Why I will send back my brand new iMac...

If a carpenter used a hammer with flaws for years, a good hammer without those flaws would feel odd to him at first too.
 
Aucun Express said:
Hello everyone,

I never thought I would post a message like the one I'm about to write. But here it is.
I have received a brand new iMac. And 7 days later, I am putting it in its original box, in order to send it back to Apple. I don't want it anymore.
What happened? Here is the full story.

Years ago, my ex-girlfriend wanted to buy a computer. I told her about Dell and what she could buy, but she bought an iBook instead. I laughed at her and the only time I tried it, I found it so hard to use that I stopped after a few seconds.

Years passed. Then came the iPod nano.
I'll always remember the day after Steve Jobs introduced the iPod nano. It was in his small jean's pocket the all time! ;)
I kept looking at the promo pictures of the nano, comparing it with the size of the fingers on the pictures.
I bought one and fell in love with it. This really changed my life. At that time, I was still using MiniDiscs and it was just a pain. And music is so important in my life.

Then, there was the iPhone. I bought it. And as of today, my iPhone 3G is simply the thing that I ever bought. Simple. It is simply perfect the way it is. I wouldn't change a thing.

Then came the MacBook Air. It was in the enveloppe the all time!
That's when I started to surf Apple.com in order to know more about Mac OS X. This seemed to be THE thing.

So, I waited more and then I made the decision: I would buy a Mac and leave for good the PC world.
I waited like 5 months in order to be able to buy the refresh version of the iMac. I became obsessed with it! The more I waited, the more I wanted it. Every day I was reading Macrumors.com. It was imminent! New iMac.

Then the Apple Store went down... and a few hours after, the new iMac arrived. I immediately bought it.
I selected the best configuration:
- 3.06GHz.
- 8GB of RAM (it costed me like 1200$ to get 4GB of additional RAM, but I knew that if I didn't take 8GB I would always ask myself "What if I had taken more RAM?")
- 1TB of HDD.
- The best ATI graphic card (4850).
- I also selected iWorks because I wanted to leave Microsoft for good.
Total price? 4500$ (I live in Europe). This was frickin' expensive, three times the price of my car... But I wanted the ultimate computer...

I had to wait like 4 weeks. It was just a long nightmare... But last week it arrived. My brand new iMac!
I opened it and it was just gorgeous. Beautiful design, beautiful keyboard, beautiful mouse. I already knew them by heart.
It looked just stunning in my office.
I switched it on. Finally, it was time...
WELCOME!

It was just beautiful.

Despite a dead pixel, everything was just perfect: the screen, Time Machine, the dock, the media center, the remote, the speed, everything.

But something was really annoying. The mouse was kinda strange. I thought the feeling would pass after a while. But it didn't pass.
I learned a few days ago that the curve of the mouse sensitivity is different on a Mac. So I downloaded every software I could (like USB Overdrive) in order to change that.
But this didn't change. I kept clicking someplace else.
And the MightyMouse itself is just crap. Big crap. You have to remove your left finger of the mouse in order to be able to do the right click. The wheel is just a nightmare to use. And the click is so loud. It feels like having a big rock in your hand.
So I switched to a Logitech mouse and the result was better, but I still couldn't get pass this damn curve sensitivity.

And day after day, I couldn't get this feeling out of my head. The OS looks "heavy". The windows aren't light as they seem in Windows (if you see what I mean). I cannot move into the folders as quick as I can in Windows with the keyboard. I learned all the Mac shortcuts, but it was really not as fast as on Windows.

But I kept thinking that it was just me and that after a while it would pass.
I tried iWorks but it wasn't as good as Office 2007 (which I love). So I bought Office 2008 for Mac. And I was badly surprised. The main feature of Office 2007 (the big menu bar) is not there on the Mac version.
It is just a nightmare to use Office 2008, compared to the delight of Office 2007 (first good version of Office to this day).

Then, I installed the Adobe CS4 studio. Again, a nightmare to use. Impossible to type down my code in Dreamweaver...

On the other hand, this computer is just gorgeous in order to watch films, see pictures or play music. The remote is a delight to use. But I have to work with it...
And since a few months, I am using Windows 7 Beta on my usual computer. And it is just great to use. I even use my real files with the Beta version!

