In the wake of widely reported yellowing and flickering display issues on Apple’s line of 27-inch iMacs, rumors have it that Apple has halted production until they get to the bottom with the problem.
Apple’s denied the production halt, but if a UK-based Apple Authorized Service Provider speaking to Gizmodo is to be trusted, the situation’s a lot more dire than Apple is letting on.
Rumors abound that Apple has halted its production of 27-inch iMacs until they can finally get to the bottom of the yellowing, flickering display issues, but if you’ve already got a gorgeous 27-incher, Apple has just released a second firmware update which will hopefully get to the bottom of any issues you’re having.
The update notes are, as usual, sparse:
Updates the display firmware on 27-inch iMac systems to address issues that may cause intermittent display flickering.
This is following on the heels of a late December update that changed the graphics firmware on the iMac’s ATI Radeon HD 4670 and 4850 GPU, which didn’t seem to do much to solve the widely-reported display issues plaguing Apple’s most gorgeous desktop to date.
Hopefully this one will do better: the update is only 294KB and can be downloaded now through Apple Support.
Apple’s troubles with their 27-inch iMacs just never seem to come to an end.
In December, Apple notified its authorized resellers that new volume orders would be pushed out about two weeks, following numerous complaints about screen flickering and yellowing issues with the showcase Mac, as well as numerous complaints from customers who received broken iMacs in shipping.
Just last week, Apple finally started shipping replacement 27-inch iMacs back to their authorized resellers… but today, Apple Insider is reporting that those same machines now have an estimated three-week ship time when ordered through Apple.com.
In truth, it seems like there’s a load of issues here: while the 27-inch iMac indisputably has some screen issues that need to be further investigated, mostly, it’s just a victim of its own success: it was the best-selling desktop system in America last quarter.
Still, it’s got to be frustrating both for prospective customers and Apple themselves that they just can’t quite seem to squelch the last of their 27-inch iMac issues. Let’s hope this is the last one.
Back in November, our own personal Aleister Crowley of Cult of Mac, Leander, sat down and interviewed Ken Segall, the originator of the iMac name. According to Segall, Steve Jobs recognized he was “betting the company on the machine and so it needed a great name.” The only problem: the name Jobs had his heart set on was so bad it would “curdle your blood.” The original product name? MacMan, says Gizmodo.
Luckily, at the end of the day, iMac won out… but it wasn’t because Jobs let himself be swayed, according to Gizmodo’s sources, but rather because the name was already trademarked by a company called MidiMan, who had released a serial-to-MIDI adapter under that brand name. Apple made an offer; Midiman declined; Steve Jobs fumed and Segall got his way.
A few months after the gorgeous — albeit issue prone — 27-inch iMac exploded everyone’s socks, Dell has just unveiled their own 27-incher, the UltraSharp U2711, which matches the iMac’s resolution of 2,560 x 1,440 and throws in HDMI 1.3, DisplayPort, two DVI-D ports, VGA, composite video, component video, four USB ports and an 8-in-1 multicard reader
None too shabby, and Engadget loves it. But man, what is up with the price? Dell says that their new display will go on sale next month for $1049. Granted, the 27-inch iMac is $650 more… but you get a frickin’ top-of-the-line Mac along with it.
On the other hand, Dell does tend to discount heavily through coupon codes and the like, so I imagine we’ll see the price fall over time. In a few months, then, this might be worth considering, if you want to give your laptop another 2500 odd pixels of horizontal real estate.
Dell actually makes quality displays, and I doubt the UltraSharp U2711 is any exception, although it’ll be interesting to see if the display, once shipped, is prone to the same yellowing problems as the 27-inch iMac.
Apple’s 27 inch iMac is the sexiest machines in Apple’s already sexed-out line of computers, but it’s been worth waiting to buy one: the first batch had numerous problems, including cracked screens, flickering displays and a yellow, nicotine-like graphical patina.
Rumor had it that Apple was scrambling to replace faulty ATI Radeon HD 4670 and 4850 GPUs on their iMacs, which strongly implied the problem was hardware, not software. Nevertheless, Software Update has just pumped out a Graphics Firmware Update for the 27-inch iMac that “address[es] issues that may cause image corruption or display flickering.”
Jury’s still out on whether or not this solves the widescale problems people are having with their iMacs. Any cultists out there with a 27-incher who can tell us how their baby is handling its new medicine?
