“Just when it looked like Apple was putting its 27-inch iMac troubles behind it with a balance in supply and demand, the company has abruptly pushed new direct orders of its big screen desktop machines out by three weeks,” Katie Marsal reports for AppleInsider.
“While the 21.5-inch models of the new iMac currently ship within 24 hours, as of Thursday new 27-inch iMacs have a three-week estimated shipping time,” Marsal reports. “Only days ago, the Mac maker had improved it supply of the larger models to shipping times of less than a week.”
“Released last October, the newly redesigned iMacs include an edge-to-edge glass design in a seamless all-aluminum enclosure,” Marsal reports. “The new iMacs were an immediate hit with consumers, who made them the best-selling desktop machines in the U.S that same quarter.”
“However, soon after the launch, reports of issues with the 27-inch iMac began to crop up. Apple moved quickly to address the issue, releasing a software patch meant to remedy the problems plaguing owners,” Marsal reports. “But for many users, the update wasn’t successful in fixing the problem, as posts on the Apple discussion forums have continued to grow. The same issues have not been reported with the 21.5-inch models.”
Read more in the full article here.
Two things are happening here.
1. People are shipping back units for replacements.
2. The rig is fucking awsome, demand is currently higher than the supply.
I bet the factory(s) are working three shifts to catch up.
I bought one of the first 27 inch iMacs with the fancy-schmancy i7 chip. Except for the occasional flicker, it works great. I also bought Applecare… just in case.
It’s #2 – I know first hand.
Go for the 8GB ram and away you go. The 27 can open eight 40mb PSD files in less time than it takes to say ‘holy shit’ and Final Cut is a once again a joy to use.
My 27″ i7 quad core has worked flawlesly since day one. It is an awesome machine. Problem for Apple is, I can’t see the need to upgrade whithin this decade. I still remember he days if the Mac Plus. I mean, we would upgrade as soon as a new model came out because the speed upgrades were so drmatic for day to day operation. Whith the new machines one can only tell hiwbpowerful these machines are when doing video or Photoshop or handling huge files. Bottom line is, it doesn’t get better than this.
The 27″ iMacs are incredibly popular and are flying off the shelves. Apple can’t supply ’em fast enough. Anyone doubting this should do what Gene Munster’s crew does and stand in Apple stores and count them being bought fist hand. You won’t believe how many walk out the door with a 27″ in hand at all NY stores on daily basis.
That’s aside from underestimated huge online purchases from the online Apple store which will become evident when Apple announces their quarterly earnings next week
Perhaps they will be doing a refresh (blue-ray?) at next Wednesdays event.
My 27″ i5 (purchased directly at a local Apple store) is flawless and a thing of unparalleled beauty. It is breathtaking in design and functionality, and I’ve personally sold at least three when friends behold it running Mac apps and Windows simultaneously (faster than their single-OS relics could ever dream of).
. . . and, yes, yadayada, I’m with you on the delay. Blu-ray, or something like it, is coming as an option on the big boy.
I agree demand is high, but this delay is more likely due to issues with quality control. I had the yellowed screen issue with my quad-core i5 and the Apple techs were unble to fix it even after switching out the LCD numerous times and changing video cards more then once. Apple is an awesome company because even after 2 months they are willing to refund my money because they can’t fix it. It is an amazing machine and I will be the first in line to try again once the problems are ironed out. If you have a new iMac with no problems… I am very jealous. Doing all my work on a MacBook Air just plain stinks. Great computer too, but pulls its groin muscle everytine it trys to do any heavy lifting.
See that’s why I don’t buy MACs. They can’t even fix their shipment flaw LOL. Good thing I’m a PC.
http://www.bing.com When it comes to decisions that matter, Bing & Decide
All tech products have issues within their first release… even Windows PCs. Apple will fix this and they are working on it. So far the screen issues remain a mystery. The individual components work fine, but certain components are not working happily together. At least Apple is willing to admit there is an issue to their customers on a case by case basis and do the right thing.
And that is why I am glad to be a Mac.
@ I’m a PC,
I don’t buy Media Access Controllers either.
“The 27 can open eight 40mb PSD files in less time than it takes to say ‘holy shit’ and Final Cut is a once again a joy to use.”
