“Apple says the delays are due to high demand for the all-in-one desktop computer, its largest model yet,” Newman reports. “‘The new iMac has been a huge hit and we’re working hard to fulfill orders as quickly as possible,’ Apple’s official statement says. ‘We apologize for any inconvenience or delay in delivery this may cause our customers.'”
Newman reports, “Unofficially, the 27-inch iMac has display problems… Predictably, Apple is not talking about those issues, but BroadPoint AmTech analyst Brian Marshall lays the blame squarely on ATI’s graphics cards. ‘They should’ve stuck to Nvidia,’ Marshall told MacNewsWorld. Apple uses ATI cards in both its 27-inch iMacs and one of its 21-inch models, but only the larger models have been delayed.”
“Last week, the company delayed shipments by two weeks. Computerworld reports that other retailers have followed suit. Mac Connection, Amazon.com and ClubMac.com are among the authorized Apple resellers that won’t have the 27-inch iMac in time for Christmas,” Newman reports. “If you absolutely must have the iMac by then, MacMall’s Web site says the iMac ‘usually ships within 5 to 7 business days,’ and New York retailer B&H has the quad-core 27-inch iMac in stock.”
Full article here.
The next question is: Why are the new Cinema Displays with a MATTE screen option delayed — and delayed — and delayed?
“Newman reports. “If you absolutely must have the iMac by then, MacMall’s Web site says the iMac ‘usually ships within 5 to 7 business days,’…
Don’t believe that drivel for a New York second. I placed an order for an i7 iMac at 7:30 am on 11/27 (Black Friday) and it still hasn’t been shipped. First I was told the unit was scheduled to be received and shipped out on 12/4 and then it slipped to 12/14. Status still shows as “backorder”.
Truth in advertising ain’t what it used to be. Check out MacMall’s current banner ad at Appleinsider where they’re offering a “3.06GHz Quad 27″ iMac”.
This is real trouble. Just sold some more AAPL.
If the graphics card rumors are true, ATI had better start saying they’re prayers.
@Worried. Sure, sell that stock. Apple will never survive this crisis. You’re smart to stay ahead of the coming disaster.
You wouldn’t happen to give long term investment advice, would you?
This issue is overblown. There are plenty of people with 27′ iMacs with no screen problems, including me. Some people will experience issues with any tech product. Apple products are not immune to problems with a batch of a single product. But it’s not as bad as people are painting it to be.
The comments here talk about not believing everthing you read, now apply that thinking to this article.
The anti-Apple FUD machine is set to flood the media at the slightest hint of a possible negative spin. Once again, the accusation is the company is lying.
Whether or not there are also display problems, I would bet there is high demand. Perhaps it’s because I’m writing this on a stunning i7 which arrived yesterday in perfect condition (ordered Nov 30), or that so many people I know are clambering specifically for the 27″, but I’m inclined to believe the company is receiving large order volume. While is painful to wait for delivery and worse if there’s a defect, it’s not like the forums are overflowing with complaints.
That settles it. I am going to keep my stock and buy a second 27″ iMac and put in order in time to take tax deduction in 2009. If the video cards are defective, Apple will fix the problem as usual.
FUD? Not really.
If there are any problems with the ATI graphics it would have to be due to heat. The 4800 series runs hot. BTW any of you with Radeon 4800 graphics should periodically clean your heatsinks and fans. Weird video problems will most likely be due to poor cooling of these GPUs.
I don’t think Apple should have used a 4850 in an iMac. But it is in line with Apple’s use of last years hardware in current products. Apple should have gone with the Radeon 5xxx line, using far less power and generating far less heat.
Issues on a new unit would be poor heatsink seating (something which could even happen during shipping) or something related to fan speeds.
MDN word: fact
Just to clarify, this is not ATI’s fault. This is most likely Apple’s cooling design or something that happens during shipping. ATI has been shipping Radeon 48xx GPUs for over 18months.
Either way, it will be rectified by Apple but it will be up to the consumer to maintain a clean cooling system for the sake of machine longevity.
