No user serviceable parts!

[DMcCoy]

When Apple say there are no user serviceable parts in an iMac they mean it!

 

Not because you can't change them but because you can't get anything out without spending a week taking it to bits.

 

Worst layout ever!

 

For those who are interested, there was just one cd in the drive, which was stuck on something, but the something seems to have moved after I spent an hour and a half trying to extract the drive. Sigh, I wonder what it could be, as the cd was definately not ejecting (I'm not daft, you don't open an iMac unless you have to!).

 

Next time I'll just send it away to be fixed.

[maark]

This is why we are looking at apple care - spending even more money though macs have cost us twice the price of a PC already.

Apparently apple will charge you up to £35 for a phone call once warranty has expired and then you have to take it to an apple centre.

Told em not to get macs :-)

[tech_guy]

When Apple say there are no user serviceable parts in an iMac they mean it!

 

Not because you can't change them but because you can't get anything out without spending a week taking it to bits.

 

Worst layout ever!

 

For those who are interested, there was just one cd in the drive, which was stuck on something, but the something seems to have moved after I spent an hour and a half trying to extract the drive. Sigh, I wonder what it could be, as the cd was definately not ejecting (I'm not daft, you don't open an iMac unless you have to!).

 

Next time I'll just send it away to be fixed.

 

Yes, there are user serviceable parts - usually after you've hit it with a hammer a few times....

[torledo]

When Apple say there are no user serviceable parts in an iMac they mean it!

 

Not because you can't change them but because you can't get anything out without spending a week taking it to bits.

 

Worst layout ever!

 

For those who are interested, there was just one cd in the drive, which was stuck on something, but the something seems to have moved after I spent an hour and a half trying to extract the drive. Sigh, I wonder what it could be, as the cd was definately not ejecting (I'm not daft, you don't open an iMac unless you have to!).

 

Next time I'll just send it away to be fixed.

 

Yeah, it's very annoying, although it wasn't always thus - the imac G5's were really easy to access (just unscrew and lift off the back) and removal of components such as HDD were a piece of cake. They were terrific.

 

The intel imacs are a nightmare to open, plus they've got the tin foil to cover all the parts which says 'don't touch' effectively. I really don't think it was worth the price of a slightly slender frame to make it so inaccessible.

[ICT_GUY]

I wonder how long Apple & Jobs can keep the clueless public blind to the fact that apple products are in fact not that great. Sure they look nice but so they should for twice the price.

 

It makes me cringe when I see people in general walking around with white ear pieces sticking out of their heads wearing a rather smug look on their faces.

 

I refuse point blank to speak to people who will not remove them when talking to me.

 

And I have lost count of the number of people who come to me after buying a mac, then finding out it does not "work" the same way as their PC did, and tell me the problems they have had getting used to the os.

 

One mouse button? Don't even get me started on that.

 

Its not that I am anti apple, Its just another big corporation with a huge amount of spin. Selling expensive goods when you can buy mp3 players for £5 in Tesco and £200 laptops that work well.

 

[torledo]

I wonder how long Apple & Jobs can keep the clueless public blind to the fact that apple products are in fact not that great. Sure they look nice but so they should for twice the price.

 

It makes me cringe when I see people in general walking around with white ear pieces sticking out of their heads wearing a rather smug look on their faces.

 

I refuse point blank to speak to people who will not remove them when talking to me.

 

And I have lost count of the number of people who come to me after buying a mac, then finding out it does not "work" the same way as their PC did, and tell me the problems they have had getting used to the os.

 

One mouse button? Don't even get me started on that.

 

Its not that I am anti apple, Its just another big corporation with a huge amount of spin. Selling expensive goods when you can buy mp3 players for £5 in Tesco and £200 laptops that work well.

 

 

i'll take an old ibook G3 over a £200 windoze laptop anyday of the week.

Trackpad, keyboard, battery life are all streets ahead on the old ibooks.

Plus the fact it had the powerpc procesoor was actually a bonus with these machines.

 

Plus the 12inch ibook models were as light as a feather. I always found them to be very reliable. The imac G5's are great machines also, not without the odd technical glitch but they are serviceable if out of warranty.

 

What frustrates me about Apple is they take something great, such as the first gen. ipod nano or the 12inch ibook G4 and discontinue the line or give it a design refresh that it clearly doesn't need. With so many of their products i've said 'Wow, but if only....' that tells me that they do think about design and usability but occasionally they make a sacrifice or two for design or product placement reasons that is not in the customers best interests.

 

It's hard to appease all the people all of the time, all the while remembering that you stand and fall by quarterly results, in light of that Apple have done a pretty good job since Jobs returned to the company.

[manxdan]

One mouse button? Don't even get me started on that.

 

Apple haven't made or sold a one button mouse for about three years.

It's true that the iMacs are now a sod to work on, but on the other hand, swapping HD's between MacBooks is now a doddle where the iBooks were a pain.

Swings and roundabouts.

[DMcCoy]

The "Poking some card in the back of the vent" procedure is the most difficult part. Two catches on the top of the screen that have to be undone to remove the front. Once inside it goes rapidly downhill. Everything is taped, or screwed to *everything else*. The cd drive needs everything to be taken out, so I left it in the end. I did manage to put it back together and it still works

[DMcCoy]

Oh, for those that are interested Apple wired (white) keyboards have 48 Screws. Plus the usb cable and hub is soldered in so you can't unclip it to make life easier.

