[Matthew Attoe]

Hello,

My new dual 2ghz G5 turned up at work today which my company ordered through a local dealer who in turn ordered it through Apple UK's Build To Order Service, although the machine seems to be a stock model (apart from a RAM upgrade).

Upon closer inspection of the G5 several little "details" have turned up, which have made me question the origins of this machine and whether it is actually new / second-user / refurb.

As far as I'm know an original order was placed before christmas for the new machine. When we heard the rumours of speed-bumps at MWSF we decided to put the order on hold with the dealer and wait a couple of weeks, just to see what Jobs had up his sleeve. As Jobs had nothing to say about speed-bumps we asked the dealer last week to go ahead and order the machine from Apple UK. the dealer also told us that he had had the machine bench-testing for a day or so, to make sure it was all okay and working properly.

These are the niggly questions I have:

1) The machine came delievered to us running 10.3.
Does Apple UK not pre-install the latest version of the system on machines it ships, ie should it not have had 10.3.2 running? My parents eMac came pre-installed with a Jaguar point release - 10.2.5 I think.

2) The superdrive is a Pioneer 106.
I'm sure I read on these forums that Apple stopped using the 106 quite a while ago in favour of Sony units.

3) Art Director 3.
This piece of software was installed on the machine? Is this part of a standard Apple install? or is it something left over from a previous user?

4) Old iLife Apps.
None of the iLife apps are iLife '04. I thought all new Macs were shipping with updated iLife apps.

5) Disk created date.
When I performed a Get Info on the hard disk icon it told me it was:
Created on xx September 2003
Modified on 14 january 2004
Shouldn't the created date be newer than that? This the thing that really got me thinking.

6) RAM configuration.
The RAM has been upgraded to 2Gb as 4x256mb and 2x512mb sticks. Apparently the local dealer performed this upgrade, but surely it would have been done at Apple as it was ordered via the Build To Order system.

So what do you guys think. Have we been sold a new new machine or not? Is there any way I check out the origins of this mac via it's serial number with Apple UK or something?

What about some software that can tell me the build date or how many hours the machine has been running.

I hope someone can help, because obviously we need to speak to the dealer asap, as we also have another 4 G5's on a "stand-by" order with him.

Any help will be gratefully received.

Many thanks in advance,

Matthew

[RevEvs]

1) Apple Take a while to update things. My parents iMac came with 10.2.x and just had 10.3 CDs in the Box.

2) I think the superdrives are still Pioneer ones

3) This is normal, its installed by default.

4) iLife '04 isnt officially shipping yet (not till tomorrow), and like point 1, it would take a while for apple to update everything.

5) like 1 and 4, apple just image loads and loads od Hard Drives the same and then put them in the computers.

6) If it was BTO then yes Apple would probably have done this. But It could have been the local dealer that did it, would be cheaper.

The only odd thing is point 6, and that can probably be explained. Did the G5 come in the proper packaging, were there bits of plastic stuck to the inside of the case.

Think you may just be a bit paranoid?

revs

[bimmerphile]

that's all normal stuff...

[-Q-]

1) Apple does take awhile to update things. It usually takes a few weeks to get an updated build into the production cycle of new machines. Meanwhile, there are still machines in the channel with the older software. Be glad yours came with Panther.

2) Apple will use whatever drive they have available. Most G5s that I've seen have a Pioneer drive in them.

3) Art Director comes with the G5. It also came with my PowerBook. For the longest time, Apple was getting dinged by customers that their professional machines didn't come with any software. So they started bundling some extras with their PowerMacs and PowerBooks. Art Director Toolkit is one of those apps (very handy too).

4)There's no way any new mac will be shipping with iLife '04. B/c you bought the mac after the keynote, you are eligible to upgrade for US$20 tho'.

5) No. Especially if that particular mac has been sitting in the channel for awhile.

