New iMac Owner!!!

keredern

Hi guys,

Just wanted to post that I just received my FIRST iMac yesterday by courier direct from Apple.

It's a refurb & I am TOTALLY delighted with it & the service from Apple.

I ordered by phone on Wednesday afternoon & by 4.20pm Friday, it was sitting on my kitchen table!!!:D

I want to say thanks to all you Mac people:cool: who took the time to post advice which I gladly took...!:o

I didn't know Apple sold directly & was about to buy one from PCWorld until I read the thread stickies here!:rolleyes:

The one I would have ended up with was running outdated software & was shop soiled but was costing 200 euro more than a brand new up to date model direct from Apple with a higher spec processor, graphics card, etc.!!

So an HUGE thank you to everyone for helping this poor computer illiterate eejit & saving me from a costly mistake.

PS I've always been a fan of Mac but could never afford one...I still have my old Performa 400 (now I'm showing my age!!).:eek:

I've been stuck in the PC trap for about 15 years now....BUT no more!

The initial cost of any Apple computer is soon regained over time compared to using a PC, IMHO!!

No doubt I'll be posting looking for any help & advice from you all...so please feel free to offer any that springs to mind...e.g. recommended software, etc.:o

This is the model I bought;:)

Refurbished iMac 21.5-inch 3.2GHz Intel Core i3 processor

Originally released July 2010
21.5-inch LED-backlit glossy widescreen display
4GB memory
1TB hard drive
8x SuperDrive (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
ATI Radeon HD 5670 graphics with 512MB memory
Built-in iSight camera

Basq

Congrats... very nice buy!

Now go and enjoy!

silvine

Before you know it you'll have an iPhone, iPad and a Macbook to go with that machine

coylemj

Congrats on your purchase. If you feel the need to upgrade the memory, going from 4GB to 8GB will cost you Eur 200 on the Apple store, I bought the same memory from elara.ie for Eur 78, the price today is just Eur 53. It's Kingston memory, you'll need two of these and installing them is eazy peazy, the Apple details are in the grey bar above the price.....

http://www.elara.ie/products/detailsfull.asp?productcode=MME3428100

gartcork

keredern wrote: »

Hi guys,

Just wanted to post that I just received my FIRST iMac yesterday by courier direct from Apple.

It's a refurb & I am TOTALLY delighted with it & the service from Apple.

I ordered by phone on Wednesday afternoon & by 4.20pm Friday, it was sitting on my kitchen table!!!:D

I want to say thanks to all you Mac people:cool: who took the time to post advice which I gladly took...!:o

I didn't know Apple sold directly & was about to buy one from PCWorld until I read the thread stickies here!:rolleyes:

The one I would have ended up with was running outdated software & was shop soiled but was costing 200 euro more than a brand new up to date model direct from Apple with a higher spec processor, graphics card, etc.!!

So an HUGE thank you to everyone for helping this poor computer illiterate eejit & saving me from a costly mistake.

PS I've always been a fan of Mac but could never afford one...I still have my old Performa 400 (now I'm showing my age!!).:eek:

I've been stuck in the PC trap for about 15 years now....BUT no more!

The initial cost of any Apple computer is soon regained over time compared to using a PC, IMHO!!

No doubt I'll be posting looking for any help & advice from you all...so please feel free to offer any that springs to mind...e.g. recommended software, etc.:o

This is the model I bought;:)

Refurbished iMac 21.5-inch 3.2GHz Intel Core i3 processor

Originally released July 2010
21.5-inch LED-backlit glossy widescreen display
4GB memory
1TB hard drive
8x SuperDrive (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
ATI Radeon HD 5670 graphics with 512MB memory
Built-in iSight camera

Once you go mac you won't go back! Enjoy, great purchase.

coylemj wrote: »

Congrats on your purchase. If you feel the need to upgrade the memory, going from 4GB to 8GB will cost you Eur 200 on the Apple store, I bought the same memory from elara.ie for Eur 78, the price today is just Eur 53. It's Kingston memory, you'll need two of these and installing them is eazy peazy, the Apple details are in the grey bar above the price.....

http://www.elara.ie/products/detailsfull.asp?productcode=MME3428100

Just bought extra 4GB Ram there....great spot, thanks a lot.

Deep Thought

Lovely

You cant beat a Mac

keredern

coylemj wrote: »

Congrats on your purchase. If you feel the need to upgrade the memory, going from 4GB to 8GB will cost you Eur 200 on the Apple store, I bought the same memory from elara.ie for Eur 78, the price today is just Eur 53. It's Kingston memory, you'll need two of these and installing them is eazy peazy, the Apple details are in the grey bar above the price.....

http://www.elara.ie/products/detailsfull.asp?productcode=MME3428100

Thanks for the info & the link.

