Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Rotten Apple iMacs spoil Christmas



If you were hoping to get your hands on a new 27-inch Apple iMac in time for Christmas, think again.

Serious shipping delays have frustrated Apple customers around the world and a minimum two-week wait now applies to all new purchases of the super-size all-in-oneiMac on Apple's website.

The company's problems are not limited to availability of the 27-inch screen. A flurry of complaints about blackouts and flickering screens have compounded the negative coverage surroundingthe new iMac, leading to speculation that the delays are related to the hardware faults, as Apple seeks to find a solution.

Although local Apple representatives did not respond to our inquiries, a company spokesman told technology website CNET that the new iMac had been a huge hit and said it was “working hard to fulfil orders as quickly as possible".

“We apologise for any inconvenience or delay this may cause our customers,” it said.

With no satisfactory explanation for the delays from Apple, Mac enthusiasts have turned to forums to pour out their frustration as they wait for their new iMacs to arrive.

“I ordered my iMac 27" i7 with upgraded ram and hardrive from myer on 24th of OCTOBER. I have now been waiting 47 days!!!!” said a member of the Australian Mactalk forum.

“I know what you're going through. I originally purchased through a reseller on the 2nd Nov, but when I heard that they weren't receiving stock until mid/late January, I canceled [sic] and got a refund,” said another.

Although some users on the forum were told by Apple their shipments had been delayed by red tape while in transit, one person was told that the manufacturer in China was waiting for parts, while another said their insurance company informed them that “cracked screens” were behind a huge backlog of orders.

A new website has been established to chronicle hardware problems and delays associated with the iMac.

The site, which links to hundreds of forum posts devoted to problems with the 27-inch machine, said that it had received “several reports from Apple resellers that all shipments of 27-inch iMacs have been delayed by 2 weeks as Apple is in the process of replacing the graphics card”.

It adds that some people are reporting that their projected ship dates have also been pushed back.

Faults reported on forums range from cracked glass, screen flickering, yellow tinged or noisy screens and have been experienced by users around the world as far afield as North America, Europe and Australia.

A number of YouTube videos have also been created by users wanting to demonstrate their hardware issues, while some prospective customers have opted to postpone their purchases until reported hardwareproblems are fixed.

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