Hello everyone,


This is a bit off-topic for this echo, but it is Mac-related, and so I thought I'd post it here, since I appear to be about the only one who has been trying to keep this echo alive for months now.


Well, after waiting for ten long weeks -- minus one day -- the "day of
truth" has finally come and gone, and I would like to share an initial
report -- and my personal impressions -- with everyone regarding my new 2.8
GHz Quad Core i7 with 8 GB of RAM and the Hitachi 2 TB hard drive.

The unit was delivered to my home on January 21st around 4:30 PM. It is a
week 51 unit. It was not delivered to me in the original brown shipping box, but rather just in the Apple box. The exterior of the Apple box was fine,
other than a small nick that was located in the lower left-hand area on the front.

To clarify, prior to delivery of the unit to my home, I gave our Authorized Apple Reseller permission to unbox the unit in order to physically inspect
it, as well as to go through a checklist of items that I gave them; that is, potential problems that the unit might possibly exhibit, based on thousands
of comments which have been posted on the Apple Discussion Forums, as well
as on other Apple-related messageboards, blogs and news sites since October
of last year.

After spending several hours deciding how to rearrange my desktop in order
to make room for this behemoth, I finally turned on the machine at about
7:00 PM.

I decided from the start that I am not going to load up the new iMac with
all of my programs until I am relatively certain that I have a non-defective machine; and that means waiting at least a few weeks.

So, for now, I've just installed a few basic things like Perian, VLC, Vox, ClamXav, Isolator, Shortcuts, iStat Pro, etc., so that I can begin to enjoy
the machine for what it is really designed for: audio and video. In fact, I wasn't even going to connect an ethernet cable until I realized that I had
no choice since I had to access some files on our other LAN machines.

In short, for now, I am going to continue using my 733 MHz G4 mini-tower for
my usual daily activities like web surfing, writing email, downloading
files, etc. I primarily bought the iMac in order to enhance my entertainment experiences, and also because my G4 mini-towers are now 9-10 years old, and
are nearing the end of their "lives".

My AAR had informed me that there were some dead pixels, but after examining the unit for myself, I've decided that I can live with it. The screen itself has 2.5 dead pixels. That means that two of them are very dark -- and thus
very obvious -- while the third is much lighter in color, and may possibly
be stuck, and not truly dead. I ran the "Fix Dead Pixels" video on one of
the dead ones for about six hours, but it was to no avail. But, because the dead pixels are located on the right third of the screen, and not dead
center, it is bearable. Due to the desktop background, the only time that I
may really notice them is when I place a white text document in that area of the screen.

On the other hand, the iSight camera has seven stuck or dead pixels. Considering that I will probably rarely ever use the iSight, while seven
pixels might not be acceptable to other folks, I am willing to accept it. Besides, it is my understanding that 9.5 stuck or dead pixels is not enough
to warrant an exchange, replacement or refund in Apple's view.

One other comment about the iSight camera: I immediately noticed that the
image is considerably brighter -- and clearer -- than the one on our 24"
iMac, even with the ceiling light off.

I next checked for the yellow tinge problem that many people have reported, using the online test, as well as a copy of the yellow tinge test HTML file that I have here. If there is a yellow tinge, I haven't noticed it, and it
must be very negligible -- or simply non-existent. As paranoid as some of us have become, I think if we stare long and hard enough at our screens, we
just might imagine that the yellow tinge is there, even if it really isn't.

Obviously, it is currently too early to determine if the widely-reported
screen flickering or screen tearing problems exist on this machine, but for now, the machine has been running for almost three days now without the problems manifesting themselves -- but I have rebooted it a few times while installing some things, and I do turn it off at night.

Overall, I am very impressed with this machine...but who wouldn't be after using 10-year-old 400 MHz, 500 MHz and 733 MHz G4's for years now? :)

Also, the sound quality of the speakers is very nice, and I may just forego plugging in my external speakers.

Temperature-wise, everything -- fans, HD, CPU, GPU, etc., have remained
below 150 degrees Fahrenheit. Here they are:

Hard Drive: 137 CPU: 133 Ambient: 77 GPU Diode: 144 GPU Heatsink: 140 Mem Controller: 135 Optical Drive: 122 Power Supply 2: 149

Of course, they keep fluctuating continuously, but during these three days,
I have rarely seen any of the temperatures even make it up to 150 degrees.

Fan speeds are currently:

Optical Drive: 998 rpm Hard Drive: 1099 rpm CPU Fan: 1431 rpm

That is the fastest that I've ever seen the CPU Fan rpm.

Right now I am listening to Bear McCreary's BSG soundtracks in high quality FLAC format, which reside on an external Iomega 1 TB eGo drive. I am using
Vox. It is small, not bloated, and serves me better than iTunes. :)

My biggest complaint at this time would be that I cannot use SoundSource
with this machine to switch between internal speakers and my Logitech
headset. If I connect the headset to the headset port, the headset is the
only thing that shows in SoundSource's audio options. In short, I have to manually plug in and unplug the headset whenever I want to use the internal speakers. This was not the case with my G4 running Tiger. I would plug the headset into the jack on one of the speakers, and SoundSource worked fine,
as I recall. Anyway, I wrote to Rogue Amoeba yesterday about this, but they have yet to respond.

One thing is for certain; this machine is very bright; and due to my poor eyesight, it has to be rather close to my face; so I can really feel the
heat, and I fear that I may get a sunburn in short order! :) :)

Okay...I guess I have gone on long enough, but I wanted to give everyone
here enough information so that they can make a comparison with the
performance of their own new iMacs.

I am of course hoping for the best, but am still apprehensive about a
potential disappoint if the flickering and blackouts should start.

I will continue to keep everyone posted periodically, until I feel I am in
the safe zone...whenever that is.


Jeff Snyder, SysOp - Armageddon BBS Visit us at endtimeprophecy.org port 23 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Your Download Center 4 Mac BBS Software & Christian Files. We Use Hermes II


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