Not that IT savvy so just how easy is this to do?

And if I did upgrade the RAM myself, would this affect the warranty??

Thanks for all the great comments guys...I'm like a child on Christmas morning!!:D:D

Silvine, I have a HTC Desire HD which is out of this world so will not be needing an iPhone just yet...or indeed an iPad!!!:p

Now a Macbook....hmmmmmm...might just check adverts.ie!!!:rolleyes:

Skerries

replacing the memory is a user replaceable part so it will not void the warranty
it is a panel on the bottom of the iMac

Mr. Presentable

OP, what did it cost?

Bluehair

Showing €1249 for the iMac the op bought at the moment.

If you don't mind .14Ghz less clock speed and a smaller hard drive and graphics card then you can get one for only €999! Bargain in my opinion.

Don't forget the iMac is overdue a refresh and apparently just around the corner with Sandy Bridge & Thunderbolt. Might be worth waiting for depending on your requirements.

whoopdedoo

gartcork wrote: »

Once you go mac you won't go back! Enjoy, great purchase.





Just bought extra 4GB Ram there....great spot, thanks a lot.

did you buy just 4gb of ram or 2 x 4gb ram?

whoopdedoo

@ keredern

best advice I can give you is something that got me at the start of my mac honeymoon and that is: to remove software on a mac you has to download a software removal application, see link below for one such application and a few other handy apps for you to look at

http://m.cultofmac.com/50-mac-essentials-24-appcleaner/76547

gartcork

whoopdedoo wrote: »

did you buy just 4gb of ram or 2 x 4gb ram?

2 x 2gb ram. I went from 4gb to 8gb. Less than €63 including delivery to Cork.

I'll wait a year or two before I upgrade to 16gb ram

whoopdedoo

gartcork wrote: »

2 x 2gb ram. I went from 4gb to 8gb. Less than €63 including delivery to Cork.

I'll wait a year or two before I upgrade to 16gb ram

wowy wee wa, what machine you got? I've got a 2009 iMac so best I can hope for in a couple of years time is an upgrade to 8gb ram and maybe a more reasonably priced ssd to replace the sata drive, I'm hoping that'll do me for another couple of years then

gartcork

whoopdedoo wrote: »

wowy wee wa, what machine you got? I've got a 2009 iMac so best I can hope for in a couple of years time is an upgrade to 8gb ram and maybe a more reasonably priced ssd to replace the sata drive, I'm hoping that'll do me for another couple of years then

2010 27" iMac i5. It supports up to 4 x 4gb ram.
I'm hoping this will do me for many years to come.

Liameter

Now I'm feckin jealous!

Did you buy a backup drive?

http://www.glodark.com/computer.htm

fifth

CongratsOP, and thanks for the RAM tip, just ordered 2 modules.

backthephilup

Congrats OP i made the switch myself about two months ago.

banquo

WANT.

fifth

banquo wrote: »

WANT.

GET.

I got an iPhone 4 first, never used any Apple products before. After I had a taste of iOS and a 'good, solid user experience' I bought an iMac. Now yesterday an iPad and my OH has an iPhone 3GS..

It's contagious!

coylemj

funkyflea wrote: »

GET.

I got an iPhone 4 first, never used any Apple products before. After I had a taste of iOS and a 'good, solid user experience' I bought an iMac. Now yesterday an iPad and my OH has an iPhone 3GS..

It's contagious!

The morketing people call it the 'halo effect'....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halo_effect#As_a_business_model

keredern

I already have the first signs of this mega contagious disease...a rash on my typing fingers!!!

Thank you everyone for all the great replys & suggestions!

Keep them coming!!!

coylemj

An alternative to buying 2 x 2GB to upgrade the memory from 4GB to 8GB on an i3/i5 might be to replace the existing 2 x 2GB memory with 2 x 4GB which will cost you more (Eur 85) than adding 2 x 2GB (Eur 53) but the eventual upgrade to 16GB will cost less since you will only have to buy 2 x 4GB DIMMs instead of 4.

http://www.elara.ie/products/detailsfull.asp?productcode=ECE1927022&productID=S7699985

I don't know if 2 x 2GB and 2 x 4GB can co-exist, I'm assuming they can not.