So, yesterday, I took the harsh decision. I removed all my files and put back the iMac into its original box. I'll call Apple and will send it back to them.

This is a shame, I thought that using the iMac for the first time would be like the first time I switched on my iPod nano or my iPhone. Unfortunately, it isn't the case.
Click to expand...

Send it back and never look back. The imac you bought is way to expensive for the hardware you received. Stick with your PC and buy a better car.
 
My iMac G5 just died, so I am stuck on a Windows laptop for another week or two, I hate every second of it. I can't imagine having to use Windows all the time, I would just not use a computer anymore.

It takes time for a new Mac user to get used to the machine, but once you do you wont ever wanna use anything else.
 
cgratti said:
My iMac G5 just died, so I am stuck on a Windows laptop for another week or two, I hate every second of it. I can't imagine having to use Windows all the time, I would just not use a computer anymore.

It takes time for a new Mac user to get used to the machine, but once you do you wont ever wanna use anything else.
Click to expand...
I confirm that. Waiting for the 4850 freeze bug to be fixed before I buy my first Mac. Was always holding off because hardware not to my liking (no eSata on iMac, hard to change HD etc, but finally decent video). In the meantime I installed OS X on my PC and haven't booted into Windows since. I run a win XP VM on my Linux box for Newsleecher and I intend to use bootcamp for only one game I play.

Superb OS. I do have over 20 years computer experience though from which 12+ years *nix so OS X is easy to understand for me. TM allows me to transfer my files and programs to the iMac easily.
 
DELTAsnake said:
I must admit I have had more problems with my iMac since I got it then I had on my custom PC running Vista it's entire life. I have not had the freezing issue, but I've had problems.

I had to format the hard drive when Bootcamp setup went bad. I had a SBBoD on the hole system and had to powerdown the system. I had to restore from restore from Time Machine after the system stopped booting. Finally Time Machine stopped working and I had to rebuild the sparsebundle.

I was told that Mac's don't have problems, that everything just works. My experience is so far is that that is BS. Mac's are just like any other computer and they have there share of problems. But there is no way I would return my iMac.
Click to expand...

You may want to call Apple Care on those issues. You might have a sad iMac even though you don't get the freezes.

Just saying.....

Hugh
 
DELTAsnake said:
I must admit I have had more problems with my iMac since I got it then I had on my custom PC running Vista it's entire life. I have not had the freezing issue, but I've had problems.

I had to format the hard drive when Bootcamp setup went bad. I had a SBBoD on the hole system and had to powerdown the system. I had to restore from restore from Time Machine after the system stopped booting. Finally Time Machine stopped working and I had to rebuild the sparsebundle.

I was told that Mac's don't have problems, that everything just works. My experience is so far is that that is BS. Mac's are just like any other computer and they have there share of problems. But there is no way I would return my iMac.
Click to expand...

It may sound like a cliched cop out, but you have simply been extremely unlucky and have been one of those customers who, unfortunately, receives a dodgy machine. It happens to customers of all goods, not just computers.

A forum like this is unfortunately where you will hear more moans and groans than praise.

I've been a Mac user since the iMac G4, and I can safely say with hand on heart that I have had no issues with repeated OS crashes, hard disks needing reformatted, etc. I did have some Kernel Panics on my G5 iMac which turned out to be down to a faulty RAM module.

You will be sitting thinking it's easy for me to sit here and type this, but knowing a lot of other Mac users in the same position as myself, I think it's a safe bet that your own experiences have come around from receiving a bad system.

It's not ideal, especially when Apple users portray the "It Just Works" motto which in the main is an accurate representation of computing on an Apple computer.

I would perhaps suggest returning the system for a replacement, and then take it from there. Getting a lemon is no fun, whatever you buy, but when you've hyped up switching from PC to Mac and things go wrong, normally it's your own expectations that let you down. A Mac is just as prone to arriving faulty as any other device unfortunately.
 
OK the OP's post is a bit of a rant but....I have to say I've been using Apple computers for 20 or so years and to this day the way a mouse feels on a Mac pisses me off to no end. There is nothing like buying a $2,000 + computer and then having to spend a few more dollars to get a 3rd party program that makes your mouse work somewhat better. It's a pretty big issue to many people I know and in fact have kept some of my Windows IT colleagues from pulling the trigger on Macs.

