imac 27

[mashimaroo]

when was the last time apple updated their imacs? Im looking into getting one but i dont want to get it and then have them upgrade them the next week or month.

 

[dmw16]

google 'Mac Rumors Buying Guide'

 

[vi edit]

Latest I've read is potential...and that is nothing but a rumor at this point...of an Ivy Bridge release late spring/early Summer '12 that will bring USB 3 to the iMac. But that is nothing more than a rumor and a guess at this point. Most comments at macrumors say a very minor refresh in March with the big refresh in June'ish.

 

[sportage]

That’s the cool thing with a Mac, unlike windows based stuff, your mac will do you well for many years. Whenever you plan to jump in, realistically you will be happy for many many years. The only improvement mac could make that "might" want me to upgrade would be if they added a BR DVD drive. otherwise, with apple you’re not so much in this "I need the newest and latest" mode.

 

[Patranus]

For the lazy
http://buyersguide.macrumors.com/#iMac

 

[Flat Mop]

Yeah... well that's kinda what you'll have to deal with if you buy a Mac.

 

[vi edit]

Yeah... well that's kinda what you'll have to deal with if you buy a Mac.

What do you have to deal with?

 

[BarkingGhostar]

All I know is I am returned an i7Mac today. Bought it on Friday, did all of the system updates, and I believe one of the two EFI updates has caused most/all of the observed cold boot issues I am experiencing. I reinstalled Lion multiple times, even booted to an external Recovery HD and install Lion new on a new partition. All prior personal info and data will be lost, but a fresh install without updates will result. Only thing that remained in place were the two EFI updates, which I believe is the culprit.

Googling the observed issues resulted in other experiencing the same problems, and not exclusive to the iMacs.

 

[dclive]

All I know is I am returned an i7Mac today. Bought it on Friday, did all of the system updates, and I believe one of the two EFI updates has caused most/all of the observed cold boot issues I am experiencing. I reinstalled Lion multiple times, even booted to an external Recovery HD and install Lion new on a new partition. All prior personal info and data will be lost, but a fresh install without updates will result. Only thing that remained in place were the two EFI updates, which I believe is the culprit.

Googling the observed issues resulted in other experiencing the same problems, and not exclusive to the iMacs.

Did the replacement have any problems?

 

[BarkingGhostar]

The replacement had the exact same problems.

 

[alent1234]

That’s the cool thing with a Mac, unlike windows based stuff, your mac will do you well for many years. Whenever you plan to jump in, realistically you will be happy for many many years. The only improvement mac could make that "might" want me to upgrade would be if they added a BR DVD drive. otherwise, with apple you’re not so much in this "I need the newest and latest" mode.

deserves and Ozzy quote

"keep on smoking them joints"

 

[Kenmitch]

If you can live with the specs of the iMac today then my suggestion would still be to wait it out for a refresh. Then you just gotta decide if the refresh is worth more to you than the discount you'll be getting on the old generation.

 

[dclive]

The replacement had the exact same problems.

I think it's highly unlikely 2 different iMacs would have the same problem, and so possible scenarios are that there's either an endemic problem or there's a user issue.

What did Apple say?

What, exactly, are the cold boot problems? Your first post didn't go into any level of detail except to say you think it's EFI firmware related, and mine updated perfectly. Can you explain?

 

[dclive]

deserves and Ozzy quote

"keep on smoking them joints"

I think his point would be better focused on registry cruft causing premature Windows 'aging' plus the constant Windows virus issues; some people just give up and toss the old machine (which, honestly, would likely work fine if re-imaged and cared for better) and buy a new Windows PC.

I think Macs tend to last quite well, and their resale is excellent, so there's really not much to debate on his core point.

 

[alent1234]

Windows hasnt had a virus issue for years. I'm looking at an Mbp this year for my wife but technically wIndows is a lot more advanced than os x.