Jabel

OP, Congrats and welcome to the MAC world.
A word of warning however, I would advise you strongly
to purchase AppleCare for your imac.
The software is excellent as you will discover but
the same cannot be said for all Apple hardware.
I spent over 2k in late 2009 on a 27" iMAC i7.
Hard drive went after 12 months, upon getting it back
the fans were running at full blast all the time and as I
type this the machine is back again to an Apple Service
Provider for a new screen/backlight.
All repairs covered under AppleCare I must stress but
am less than impressed with the Imac hardware, I'm 15 years
working on macs without any real major problems but that was on G4's
G5's and MacPro's.
I don't wish to dampen your enthusiasm for your new machine
but it is worth doing in my experience and will give you
peace of mind for 3 years.

keredern

Oh cripes!!! That's not good!!!:(

I always intended to purchase the extended warranty but your story has certainly unnerved me!!:eek:

I know that was not your intention & that not every machine will suffer the same fate!!:rolleyes:

But it is certainly a lesson worth learning...& not the hard way!

Thank you for your excellent advice!

silvine

coylemj wrote: »

The morketing people call it the 'halo effect'....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halo_effect#As_a_business_model

It's what I call a bloody big credit card bill! Believe

BTW, what's the point in getting more than 4GB RAM. I've a 2010 iMac with 4GB and the only thing I can think that would make is faster is SSD?

Also, I had screen problems my iMac. Apple replaced it for me as it was under warranty. Does anyone know if you can buy Apple Care several months after purchase?

silvine

Mac apps you should consider:

Scrivener, Transmission, Dropbox, SRS iWOW, Bean, Pages, Papers, Alfred, Hazel, Starcraft 2 and Growl.

Also the iMac speakers aren't fantastic. The audioaffair.co.uk sell decent ones. Check out the A20s.

coylemj

Jabel wrote: »

OP, Congrats and welcome to the MAC world.
A word of warning however, I would advise you strongly
to purchase AppleCare for your imac.
The software is excellent as you will discover but
the same cannot be said for all Apple hardware.
I spent over 2k in late 2009 on a 27" iMAC i7.
Hard drive went after 12 months, upon getting it back
the fans were running at full blast all the time and as I
type this the machine is back again to an Apple Service
Provider for a new screen/backlight.
All repairs covered under AppleCare I must stress but
am less than impressed with the Imac hardware, I'm 15 years
working on macs without any real major problems but that was on G4's
G5's and MacPro's.
I don't wish to dampen your enthusiasm for your new machine
but it is worth doing in my experience and will give you
peace of mind for 3 years.

I'm sorry but that just doesn't stack up - you had no problem for 15 years and now just because you got a turkey you recommend that every Mac purchaser pays for an extended warranty?

May I ask if you paid for an extended warranty on your car? A gearbox failure on a car would cost a lot more to fix than the price of a new iMac.

If iMacs had an inherent problem with h/w unreliability then Apple would have sorted it by now in order to preserve their extremely valuable brand name. You appear to have been unlucky but this type of thing happens with cars, ovens, vacuum cleaners and all sorts of consumer goods.

The exception does not prove the rule.

jay93

Nice one hope all goes well with your new mac:D
Last mac i used was running osx tiger 10.4 i think it was(long time ago)
they are easy to get used to imo and much better than alot of linux distros out there!

id say alot has changed since OSX tiger .that mac i used to use only had 512mb of ram :rolleyes: it ran great for over 4years then started to slow down alot really needed a ram upgrade it did once you have a ram of over 1GB you should be flying along:)

All the best ..:P:cool:

Jabel

coylemj wrote: »

I'm sorry but that just doesn't stack up - you had no problem for 15 years and now just because you got a turkey you recommend that every Mac purchaser pays for an extended warranty?

May I ask if you paid for an extended warranty on your car? A gearbox failure on a car would cost a lot more to fix than the price of a new iMac.

If iMacs had an inherent problem with h/w unreliability then Apple would have sorted it by now in order to preserve their extremely valuable brand name. You appear to have been unlucky but this type of thing happens with cars, ovens, vacuum cleaners and all sorts of consumer goods.

The exception does not prove the rule.

As I said 15 years virtually trouble free would have led most people
to buy without Applecare. This is my first Mac for home use and to me
a 2k outlay was worth insuring.
Unfortunately I have been proven right to purchase Applecare and
boy I'm glad I did it now. Indeed it appears I have been sold a turkey and any more failures and the machine is going back for good.
While my experience may be 'an exception' I would not be the only one who would recommend Applecare.

