Fickle...
I love the fact that someone can be a loyal customer for ages then be a 'customer lost' when one thing doesn't quite work out...
Apple customers are howling over a pair of recurring flaws in the company's new iMac desktops. Some buyers say machines are arriving on doorsteps with a conspicuous crack in the lower left-hand corner of Apple's built-in display, while others howl that their freshly-shipped systems won't even turn on. Each flaw has spawned …
Or offensive?
I am much concurring here, having been a 'user' since 1995. I guess the trick is you have to have had your eyes open. I understand that Cupertino can make mistakes, so when confronted by fail it does not disturb my world view.
Mac's are nice systems.
OS X is a nice Unix - we even get Photoshop again without having to run IRIX
Relax, everybody has a problem form time to time, despite what the Cupertino propaganda machine may say.
Paris - because she's hot. Being a fanboi I always go for proper form, sometimes function follows
I imagine that they feel that they have paid through the nose for the last 15 years to buy a product that is just perfect and they've just had their rose tinted glasses broken.
For many people, paying more for a quality, reliable product which you don't have to worry about is a sound move. For many it is even the best economic decision. But it only works so long as the products are perfect, so long as they really do not ever need to worry about them. The moment they are bust then there is no difference between a mega buck uber Apple and a 5buck back street windows box, if it's bust it's bust.
...the word ApplFAN. It implies a certain fruitiness, has a reference to an Application (App) and points to a certain part of the human body's lower posterior...FANny.
But you're right. The constant use of non-words always implies a lack of maturity if not education. Which certainly covers Apple Fanatics if not the parents who actually make the money to buy the toys.
> how about you stop using the word 'fanbois'? Say 'fanboys' if you feel the need to try to be funny (and fail) but at least stop using made up words.
> It's not a word.
> If you use it, that makes you a moron.
'tard? How about 'tard? Is that better than ``fanboi''? personally i take offense at ``moron''. for info, most words were made up at one or other point in their life, and also other words have their meanings changed. what ever happened to l33t-speak? did that offend you too? how about ``lol'', didn't that make you laugh out loud? Do you get yr nikkers in a twst abt uther perposefull missppeelllings made four saik ov youmor? Misplaced apostrophe' drive up yr' blood pressure too? Fer christsake lightenup! Pedant! That's also a word!
I picked up my 27" Core i7 iMac today from UPS and when I got it all unpacked it wouldn't turn on either. Having read this story earlier on MacRumors, I was gutted as I assumed mine was DOA. However, after some investigation it seems that my problem was down to a slightly funny power button. A light press until it clicks doesn't seem to do it, I have to press it a little firmer but it now works like a champ!
Apple doesn't need quality control... their fans will pay for any ol' crap coming out the doors.
I'll take a beige box any day of the week over some glitz because I can ...
1. Fix it myself without special tools
2. choose the parts I want to fix it with and not something on a special authorized list
3. pay less for #2 because I hate paying for overpriced #2 (there's a pun in there somewhere)
4. usually get satisfaction sooner than letting some corporate tech fix it.
Linux, windows, mac, BeOS, OS/2, DOS, ... who cares what OS it runs, the hardware is what runs it and if the hardware is overpriced and unable to be fixed with just a screwdriver or two that I can find at any old hardware store, then it's just not worth it.*
so if you're a mac head, get a mac pro and forget about the all-in-one iMac-in-trash. Even though it's not a "beige box", it's still a box and can be fixed with a screwdriver or two.
*mobile devices are exempt from this rule.
There is no way I'm fixing a computer that's DOA - no matter what colour it is. For a lot of buyers an "all in one" is a great way to go. Seriously, you want some horrible box cluttering up your home?!
Mac Pros are all very nice, but currently the iMac is far better value in the Apple range (and actually not bad amongst all computers). The Mac Pro looks really expensive at present, compare a single processor Mac Pro with 30" Apple display with the iMac Core i7 - that Mac Pro doesn't look like good value does it (sure it has a Xeon, bigger screen and slots - but wowsers it's expensive)?
I imagine Apple will release a new Mac Pro (and displays) early next year that will address this pricing discrepancy.
On the OS front, I think that's at least as important as the hardware (maybe more so) as it dictates which applications you can run. (Probably BeOS, OS/2 and DOS will be a bit limiting - application wise)
No, according to the new Double Secret Probationary Customer Warranty Rules just never released today or any other day, Apple Products are required to be imported on ships manned by sailors whose families have not seen smoke of any kind back at least three generations. Evidently somebody conveniently "forgot" about a World War, winter, lighting a candle or a barbecue.