Your HDD still only spins at 7,200 RPM. Now imagine a 10,000 RPM VelociRaptor in that baby.
I like to think about when the Mac Pros will get updated. Dual Core i9 CPUs (12 physical cores), at least 8 GB RAM, four SAS drives in RAID 01 spinning at 15,000 RPM… Mmmmm.
I opted to buy the Mac Pro(Quad Core Xeon) and a refurb 24 LED Cinema instead of the ridiculously overpriced and overheating 27″ iMac. The inclusion of vampire video in all but the most expensive iMacs and the facts that it lacks decent connectivity and cannot be internally upgraded is ridiculous at that price.
Re: Empty Tank.
“Problem for Apple is, I can’t see the need to upgrade whithin this decade.”
Unless you begin counting at zero, the decade ends December 31, 2010.
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I ordered my i7 27-incher on Dec 29. It’s had one delay from Jan 13 delivery to somewhere in Jan 27-29 timeframe. I say, please let it arrive with glass intact and no flicker and I’ll be happy. Take all the time you need, Apple.
There is a possibility that the chips are being updated to a different model or firmware or bridge – it is not uncommon for apple to release a new or tweaked MLB design for solving an issue without making a new model. There are always ramp-up issues with that, and with a machine as popular as that, it could cause a supply chain gap like that.
I got my i5 a week ago, and all the problems people have been discussing, I’ve been experiencing. Flickering, black outs, all of it. My machine was built on 12/28/2009, so, clearly, Apple hasn’t FIXED the problem yet. Mine’s going back to MacConnection, and it looks now like I won’t have a functioning 27″ til mid February. Shame. It’s just an awesome machine. Hope I get one before the tab is available.
Has anyone determined yet what is causing the flickering, gradients, blackouts and such on the 27-inch iMacs while the 21-inch models aren’t affected?
Could it have something to do with the graphics cards in the 27-inch iMacs?
No problems here with mine. I think it should be noted that although more than one or two people have problems, most don’t.
A Reader:
You must be a mathematician, or astronomer (they are the only ones sticking to “decade begins with 2011” mantra).
As it has always been much easier for general understanding, it has long been universally accepted that the decade (century, millennium) is considered new when the number is round (i.e. 2010; 1900; 2000). It must annoy the hell out of those mathematicians, but just as we all celebrated the new millennium when the new year 2000 came around (even though it was still the last year of the 2nd millennium and 20th century), we’ve been doing the same for the new decade in this third millennium.
So, for “Empty Tank”, as well as the rest of humanity (minus few mathematicians), this decade had begun oh, about three weeks ago.
@Raptor
Too bad you can’t put a 2nd drive in an iMac. If you could, you could put in a 2nd drive identical to the stock drive and set it up for RAID0. About the same as a hard drive with twice the capacity of a stock drive, and running at 14,000 rpm. I did that on my Mac Pro and the speed difference is astounding.
@Predrag: people use its for it’s and your for you’re, buy windows more than macs, etc. doesn’t make it right just because the majority does it.
It’s not the video card. Mine was replaced numerous times by the Apple tech and the LCD was replaced numerous times and the yellow screen issue still persisted.
@auramac
It is true that a lot of people are not experiencing any issues. However, there are a lot of people who fail to notice the issues because they are either not professionals, new to the Mac, or simply haven’t noticed. Those of us that have noticed the issue have had no luck with replacments or repairs. My iMac was retuned today for a full refund after owning it for two months. The reason the Apple Store did this was because they couldn’t repair the issue, didn’t know what was causing it and couldn’t guarantee that a replacement wouldn’t have the same problem. Those are the Apple Store tech’s words and not mine.
I got mine at the right moment I guess, ordering an i7 in early December and receiving it a little over two weeks later. The display is stunning. The machine is as powerful as a 2-year old MacPro. No problems, no cracks, no glitches, just a glorious masterpiece of design and engineering.
Some 21.5″ models are having problems as well. It’s just not as wide spread. If I lower my brightness down to about 3 or 4, I get the flicker. I haven’t worried about it too much though. I just don’t lower the brightness that far.