[mattx]

spending even more money though macs have cost us twice the price of a PC already.

 

Just twice the cost ? I would have bet it's a great deal more - man hours etc etc.

[gaz350]

well apple has got to give us techies something to do with our time

[dhicks]

the imac G5's were really easy to access (just unscrew and lift off the back)

 

A little too easy - I had one under my desk that used to fall open every time I brushed my foot against it. Anyone remember the Mac OS 9 machines that were passively cooled and had slot-loaded CDROM drives mounted vertically in the top of the machine? Looked /exactly/ like toasters... Ah, Mac OS 9 - non-pre-emptive multitasking and no memory protection to speak of. Write something that segfaulted and the machine needed rebooting, including smug little "You didn't shut down this computer properly..." message upon restart. On the move to Mac OS X, I spent a fun six months trying to sort out the mismatch between the old Mac OS style file attributes and the new BSD style ones - the OS developers had simply left both in place, so your application /might/ be able to read it own files, or it might not, depending on whim...

 

--

David Hicks

[webman]

Oh the joys of paying 3 times as much money, for fewer macs than PCs, and still being told what you will and won't do by one company.

 

[gaz350]

you must be buying the most nasty, cheap under powered windows desktops then webman.

[webman]

Nope, why do you say that? Macs are just ridiculously over-priced pieces of so-called 'stylish' crap. Our latest machines are Intel C2D, 1GB RAM, Seagate 80GB SATA HD, Neovo 17" LCD, MS Kbd+Mouse, No operating system, Micro ATX formfactor - £259.

[gaz350]

comparing apples to pairs then.

 

take that Neovo 17" LCD.

 

go find out the price of a 20 inch screen with a hard glass layer on it by neovo

[webman]

I don't need to because we don't need them.

 

My point is, for the same amount of money, we get a larger amount of function machines that suit our school than we would with macs. We also have the bonus of standard hardware (less support costs) and integration with rest of the network to run all our current software. Macs would be of no benefit to the school.

[gaz350]

i disagree, from an employers POV having a multi OS network gives students the skills to use computers more effectively. When they go off to college/Uni/Work they wont be just using Windows.

[torledo]

I don't need to because we don't need them.

 

My point is, for the same amount of money, we get a larger amount of function machines that suit our school than we would with macs. We also have the bonus of standard hardware (less support costs) and integration with rest of the network to run all our current software. Macs would be of no benefit to the school.

 

Macs are of no benefit until one of you're teachers applies for funding from a pot of money from one of the many quangos handing out to cash for various learning 'projects' and they decide they want to invest the money in a mac media suite.

 

It's not coming out of yours or the schools budget so do you still insist on them purchasing you're value pc kit, or do you use it as an opportunity to get involved in something a little bit different. And have a go at deploying an osx server or integrating OD with AD or the many options.

 

My impression is you're objection is purely financial rather than any technical objections to running osx, windows and linux.

[webman]

i disagree, from an employers POV having a multi OS network gives students the skills to use computers more effectively. When they go off to college/Uni/Work they wont be just using Windows.

 

Yeah, that's why have Linux and utilise open-source where possible.

 

It's not coming out of yours or the schools budget so do you still insist on them purchasing you're value pc kit, or do you use it as an opportunity to get involved in something a little bit different. And have a go at deploying an osx server or integrating OD with AD or the many options.

 

If a department can finance the Macs and the support (as we don't have knowledge and time), which we very much doubt as we're a poor school, then they can have them. Or; they can use regular computers and have it supported by us.

Edited March 14, 2008 by webman

[mattx]

i disagree, from an employers POV having a multi OS network gives students the skills to use computers more effectively. When they go off to college/Uni/Work they wont be just using Windows.

 

Since when you can use an Apple effectively ?

[Guest Guest]

But mac are soo pretty and they come with loads of free* software

 

Free if you call spending effectively £1000 on an OS that is lmao

 

 

 

If your school has more money than sense then great, good for you, maybe you could argue gold plated toilet paper is a good product

Edited March 14, 2008 by Guest

[gaz350]

dont know where your getting £1000 from.

[localzuk]

Normal iMac's cost us about £600 + extended warranty. That isn't a grand, and includes a powerful machine, with a 20" monitor.

 

Or a mac mini is about £300 for a quite powerful machine + a monitor, keyboard and mouse.

 

Those aren't huge prices.

[localzuk]

Nope, why do you say that? Macs are just ridiculously over-priced pieces of so-called 'stylish' crap. Our latest machines are Intel C2D, 1GB RAM, Seagate 80GB SATA HD, Neovo 17" LCD, MS Kbd+Mouse, No operating system, Micro ATX formfactor - £259.

 

If you want to complain about price, compare like to like. Otherwise you are just being an anti-mac os zealot, which is as bad as being a mac zealot.

 

We buy machines that serve a purpose. the Mac's we have are used for video editing, to look good in the most public spaces of the school (ie. our school library where parents visit often), and to provide access to a variety of software.

 

Just saying they are overpriced is stupid, to be blunt, as they quite simply aren't - although, the applecare *is* overpriced.