 

[BarkingGhostar]

I think it's highly unlikely 2 different iMacs would have the same problem, and so possible scenarios are that there's either an endemic problem or there's a user issue.

What did Apple say?

What, exactly, are the cold boot problems? Your first post didn't go into any level of detail except to say you think it's EFI firmware related, and mine updated perfectly. Can you explain?

If it were a user issue then the two Genius' didn't catch me as they stood over my shoulder. But thanks for the vote of confidence.

On cold boot once you login the background image loads in a non-smooth manner (video is choppy). This is also seen when running a slide show. The very next thing you notice is that the menu bar fails to load. You can wait an hour and it will not appear on its own.

I can force the menu bar to appear, but then that leads to other discoveries such as the hollow wifi icon. If I click on that icon the system reports 'Wi-Fi: No hardware installed'. If you drill down in the networking setup you find the wifi not turned on, and cannot be turned on.

I'm not surprised wifi cannot be turned on if the system thinks the hardware isn't installed. :biggrin: Moving beyond that if I had a USB device (e.g. thumb drive) originally plugged in at boot it is accessible as a Device. If it is ejected, physically removed, and re-inserted it is either not being auto-detected, or detected and not auto-mounted.

The next issue was when testing with 3rd party software installation. I installed Firefox. It appeared to be installed as I launched the browser and surfed prior to shutting down to test for the cold boot condition. Upon cold boot the s/w was no longer found installed.

All of these issues were on both units, and in both cases they problems disappeared if I REbooted the system after cold booting it. I would think if I was doing something wrong then the two Genius' would have picked up on it instead of telling me these two units were going back to engineering.

So, what say you? I'd love to have had this a user error. I wanted this thing as much as the wife did (it was for her). I guess the wife could have lived with the Boot+Reboot every time she wanted to use it, but the 3rd party s/w install thing freaked the store employees out.

 

[dclive]

Windows hasnt had a virus issue for years.

I can only imagine you have a magical Windows machine.

I'm looking at an Mbp this year for my wife but technically wIndows is a lot more advanced than os x.

How so?

 

[dclive]

If it were a user issue then the two Genius' didn't catch me as they stood over my shoulder. But thanks for the vote of confidence.

On cold boot once you login the background image loads in a non-smooth manner (video is choppy). This is also seen when running a slide show. The very next thing you notice is that the menu bar fails to load. You can wait an hour and it will not appear on its own.

I can force the menu bar to appear, but then that leads to other discoveries such as the hollow wifi icon. If I click on that icon the system reports 'Wi-Fi: No hardware installed'. If you drill down in the networking setup you find the wifi not turned on, and cannot be turned on.

I'm not surprised wifi cannot be turned on if the system thinks the hardware isn't installed. :biggrin: Moving beyond that if I had a USB device (e.g. thumb drive) originally plugged in at boot it is accessible as a Device. If it is ejected, physically removed, and re-inserted it is either not being auto-detected, or detected and not auto-mounted.

The next issue was when testing with 3rd party software installation. I installed Firefox. It appeared to be installed as I launched the browser and surfed prior to shutting down to test for the cold boot condition. Upon cold boot the s/w was no longer found installed.

All of these issues were on both units, and in both cases they problems disappeared if I REbooted the system after cold booting it. I would think if I was doing something wrong then the two Genius' would have picked up on it instead of telling me these two units were going back to engineering.

So, what say you? I'd love to have had this a user error. I wanted this thing as much as the wife did (it was for her). I guess the wife could have lived with the Boot+Reboot every time she wanted to use it, but the 3rd party s/w install thing freaked the store employees out.

What do you mean Firefox "was no longer found installed" - it didn't exist in /Applications? Since there's no reason for this one package to move during a system reboot, that makes absolutely no sense. (The behavior, not your description.)

How did you force the menu bar to appear?

I've never heard of this before. Googling found nothing at all similar to this. If you've installed no software (i.e. a virgin system) Apple should be able to tell you exactly what is wrong. What did the Apple employees suggest that you do? Try another one? Did this happen right after first boot up? A possible course would be to boot up a Mac in the store and confirm that didn't have this problem.