Don't get me wrong, I still love my Macs and OSX but no matter what program I try (I've found Steer Mouse is the best out there imho and experience in using some others - the sensitivity control with SM makes quite a tweaking difference) I can't seem to hit the sweet spot. Whenever I fire up my gaming PC the MX 518 I use on it (same mouse for my Mac) just feels so right. I've never been able to reproduce that on my Macs. Not even with the "Mac" version Razer.
 
I have to say the mouse on the apple is terrible. I have my 24 inch imac side by side with my 24 inch pc on the same desk. I mostly use the mac now, and when I quickly use the other mouse for the PC I immediately feel a big difference! I mean its very very very apparent, and every time I use the PC mouse again I stop and think of it like a great past girlfriend!

I have the mac for about 2 months now and if you look back on my first day of ownership I made a post complaining about the mouse. I downloaded all those aftermarket programs and they helped somewhat but also created problems at the same time. I got rid of that awful mighty mouse and bought a high quality mouse that helped a lot but nowhere near perfection. I mean you could literally buy a $5.00 mouse on the PC and it will run circles around how a mouse handles on a mac.

I see a lot of people take great offense to anyone talking negatively about a mac, but the truth of the matter is the speed precision and usability of a PC mouse is leaps ahed of the mac. When you have 2 computers directly next to each other and you switch quickly you will see how apparent the differences are. Why oh why cant the mac just have identical mouse function to a pc? Yes yes I know some will come out of the woodwork blasting me that the mac way is the most superior method, yes it's the best thing since sliced bread but at least include the option!
 
I use Windows PC's at work from 8am to 5pm Monday to Friday, but use my Mac when I get home and I honestly think a mouse is a mouse.

But each to their own ...
 
Apple's mouse speed curve is very different from Microsoft's, thought neither is bad with some tweaking. Ditch the the Mighty Mouse, it's one of the worst mice ever conceived. Get a real mouse. I don't think you can return a custom order, so your options are limited. You could always sell it.
 
Same problem, $50 fix.

OS X's mouse acceleration curve always felt pretty weird to me as well, but (somehow) getting a Razer Pro|click seemed to completely fix it, and I don't even run the Razer drivers. Not sure what it is, maybe the 1600dpi vs. the Mighty Mouse's 800. I didn't just "get used to it" either, as plugging in the MM still gets my wrist sore within an hour.

So my advice is -- buy a Pro|click, bring it to an Apple store, and try it out. If it feels better, reorder your iMac, if not, you still have a nice mouse to use with your PC.
 
It's interesting reading some views from people unhappy with the "curve" of the Mighty Mouse's cursor movement. I honestly cannot feel any difference between a Windows mouse and an OS X mouse ... as I said before, to me a mouse is a mouse. You point, you click, something happens.

So, I decided to do some digging around on Google to see what people are saying about this "curve acceleration" and it seems the majority of people with issues are Switchers.

I don't think I've quite picked it up fully, but are you speaking about the speed in which the cursor becomes "active" when you move it, so that less physical movement of the mouse results in more movement of the cursor on-screen?

I have my cursor settings, the basic cursor speed one, set quite high because I like a "snappy" and "loose" cursor and I find that the settings I use are fine.

It's been a bit of eye opener reading some comments here, but again I work on Windows from 8am to 5pm weekly and when I come home and sit on my iMac, I feel no difference whatsoever ... :confused:
 
I know what this curve is, something just feels a little wrong with the cursor movement. the lower the mouse dpi the worse it feels. I have no idea what the problem is though, it just feels wrong at first.

Personally I'd go for the Razerback 3G over the Pro|Click, I've seen two Pro|Clicks go yellow & start looking old over 8 months when exposed to a lot of direct sunlight where the Razerback 3G being black doesn't. They are basically the same internals with a different shell.
 
WeegieMac said:
It's been a bit of eye opener reading some comments here, but again I work on Windows from 8am to 5pm weekly and when I come home and sit on my iMac, I feel no difference whatsoever ... :confused:
Click to expand...

Same. I've used pcs at school, and now at university, almost exclusively and I only ever use my mac at home and I have never noticed a difference. I have literally gone from using my mac one moment to using a pc the next and not noticed the difference :confused:
 
techathy said:
I know what this curve is, something just feels a little wrong with the cursor movement. the lower the mouse dpi the worse it feels. I have no idea what the problem is though, it just feels wrong at first.