It should be no surprise to anyone that the newest iMacs catapulted to the top of the sales charts when Apple released them in October. But just in case you have any bets going on the matter comes sweet analyst confirmation: Apple computers topped the list of the most popular machines sold at retail in October, according to the NPD Group. Gentlemen, collect your outstanding beers and pony rides.
In “The Proposal,” Sandra Bullock plays a Canadian-born, bulletproof book editor who finds herself stuck in Sitka, Alaska while waiting to marry her assistant to get a green card.
After her cell phone gets stolen by an eagle, she picks up a replacement at the town general store — what could be more Alaska? — and then goes to the only Internet cafe around.
And has to answer all of her 37 urgent messages with a handful of dimes on a coin-operated modem system — via a iMac G3. This in stark contrast to the late-model iMac she had in her New York fiefdom.
It was one of the only bits in the movie that made me smile. I kind of wish I hadn’t sold mine, old as it was…
Gizmodo’s Brian Lam tested the new 27-inch Quad-Core i7 iMac and found it’s a beast. Geekbench benchmarks showed a 2x to 3x improvement over the Core 2 Duo model, but most impressive was a real world DVD ripping test, using Handbrake:
On the Core i7 iMac, it took 43 minutes to rip a DVD, Storm Riders, a surfing film from the ’70s featuring Gerry Lopez (my favorite) and others. On the Core 2 Duo machine, it took 147 minutes! I know this is basically a DVD read test coupled with decoding and video conversion, but the results have me excited because this is a real task that takes my computer a long time to do, performed by a program that hasn’t been revised in a year.
Benchmarked: The Quad-Core i7 iMac is Super Fast
Meet Ken Segall — the man who dreamed up the name “iMac” and wrote the famous Think Different campaign.
Segall is a veteran creative director who worked at Apple’s agency, TBWA\Chiat\Day, back in the day.
“I’ve put in 14 years working with Steve Jobs on both Apple and NeXT,” says Segall. “I’m the author of the Think Different campaign and the guy who came up with the whole “i” thing, starting with iMac.”
Segall collaborated closely with advertising legend Lee Clow, chief creative officer of TBWA\Chiat\Day, whose retirement was widely — but prematurely — reported last week.
In this exclusive interview, Segall talks about working with Steve Jobs, how Jobs initially hated the word “iMac,” and the importance of the Think Different campaign to Apple.
Following reports of problems playing Flash video on the new iMac, here’s some footage of a quick video test I conducted. (Hit the jump).
BTW: Don’t miss our comprehensive review of the humungous new 27-inch iMac.
Thanks Dane for fixing the video.
Here’s a couple of videos of the new 27-inch iMac in action as an external display. The new iMac is the first that can act as a monitor for another machine, but will only work with devices that output DisplayPort video, like newer MacBooks.
In these videos I’ve hooked my MacBook Pro (13-inch) to the iMac using Belkin’s Mini DisplayPort to Mini DisplayPort cable, which is available from Apple’s retail stores for $29.99.
Previously I tried to hook up the iMac using DVI and HDMI cables (and appropriate adaptors), but it didn’t work.
See the monster iMac in action after the jump.
Thanks Emil. And thanks Dane for fixing the videos.
BTW: Don’t miss our comprehensive review of the humungous new 27-inch iMac.
To use the new 27-inch iMac as an external monitor requires a very specific cable to work: a Mini DisplayPort to Mini DisplayPort cable, to be exact.
It does not work with a HDMI cable or a DVI cable, even when they are strung between a pair of Apple-branded Mini DisplayPort adapters.
There seems to be a lot of confusion about the issue on the web and even at Apple’s retail stores.
The sexiest all-in-one computer has long been the iMac, and last year’s 24-inch model was a beauty. But oh my Lord, the new 27-inch machine induces crazy lust. Look at the size of that screen!
I just returned from the Apple store with one. I went to buy the new Magic Mouse. They were out of stock, so I bought the new iMac instead — it comes with a Magic Mouse.
Crazy, I know. I just couldn’t help myself. We’ve already got a 24-inch model, but the 27-inch is so much… bigger.
Yeah, like 3-inches of extra screen makes a difference. But it does. The screen is simply HUGE. There’s no other word for it. If you’re sitting right in front of it, hunched over the keyboard, you have to physically MOVE YOUR HEAD to look from one corner to the other. You get motion sickness if there’s video playing, like being in the front seats of a movie theater.
Thanks to this big beautiful screen, the sexiest desktop in the world got a lot sexier. The question is though: is the screen too big?
Full review after the jump, including real-world benchmarks and tons of pics.