6)Sounds like the dealer decided to make a little profit for himself. Instead of ordering the Mac BTO, sounds like he ordered you a stock machine, charged you the Apple RAM price, and then installed cheap sticks himself. Not very sporting, but that certainly doesn't indicate the machine was used.

I don't think your machine was used, it was just a G5 that had been sitting in the channel for awhile. It does sound like you got taken on the RAM tho'. You may want to ask about that.

[new newton]

"Taken" probably has the wrong connotation to it. The dealer most likely ordered it with the base RAM, then added the rest himself. That's not unusual, and it's one of the ways dealers make their money on BTO machines.

If you're buying extra RAM in a BTO configuration you're not out to save yourself any money to begin with.

[The Placid Casual]

Originally posted by Matthew Attoe:
Hello,

My new dual 2ghz G5 turned up at work today which my company ordered through a local dealer who in turn ordered it through Apple UK's Build To Order Service, although the machine seems to be a stock model (apart from a RAM upgrade).

Upon closer inspection of the G5 several little "details" have turned up, which have made me question the origins of this machine and whether it is actually new / second-user / refurb.

As far as I'm know an original order was placed before christmas for the new machine. When we heard the rumours of speed-bumps at MWSF we decided to put the order on hold with the dealer and wait a couple of weeks, just to see what Jobs had up his sleeve. As Jobs had nothing to say about speed-bumps we asked the dealer last week to go ahead and order the machine from Apple UK. the dealer also told us that he had had the machine bench-testing for a day or so, to make sure it was all okay and working properly.

These are the niggly questions I have:

1) The machine came delievered to us running 10.3.
Does Apple UK not pre-install the latest version of the system on machines it ships, ie should it not have had 10.3.2 running? My parents eMac came pre-installed with a Jaguar point release - 10.2.5 I think.

2) The superdrive is a Pioneer 106.
I'm sure I read on these forums that Apple stopped using the 106 quite a while ago in favour of Sony units.

3) Art Director 3.
This piece of software was installed on the machine? Is this part of a standard Apple install? or is it something left over from a previous user?

4) Old iLife Apps.
None of the iLife apps are iLife '04. I thought all new Macs were shipping with updated iLife apps.

5) Disk created date.
When I performed a Get Info on the hard disk icon it told me it was:
Created on xx September 2003
Modified on 14 january 2004
Shouldn't the created date be newer than that? This the thing that really got me thinking.

6) RAM configuration.
The RAM has been upgraded to 2Gb as 4x256mb and 2x512mb sticks. Apparently the local dealer performed this upgrade, but surely it would have been done at Apple as it was ordered via the Build To Order system.

So what do you guys think. Have we been sold a new new machine or not? Is there any way I check out the origins of this mac via it's serial number with Apple UK or something?

What about some software that can tell me the build date or how many hours the machine has been running.

I hope someone can help, because obviously we need to speak to the dealer asap, as we also have another 4 G5's on a "stand-by" order with him.

Any help will be gratefully received.

Many thanks in advance,

Matthew

Out of interest, any chance you could tell us what dealer? I only ask as I've heard of a few that are now doing the RAM 'trick'...

Happened to me once or twice 2 from a particular dealer...

Peace,

Marc

[-Q-]

Originally posted by new newton:
If you're buying extra RAM in a BTO configuration you're not out to save yourself any money to begin with.

If you're ordering RAM from Apple, I'd argue that you've already been 'taken.' But seriously, that's a very good point.

However, if you are ordering a BTO option, you do expect that the RAM you get will be of high quality. Nothing says the dealer can't put in some cheap sticks to save some $$ and increase his margin. Maybe not 'taken' but certainly not sporting.

[new newton]

It's not possible for us to judge the quality of the RAM without some specifics. My opinion on RAM is that if it works and doesn't cause problems then it's fine. Some people do prefer to pay for premium-brand memory, though.

I think the only possible beef would be that the dealer used lower-density memory with the 256mb sticks, which makes it more costly to add more memory later. On the other hand, if you don't specify how you want the memory configured can you really complain about getting what you ordered?