Personally I'd go for the Razerback 3G over the Pro|Click, I've seen two Pro|Clicks go yellow & start looking old over 8 months when exposed to a lot of direct sunlight where the Razerback 3G being black doesn't. They are basically the same internals with a different shell.
Click to expand...

Unfortunaty the razer pro drivers dont work with the diamondback 3g. I use a 3g and have to use steermouse.
 
kurosov said:
Unfortunaty the razer pro drivers dont work with the diamondback 3g. I use a 3g and have to use steermouse.
Click to expand...

:confused: I've been using a 3G with my PowerMac for a while now and haven't had problems. All the buttons work as does the on-the-fly sensitivity...
 
Its funny but until this thread i didn't even KNOW there was a difference ... i use things like Photoshop and i find the mac absolutely fine .... but then i used to use Photoshop on a PC and found it absolutely fine :D

If people saying that the mac mouse curve is suited for detail work then its even better...
 
WeegieMac said:
I don't think I've quite picked it up fully, but are you speaking about the speed in which the cursor becomes "active" when you move it, so that less physical movement of the mouse results in more movement of the cursor on-screen?
Click to expand...
It is not easy to explain it with words (and even more when english is not my mothertongue). But I'll try.
When we click, we go from A to B to C.
A is the starting point,
B is the big travel we do
and C is the spot we have to click.

Most of the time, when we want to click some place, we go very fast and without being precise to a certain point and when we arrive near it, we go a bit slower in order to be on the exact spot we want. We do it so many times a day that it is like driving a bicycle.
When I switched over Macintosh, the feeling was extremely odd. Suddenly, I couldn't click as precisely as before. It was a nightmare to be able to click on one of the three top left buttons on a window.
So, I also thought that "a mouse is a mouse". So I tried to change the options in the settings, but it didn't change.
It's as if getting the cliked spot is with an arrow with Windows and that it is like a lasso on OS X. It doesn't feel precise at all.
 
Aucun Express said:
It is not easy to explain it with words (and even more when english is not my mothertongue). But I'll try.
When we click, we go from A to B to C.
A is the starting point,
B is the big travel we do
and C is the spot we have to click.

Most of the time, when we want to click some place, we go very fast and without being precise to a certain point and when we arrive near it, we go a bit slower in order to be on the exact spot we want. We do it so many times a day that it is like driving a bicycle.
When I switched over Macintosh, the feeling was extremely odd. Suddenly, I couldn't click as precisely as before. It was a nightmare to be able to click on one of the three top left buttons on a window.
So, I also thought that "a mouse is a mouse". So I tried to change the options in the settings, but it didn't change.
It's as if getting the cliked spot is with an arrow with Windows and that it is like a lasso on OS X. It doesn't feel precise at all.
Click to expand...
I know exactly what you are describing.

I ONLY had this issue when I tried installing 3rd party drivers.

I installed my Razer Drivers (they sucked so I deleted them), then USB OverDrive (Which also didn't do anything significant either)

A few days of living with USB OverDrive, I decided to reformat.

After reformatting, I plugged my mouse in directly and DIDN'T install any drivers, just used the standard driver Apple gives to 3rd party mice, and everything worked amazingly!

I could assign keys to the other buttons using sys prefs, and obviously adjust it's speed too.

There is no mouse lag, no acceleration speed ups and slow downs.

It all felt natural :)

So reformatting and using generic drivers might fix the mouse problem for some.
 
Logitech mouse

I was 100% a PC guy until around 2000 or so when I bought a 1GHz Ti Powerbook. I did and continue to see the "speed curve" on the mouse that the OP mentioned when plugging in a mouse (but never with the trackpad). Both Logitech and Microsoft mice I've used return to the PC movement I'm used to when I install the control panel software for them. Logitech's control panel comes with some crapware update software that Little Snitch always catches but I find it worth the hassle to have my mouse move in the way I think it should.

I'm sure a half-dozen people posting before me have mentioned it already but I thought I'd share my $.02.
 
I switched over two years ago and I had the exact same sentiment as the OP regarding my mac experience. The mouse acceleration was not what I was used to, somewhat delayed and the GUI(Graphical User Interface) of the OS is not as instant as Windows.