Sad Professor

I would generally recommend getting AppleCare as well. But not because I think Apple hardware is less reliable than it used to be or less reliable than any other computer manufacturer. It's just good to have.

Although it should be pointed out that under Irish law you are entitled to get any faults repaired by the seller for free anyway.

12 months for a hard drive is actually kinda good imo. It doesn't matter who makes them or what computer they are put in, hard drives are not reliable.

coylemj

Applecare = Extended Warranty = bad value for money.

I agree that you get peace of mind but at the end of the day you are not getting good value for money. Life is all about assessing risks and in the case of consumer goods you could throw all of your money at protecting everything you own but all you'd be doing is lining the pockets of insurance companies.

I repeat what I said earlier, replacing an out of warranty gearbox in a car will cost you far more than a new iMac but only a tiny percentage of car owners purchase extended warranties, the rest of us are prepared to take the risk.

Apple are looking for E179 to cover my iMac for years two and three. Given that the memory upgrade from 4GB to 8GB is E200 on the Apple store while I can buy the same memory from elara.ie for E53, I think I'll give the Applecare package a miss.

PeakOutput

coylemj wrote: »

Applecare = Extended Warranty = bad value for money.

I agree that you get peace of mind but at the end of the day you are not getting good value for money. Life is all about assessing risks and in the case of consumer goods you could throw all of your money at protecting everything you own but all you'd be doing is lining the pockets of insurance companies.

I repeat what I said earlier, replacing an out of warranty gearbox in a car will cost you far more than a new iMac but only a tiny percentage of car owners purchase extended warranties, the rest of us are prepared to take the risk.

Apple are looking for E179 to cover my iMac for years two and three. Given that the memory upgrade from 4GB to 8GB is E200 on the Apple store while I can buy the same memory from elara.ie for E53, I think I'll give the Applecare package a miss.

you can find legitimate apple care plans on ebay for a lot less then that. of course if you are fundamentally against insurance then its a bad investment but if you are like the majority of people and prefer the peace of mind then you can get that peace of mind for fairly cheap on ebay

I havnt purchased apple care yet but I will more then likely do it right before the year long limit is up

conor.hogan.2

What actually gets covered under applecare?

conor.hogan.2

What actually gets covered by applecare?

PeakOutput

http://www.apple.com/support/products/mac.html

conor.hogan.2

Yes. But I mean if you crack your screen is that covered? If you drop the laptop and the HHD stops working? CD drive fails? dead pixels? damaged pixels? battery dies a natural death? Cracked the case? logic board? etc Or do they just give you a new laptop if the hdd or logic board fails?

Sad Professor

conor.hogan.2 wrote: »

Yes. But I mean if you crack your screen is that covered?

No.

If you drop the laptop and the HHD stops working?

No.

CD drive fails?

By itself - yes.

dead pixels?

Yes. But they used to require that there be a cluster of them. I'm not sure if that's still the policy.

damaged pixels?

Damaged by the user? No.

battery dies a natural death?

A natural death, after the expected number of cycles, no.

Cracked the case?

If it's a design fault, yes, even outside of warranty as the recent cracked case thread showed.

logic board? etc Or do they just give you a new laptop if the hdd or logic board fails?

They'll replace the parts. But if you've had about 3 repairs or so you can usually demand a replacement.

AppleCare is an extended warranty, not insurance.

conor.hogan.2

OK, I dont know. So 250 to make sure the laptop lasts three years, except for damage you cause and the battery. There is always the chance the cd could fail or the ram or the logic board. Plus there is a huge chance the HDD could fail. Buy it if you can afford it and want peace of mind. That said you could get a decent ssd for 250 euro if/when your hdd fails.

coylemj

conor.hogan.2 wrote: »

Plus there is a huge chance the HDD could fail. Buy it if you can afford it and want peace of mind. That said you could get a decent ssd for 250 euro if/when your hdd fails.

I have been using laptops since the early 1990s, usually they got replaced after 4 years and I have never had a laptop HDD failure.

coylemj

PeakOutput wrote: »

you can find legitimate apple care plans on ebay for a lot less then that. of course if you are fundamentally against insurance then its a bad investment but if you are like the majority of people and prefer the peace of mind then you can get that peace of mind for fairly cheap on ebay

I am not fundamentally against insurance, it's just that I have watched a small cross-section of the TV consumer programs which have all come to the same conclusion: extended warranties are bad value for money and given the high prices that Apple charges for all of it's products, their extended warranty is even worse value for money than the norm.