBook Pro running Mountain Lion handled the .pdf fine, so maybe it is a Yosemite issue. What are you running on your iMac? Maybe swapping to an older version of the OS would have cured the issue on mine.

There is also a Photoshop issue being sluggish on Yosemite. http://macperformanceguide.com/blog/2015/20150128_1914-OSX_performance-issues.html

It would be nice if newer machines can also run older OSXs in case of problems with the new OS. I know this isn't going to happen.

 

[mcpix]

It would be nice if newer machines can also run older OSXs in case of problems with the new OS. I know this isn't going to happen.

This +100! I know Apple thinks they are "dragging us into the future" by constantly requiring us to use the latest OS on new machines. Sometimes though, users have legitimate reasons for not upgrading (in addition to the unexpected bugs). It's also frustrating to have to upgrade the OS to use the latest version of some software.

 

[familychoice]

Yosemite is fine for most things, but there are certain areas where it lags, slows down, even halts. I'm guessing they will sort these things out in some future update (I don't think 10.10.3 will be that update as they are focused on Photos for this one). Actually, my hopes are 10.11 is a performance and bug-fix version of OSX without too many new features. Just like iOS9 is rumoured to be.

Oh, I just googled this issue, and found this thread
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/6606297

Looks like people have been reporting the same issue since October last year and Apple still haven't fixed it. Seems iMac M295x users don't have such a problem with it so maybe more powerful hardware is overcoming the lagginess of the OS.

There is also a Photoshop issue being sluggish on Yosemite. http://macperformanceguide.com/blog/2015/20150128_1914-OSX_performance-issues.html

It would be nice if newer machines can also run older OSXs in case of problems with the new OS. I know this isn't going to happen.

That's crazy, considering the retina iMac is going to appeal to Photoshop users. If you're having problems I'd recommend Affinity Photo: https://affinity.serif.com/en-gb/photo/ - the Beta is free, and pretty much the full finished version. I tried it on the iMac and it worked perfectly, lovely app. I'd recommend their Designer (vector) app too.

 

[Macsonic]

Hi Familychoice. Thanks for sharing the Affinity Photo app. Good to have options aside from Photoshop. I'll check on this. I'll be waiting for a few more months and check on further feedbacks from users on deciding whether to get the 5k iMac. When new technology comes out I usually wait it out.

 

[lukketto]

Returned imac 5k i7 512 295x for an odd fan noise...I'm waiting for a new one (The imac way one week OLD...).
About temperature, I never saw high temperature, even watching 4k movies (52*C).

 

[fathergll]

Looks like people have been reporting the same issue since October last year and Apple still haven't fixed it. Seems iMac M295x users don't have such a problem with it so maybe more powerful hardware is overcoming the lagginess of the OS.

Unfortunately every model seems to have some kind of risk of issue. 290 users have lag in certain areas, some 295 users have fan noise and high GPU temps. I decided to gamble on the base model because of the price was much cheaper(would of cost me and extra $600 just to buy a customized iMac with the 295) and I have faith most issues could be solved by software updates for the 290 whereas the 295 issues were probably going to be set in stone for the most part. Besides I didn't have a real use case for the 295 as I wasn't doing 4k editing, heavy gaming...etc.

 

[familychoice]

Hi Familychoice. Thanks for sharing the Affinity Photo app. Good to have options aside from Photoshop. I'll check on this. I'll be waiting for a few more months and check on further feedbacks from users on deciding whether to get the 5k iMac. When new technology comes out I usually wait it out.

You're welcome - it's a great app! I've used Photoshop for over 20 years on a daily basis, but I've slowly fallen out of love with it - too many features I don't need bloating it out and slowing it down. Plus the price....

If you have a Mac I'd recommend giving the free Affinity Photo app a spin. There are a few things I miss, but I'd say it covers 95% of my Photoshop requirements, and the release price will probably be around £30. It's fast too (even on the iMac).

I'd also recommend Affinity Designer: https://affinity.serif.com/en-gb/ - I bought this as an Illustrator replacement, and it's another superb app. Again there are a few tools I miss, but that's probably due to the way I work after 20-odd years using Illustrator. It also has pixel tools, kind of a mix between Photoshop and Illustrator in the same app.

I use both of these on my MacBook Pro as Adobe replacements, and so far haven't really missed Photoshop or Illustrator. I am enjoying the cash savings though!

Unfortunately every model seems to have some kind of risk of issue. 290 users have lag in certain areas, some 295 users have fan noise and high GPU temps.

Yeah, that's why I didn't upgrade. For me though I don't want basic performance issues on a £2000 computer, so I'm happy to wait until the refresh, plus there was no real performance gain overall on my MacBook Pro so I'll chug along on that for now.

 

[sugawi]

My 5k has noise at idle. Can Apple repair it or they only exchange? Or should i live with it? https://youtu.be/YCW3-zwN3gc

 

[matreya]

My 5k has noise at idle. Can Apple repair it or they only exchange? Or should i live with it? https://youtu.be/YCW3-zwN3gc

You should absolutely take it back to an Apple Store, or if that's not possible, ask Apple to replace it.

How long have you had the 5k?

 

[sugawi]

You should absolutely take it back to an Apple Store, or if that's not possible, ask Apple to replace it.

How long have you had the 5k?

Had for 3 weeks now, have couple stores in my area. Is it repairable? This is refurbished also, came with 295 gpu, definitely don't want to loose free upgrade.

 

[Astelith]

Had for 3 weeks now, have couple stores in my area. Is it repairable? This is refurbished also, came with 295 gpu, definitely don't want to loose free upgrade.

It seems a fan problem, they will probably change only the fan

 

[matreya]

Had for 3 weeks now, have couple stores in my area. Is it repairable? This is refurbished also, came with 295 gpu, definitely don't want to loose free upgrade.

Yeah, they can simply replace the fan.

If you haven't already done so, I would get AppleCare for it. The cost of AppleCare is less than any out of warranty repair job Apple does..

If you can't afford it right now, don't worry, just save up for it and get it done before it's 1 year old. Don't leave it until the last moment though..

 

[sugawi]

Yeah, they can simply replace the fan.

If you haven't already done so, I would get AppleCare for it. The cost of AppleCare is less than any out of warranty repair job Apple does..

If you can't afford it right now, don't worry, just save up for it and get it done before it's 1 year old. Don't leave it until the last moment though..

What if I get applecare now but before year up something happens that can't be repaired and they give new iMac, does that applecare continues to new unit or i need to purchase another applecare?

 

[matreya]

What if I get applecare now but before year up something happens that can't be repaired and they give new iMac, does that applecare continues to new unit or i need to purchase another applecare?

The AppleCare plan is rolled over to the replacement Mac.