I agree to this day that what the OP is describing is very real. I work all day on Windows machines at work and I use my mac at home.

But I have learned to accept it. Otherwise I would be missing out on too many good things the mac experience has to offer.

First of all, I will address the mouse acceleration curve. Yes it's not windows smooth and its not as responsive. The Delay is there. There is no denying it and there are many reasons why its like this and I will only touch on a couple.

The acceleration curve has graphic artists in mind. Apple made a compromise by allowing the mouse to travel at low speed for a bit longer then in Windows to accommodate any kind of jerkiness or mistaken movement of one's mouse while doing precise work in a very small area of the screen. I am not a graphic artist and I wish I could turn this off. I would pay good money to have a mouse cursor in OS X that felt like Windows or most Linux distributions.

Also, Mac OS X has a mouse cursor that I believe is somewhat aware of the objects around it. I like to call it a magnetic cursor. I have never seen any official statement from Apple (or anyone for that matter) that such a feature exists in OS X but I am quite confident it exists. Buttons, sliders, URL links and menus will actually pull your mouse cursor towards them. This is extremely subtle and is almost unnoticeable by the user unless you move your mouse very slowly around such objects. Then you will see it jump slightly towards the object by a couple of pixels. This feature often gives the mouse cursor a jumpy and/or jerky feel at very low speed.

Now let's move on to the "heavy" feel of the GUI. This is due to to two main things in the design of OS X:

The first being that OS X will not draw a window for you on screen until it is completely drawn in memory. In windows, you often open a window or menu and you see things get drawn onto the screen one at a time in front of you. That's because they have not been drawn in memory yet and Windows is just giving what it has when you ask for it. OS X is different in the sense that it won't give you what you asked for until it is completely ready and drawn in memory. So there is always that fraction of a second delay while OS X handles this. This is the same idea as the "Vertical Sync" graphical setting often used in video games.

The Second reason, which you may not understand (and I don't blame you), is that OS X is heavily object oriented due to the underlying NextStep design. I will not go into details because I could spend all day trying to explain this to non-programmers. But essentially, this makes every component on screen larger in memory and one component may need to talk to several other components before being able to talk to the one it wants.

This second reason was much more noticeable on the PPC machines and the very first intel machines but with the memory speeds that are out now, it should be a non-issue.

What I did about it:

I found that high precision Mice, like my Logitech G5, would accentuate the differences of the mouse movement in OS X relative to Windows. I ended up finding the Mighty Mouse to be the mouse that made the cursor behavior the most bearable.

I also agree that the mouse movement on the trackpads is heavenly. This got me thinking and when I move the cursor with the mouse, and imagine that the mouse is on a large trackpad, i realize that there is no difference. I don't know but often things are all about perception I guess.

As for the heavy GUI, I just accepted it. If something is not up on the screen its because its not ready and if it was on the screen before its ready, i'd be waiting for things to get ready anyways.

Sorry for the wall of text but I hope this helps you in making an informed decision.

Good luck!
 
remorse

Damned shame; buyer's remorse now, "returners remorse" coming. If you have a friend who is Apple savvy I think all of your concerns would be easily addressed. Even better, get to an Apple store and get some expert guidance. Maybe reorder with 4GB RAM, save the $1,000, get in a more comfortable price range. In a few months, add the RAM from a third party if you feel the need. You will be sorry you returned it.
 
had my mac mini for a little over a week and i have never thought about the mouse. Im not even 100% sure what yall mean to be honest. it feels exactly the same to me
 
For me it is almost hard to remember not using my Mac even though it has only been a little over a year since I got my iMac. I do have to say that the mouse was the hardest thing to get used to--that I do remember. It wasn't that hard for me but I did buy a different mouse to replace the mighty mouse. That only lasted less than a month and I went back to the mighty mouse and now I love it--yes even that tiny little scroll ball! I don't remember changing the mouse action much and I'm sure now if I used a PC, I would have a hard time maneuvering the mouse.

The software adjustment has been a gradual migration--trying this and that and finding what works best to replace Windows software I use for web design and this and that. But I managed to find suitable replacements for everything I need to do.

I guess it really comes down to how much you really want the Mac to work for you--maybe the change is just not worth the effort for some people--but personally, I'm glad I made the switch.
 
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