Sorry about hurting feelings, but honestly, if this were a major problem, Apple Geniuses would know about it, other people would know about it, it would be duplicating on all the 10.7 (I assume you ran 10.7) machines out there, etc. But it isn't. It's highly likely something else is going on.

 

[alent1234]

Even at work we don't get that many virus alerts anymore. Every spring at defcon os x is always hacked. Last few years the hackers are even saying its a lot easier than windows. One reason is craPpy aslr imPlementation. And os x security issues are on the rise the last year.

Windows supports all kinds of cool technologies like virtualization, san's and a long list of others. Os x is a consumer os for running iLife and a few other apps.

There are even rumors apple is going to kill the Mac pro.

I can run windows 7 very nicely on 5 year old hardware. Same when windows 8 comes out. The whole windows bloat issue died when windows 7 came out

Apple is even using Microsoft to run iCloud and real HP servers in their data center because all they make is a good consumer experience

 

[dclive]

Even at work we don't get that many virus alerts anymore.

But that doesn't matter. What you said was Windows hasn't had a virus problem for years. And clearly it does. Not to mention most enterprises take away admin rights - amongst other reasons, because once that's done it's far harder to propagate a virus infection on the system.

Every spring at defcon os x is always hacked. Last few years the hackers are even saying its a lot easier than windows. One reason is craPpy aslr imPlementation. And os x security issues are on the rise the last year.

Did anyone say OS X couldn't be hacked? No, I was merely commenting on your ludicrous statement that 'Windows hasn't had a virus problem for years'.

OS X is an example of an OS that does not have a major virus problem. Windows (any flavor, 32 or 64) is an example of a set of OSs with major, major virus problems.

Windows supports all kinds of cool technologies like virtualization, san's and a long list of others. Os x is a consumer os for running iLife and a few other apps.

Please define how OS X explicitly does not support 'virtualization, san's (sic), and a long list of others.'

There are even rumors apple is going to kill the Mac pro.

So what? When it becomes a reality, then let's talk about it.

I can run windows 7 very nicely on 5 year old hardware. Same when windows 8 comes out. The whole windows bloat issue died when windows 7 came out

Yes, 1GB RAM, 1 Ghz CPU, yes, yes, we know. But you'd _never_ want to do this, so what's the point of debating this?

 

[alent1234]

Almost every recent windows exploit uses adobe as a vector. We all know how apple solved that problem

Running parallels is kiddie virtualization. Windows 7 will let you do vdi.

 

[Ns1]

apple is even using microsoft to run icloud and real hp servers in their data center because all they make is a good consumer experience

damn them for making my consumer experience so good, damn them to hell!!!!

 

[dclive]

Almost every recent windows exploit uses adobe as a vector. We all know how apple solved that problem

OK, so you've now backtracked from your statement that Windows doesn't have a virus problem to this statement - that it's Adobe's fault. That's wrong too. Here are the facts from a major antivirus vendor: http://www.symantec.com/business/security_response/definitions/multipledaily/ -- chart shows most are trojans and worms, which would have nothing to do with Adobe whatsoever.

Running parallels is kiddie virtualization. Windows 7 will let you do vdi.

OK, so you've now backtracked from your statement that OS X doesn't have virtualization to here, where you acknowledge OS X has virtualization that works just fine, thanks, and you've added that Windows 7 "will let you do VDI". Is that correct?

Get your story straight. Every time I respond you move the goalposts.

 

[manly]

I'm looking at an Mbp this year for my wife but technically wIndows is a lot more advanced than os x.

How so?

a pot shot at his own wife?

Apple does suck at enterprise computing, but I have no idea how that relates in this iMac thread.

 

[alent1234]

And I bet in true apple fashion I bet 10.7 will have 8 or so service packs that will completely rewrite the os in the next few years