Caveat FanBoy as we say in Cupertino.
It's unfortunate that there's so many DOA's here and I think it's unfair to blame Apple for any of this. They appear to be trying their best to sort it out in the customer's best interest. However, this does bring to mind what I see as the biggest reason why I prefer to use PC hardware instead of Mac hardware. I enjoy having the ability to personally piece together the parts, and take them apart when there's a problem. Prepackaged and inflexible gear from Apple, Dell, HP, etc leave an uneasy feeling in my stomach.
@All those who post here and elsewhere those posts saying that this is overreacting, that it's a small thing and that it should not have been reported.
1) If the thread is ~200 pages long, it's clearly not a small thing.
2) Even if it was, this is what news are for. You don't only report when a WW starts or ends. If you don't want to read about "small things" (your definition may vary), don't, that's the most effective algorithm I am aware of.
Most funny is that the sort of people who post these probably posted a long, massive critic on the IE 6/7 bug (just an example, I hate Microsoft (and Apple, for that matter)).
Hahahaha, I would never pass this up.
iMacs are CRAP.
I have said this, and I will say it again.
iMacs are CRAP.
ALL the _disadvantages_ of a laptop and desktop rolled into one with NONE of the _advantages_ of either.
FFS, people, don't buy this shit. If you don't apple will be eventually forced to release cheaper 'proper' boxen.
I can't believe and wasn't aware that they are actually putting i7's in these POS's...
What a waste, FFS.
Such a waste... such a waste.
An iMac gives you a nice big screen and all the power of a desktop without taking up a huge chunk of space either on or below your desk. I'd say those a pretty significant advantages. If you don't need a RAID array or slots for special purpose PCI Express cards (and these days with USB and Firewire peripherals most people don't) then the extra bulk of a desktop is pointless.
The only advantage a laptop has over an iMac is that it's portable. Otherwise it costs more for less power and a much smaller screen.
So, if you're not working on editing the next Pixar animation, and you don't need your computer to be portable, then an iMac is by far the best option (and the cheapest too).
1) They haven't had time to fine tune the manufacturing process
2) They are rushing to get as many units out the door as possibly at the expense of proper quality control.
3) They have to replacements in stock so if there is a problem you can't just walk into an Apple Store and have them exchange it.
Being an early adopter is never the most rational response. Of course, having seen a 27" iMac, you can understand irrational responses (it really is something to behold). It appears this issue is only on the Core i7 variant, others are fine (well have the normal number of DOAs - this happens with all products).
Of course, this problem is made even more annoying for those affected by the simple face that the Core i7 is a build to order option - and a popular one. You can't get it swapped from stock, and replacing machines is adding to already long(ish) lead times.
However, given all this nobody at Apple has denied the problem, and customers have been told exactly what kind of lead time to expect. I don't really see what more Apple can do. Clearly Apple will also want to understand why this fault is afflicting new systems and correct the problem (you can see that such an effort will do nothing to speed up the lead times).
So is the iMac Core i7 a nice machine? Yes. Should I buy one now? Well if you're really in need of it, sure... But personally I'd hold off until the new year, let Apple address this. This kind of issue happens in the computer industry all the time, the problem for Apple is they have "iconic" brands and the iMac is such an iconic brand that problems like this get noticed. If we were talking about some HP machine with some cryptic number for a name would this be as interesting? (Would El Reg use words like Fanbois or "howling" - no, they probably wouldn't even report it, because nobody would be interested. Given HP's quality control it would be hard to notice that any particular machine had a problem more than the normal shoddy junk they barf out anyway).
So the original commenter was right - being an early adopter of ANYTHING is a risk, sometimes it pays off and you get to enjoy a product before anyone else other times ... you get to talk to technical support (which is rather less fun).
...surely "it's no big deal".
Having said that, I think that the real story will be Apple's response. After all, every company drops one every now and then: the measure of how good a company it is is the quality of the response. £50 of iTunes vouchers would probably be a good starting point.
The problem is simply that Apple doesn't make their own computers anymore. Now they only design them and send the design to cheap taiwaneese or chineese companies which put just as much care into production as they do with other products from other brands. Now since Apple products often are more challenging to produce, the rate of defects is higher.
I may be wrong, but I thought apple used Foxconn for some of their parts... And whilst Foxconn aren't the biggest of brands, they have been making some very good stuff recently..
In fact, even the cheapest of manufacturers have better standards than this fiasco...
Oh, and I'm a PC user, not a mac fanboi