@Raskol
Nobody is saying it is FUD. The situation is simply not as wide spread as some would have you believe.
My i5 iMac did run hot when I first purchased it, but this seems to have disipated quite a bit and I have not had any screen issues.
@ Preston
Simple. Due to costs, Apple can only make the matte screens in multiples of ten. And you are nr. 3 in next batch.
Apple product team.
“Apple uses ATI cards in both its 27-inch iMacs and one of its 21-inch models, but only the larger models have been delayed.”
So there you go. It’s nice when these tardcakes actually make statements in their own article that totally undermine their allegations.
cheater: I placed an order for an i7 iMac at 7:30 am on 11/27 (Black Friday) and it still hasn’t been shipped. First I was told the unit was scheduled to be received and shipped out on 12/4 and then it slipped to 12/14. Status still shows as “backorder”.
I also ordered my 27″ i7 on Black Friday here in Germany, got the first quote for arrival on December 28th but recently received notice that they were able to advance arrival to the 17th after all.
According to the TNT tracker it is now in flight…
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So it could be that our orders just hit the phase when they had just stepped on the brakes (or they were completely overwhelmed by demand), but my impression is that they’re back on track by now, either because they’ve fixed some issues or because they’ve further ramped up production.
So I hope you’ll get yours soon as well – and of course, I hope that we’re all spared any hardware issues!
FUD?? What’s this then?
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2212682&tstart=0
Davecc: FUD?? What’s this then?
Individual cases which will always happen by the hundreds or even thousands when you’re shipping millions of devices.
Understandably frustrating if you’re the unlucky one, but difficult to generalize or quantify without having the actual internal numbers of defects.
@ Jay
m159 implied that it was FUD by using the word FUD.
Does anyone remember that in Apple’s last earnings conference call
Tim Cooke was quite specific about Apple expecting extra costs related to shipping in the holiday season? He refused to explain but said that it was related to extra holiday shipping expectations…?
Seemed like Apple was expecting expedited shipping costs to meet timely holiday demand…
Actually, I’m partly to blame
True story: The day before Thanksgiving, my beloved first gen 24″ iMac died. Took into the Apple store a couple days later. I had just one week left on my AppleCare. They ordered part, a new logic board, but it took a long time to find one. They finally got it, but the computers still wouldn’t work. So, they called and offered me a brand new, base model 27″. Gave it to me that day, free of charge. No problems with the monitor or overheating so far. Between Snow Leopard and the huge, high-def monitor, it’s a truly incredible machine.
@Raskol
I ignored that portion of M159’s comment because he contradicted himself in the second paragraph. M159 knows it is not FUD. That phrase, along with Fanboy, is overused or not usedcorrectly.
breeze: Does anyone remember that in Apple’s last earnings conference call
Tim Cooke was quite specific about Apple expecting extra costs related to shipping in the holiday season? He refused to explain but said that it was related to extra holiday shipping expectations…?
Indeed; My i7 was configured in China and is en route to Germany. The only way it can get here in time is by air freight, which will be expensive for a huge and heavy machine like that.
ATI sucks!
My friend wants to have the iMac BEFORE Christmas (present)
And, because of this ATI’s crap, he probably will not get it in time.
Why Apple is so unlucky with GPUs?
The first was NVidia inside MBPs, now ATI inside iMac…
And *Damned* Intel who wants to put *the crappiest* crap inside CPUs…
ping:
do you remember the figure he mentioned? Take the projected cost he talked about and do some number crunching to see how many new iMacs Apple estimated selling this Xmas and add to that for the huge demand…
@MacFinder
Nobody knows whether or not this is the fault of ATI. It’s all conjecture. My 27′ iMac works fine, along with many others.
breeze: do you remember the figure he mentioned? Take the projected cost he talked about and do some number crunching to see how many new iMacs Apple estimated selling this Xmas and add to that for the huge demand…
No, I don’t remember any numbers, but it might be interesting for sure.