[phillryu]

Hi, I might order an iMac 17 inch tomorrow, but I need it soon for school and college applications. Has anyone ordered one really recently from the Apple store? What's the estimated ship date? Would it be worth it to try to catch the shipment at the local Applestore rather than order online?

[kcmac]

My 20" iMac is on or before September 29.

You can go through the order process on the Apple Store online and find out what is showing now. (You can cancel or just go to a new web address when you get to that point. Don't have to order.)

From some reports, the iMac will be very scarce in the retail stores. Maybe as long as November/December.

[Timan]

Well I went out to compusa today, they said they'll be getting them in on Friday, and he acted like he was 100% sure of this :/.

[ManOfSteal]

Originally posted by Timan:
Well I went out to compusa today, they said they'll be getting them in on Friday, and he acted like he was 100% sure of this :/.

Hmm, I highly doubt that.

[MrForgetable]

Originally posted by Timan:
Well I went out to compusa today, they said they'll be getting them in on Friday, and he acted like he was 100% sure of this :/.

hey, our compusa apple section is completely empty. i went over there for RAM and everyone there said, "ooooh, sorry, i don't know anything about Mac's" and laughed.

[Rev-O]

Originally posted by phillryu:
Hi, I might order an iMac 17 inch tomorrow, but I need it soon for school and college applications. Has anyone ordered one really recently from the Apple store? What's the estimated ship date? Would it be worth it to try to catch the shipment at the local Applestore rather than order online?

Apple claims that online orders get filled before retail shipments, so ordering online is probably the way to go. Plus, you can order a bigger hd or bluetooth that way, which will be unavailable through the retail outlets.

I think there are two chances of the iMac shipping before the end of this month: slim and none. Apple has a good track record of meeting promised availability dates.

Then again, Apple may surprise everyone.

[Finrock]

Mine says "On or before 10/01/04". Mine is a 20" with BT/250GB.

[Parky]

I ordered on the day of the keynote, and I have a 28th Sept date, which put's it at the end of the 3-4 week prediction stated on the Apple Store order page.

Remember that is only the build estimate, and that it then has to ship after the date they give you, so allow another 5-10 days for delivery.

I guess Apple have a predicted production volume over the next few months and they are selling that volume in the store and allocating to retail / resellers.

What that means is that the later you order then more of the allocation will be gone and they will start eating into future production more and more. If demand is really high then it could start to stretch delivery further and further. To the point that demand outstrips supply and we get the same situation as the iPod mini, a waiting list.

The other issue here could be that they have production problems during the initial weeks of build, this could also hurt delivery times. I suspect that might not be a big issue for this model though as the design does allow for a easy access and build, not like the G4 which was a complicated beast to put together.

From on of the posts in this thread you can already see that the build time is stretching out, a date of the 10th Oct is more than the 3-4 week it getting more like 4-5 weeks. Although the Apple Store is still stating 3-4 weeks which looks like Apple expect production to keep up with demand.

Ian

[phillryu]

All right dude, thanks guys. I'll let you know what my ship date is if I do order one soon.

[LeeG]

Hey, I just ordered a new iMac 20 inch yesterday. First of all, i'm psyched about it. I ordered mine BTO and they gave me on or before October 5. Not bad. Are people pissed about the shipping? I found it somewhat expected.

[anti-sleep]

I ordered a 17" BTO on Friday and my ship date is the 5th also. I wish it was sooner, but I'm not too surprised. And considering how many people were waiting to buy iMacs, you can't really blame them.

[jasonv1]

Ordered 9/3.

Current estimated delivery 10/5.

Ordered a 20" with Bluetooth and Airport.

Jason

[kcmac]

I'm wondering how soon or if Apple will announce how many have been ordered. Looks like in less than a week the order dates are moving a week from September 29 to Oct. 5. Demand must be pretty good.

[JustinD]

Ordered afternoon of the day after the announcement, stock 20". OOB 10/4. Gonna swap that 160GB drive out with a Hitachi 400GB one, w00t!

[Joona]

Ordered mid-model with more ram 9/1, expecting shipping on 10/6.

[scaught]

apple is going to make sure their retail stores all get some. then make sure all the online orders are filled. then, lastly, theyll get some to compUSA and whatever other stores maybe. thats their track record anyway.

[hldan]

Originally posted by Rev-O:
Apple claims that online orders get filled before retail shipments, so ordering online is probably the way to go. Plus, you can order a bigger hd or bluetooth that way, which will be unavailable through the retail outlets.

I think there are two chances of the iMac shipping before the end of this month: slim and none. Apple has a good track record of meeting promised availability dates.

Then again, Apple may surprise everyone.

Don't mean to burst your bubble but Apple is B-Essing customers into believing that. I ordered the 17" PB the day after the Keynote at Macworld SF 2003. My ship date was on or before 3/24. Then a week before the ship date it got pushed back to 4/30. I called my local Apple Retail store on 3/24 and they said they had them in stock for a week and I drove there and got one.

Also the iPod mini still shows out of stock at the Apple online store. My local Apple store has all colors in stock right now. Got one of those too.
Apple wants you to buy from them directly so they don't have to pay the middle man so that's why the say that online purchases will be filled first.
The only advantage to buying from Apple's online store is the BTO option and possibly a more quality controlled machine because it's being built just for you.

[solbo]

Originally posted by Joona:
Ordered mid-model with more ram 9/1, expecting shipping on 10/6.

You bought RAM from Apple? You got taken.

[turtle777]

Originally posted by solbo:
You bought RAM from Apple? You got taken.

He'll learn it...

-t

[JustinD]

To be Captain Bringdown though, I wouldn't put it past Apple to, when October 4th rolls around (my OOB date), change that date a full month to November 4th... *sigh* I've never ever ever ever had an Apple product ship on time. =(

[jamesa]

Originally posted by turtle777:
He'll learn it...

-t

true

but if you're not a power user, it is nice knowing that if you have a problem with the machine and you take it in to Apple, everything is covered under warranty - they're not going to turn around and say to you "faulty memory" then hit you with whatever your service centre decides to charge you for that privilege

it happened to me a couple of times, it's a real PITA

-- james

[turtle777]

Originally posted by jamesa:
true

but if you're not a power user, it is nice knowing that if you have a problem with the machine and you take it in to Apple, everything is covered under warranty - they're not going to turn around and say to you "faulty memory" then hit you with whatever your service centre decides to charge you for that privilege

it happened to me a couple of times, it's a real PITA

-- james

That's why you take out your self-installed memory first.
If the problem persists, it's not the memory, and you take it to Apple. If the problem is gone, you know what to do...

-t

[solbo]

Originally posted by turtle777:
That's why you take out your self-installed memory first.
If the problem persists, it's not the memory, and you take it to Apple. If the problem is gone, you know what to do...

-t

exactly

[Joona]

Originally posted by solbo:
You bought RAM from Apple? You got taken.

yeah i know, but I'm too lazy to get some Crucial