[icruise]

I feel bad for you guys. I actually had two iMacs arrive on the same day, each a day early. One was from Apple that I wasn't able to cancel in time to prevent shipment and will be sending back. The other was from Amazon. I know how hard waiting can be. And "out for delivery" are three of the sweetest words in the English language.

[baw]

I'll head down to Fedex in a little bit. They are like 5 minutes from me.

[badsey]

Subtotal of Items: $1,699.99
Shipping & Handling: $16.99
------
Total for this Order: $1,716.98


Shipping estimate for these items: January 26, 2006
Delivery estimate: January 27, 2006 1 "Apple iMac Desktop with 20" Display MA200LL/A (2.0 GHz Intel Core Duo, 512 MB RAM, 250 GB Hard Drive, SuperDrive)"
Personal Computers; $1,699.99

I ordered mine from Amazon.com and hope to get it tomorrow. 1 day shipping was $16.99 (standard is free). The California tax alone was over $100. The only problem with buying from Amazon.com is that you miss out on the Video Ram 128mb option ($75) and the 1GB of memory on one stick option ($100). Amazon.com has a $150 mail-in rebate now also. There are only 2 Intel iMac configurations at Amazon: the 17" and the 20" = no options on either one.

So you save tax ~$100 + $150 mail-in rebate = $250 by going thru Amazon.com

Going back to Mac after 10+ years.

[HouseSold]

Originally Posted by baw

Nooooooooooooooooo! I was home! I was sleeping though. Guess I didn't hear the doorbell. Bah.

Oh NOOOOOOO

You snoozed and you loosed........

For the moment, anyway.

Find that driver and take him/her to Starbucks.

[codex57]

Originally Posted by HouseSold

Many online vendors will ship the way you describe (one destination in your state, to another destination out of state, then back to you) to avoid charging sales tax; How much tax on your D200 of $1700, did you save?
I wouldn't complain too much, since you're getting your cake and eating it too, as the expression goes.
The best of both scenarios, for a little delay. I would rather wait, than pay much more.

Really? How does that work? I thought as long as you bought from a store out of state, they won't charge sales tax. It shipped originall from like Maine or something like that. One of those northeast states. Made it to Cali, then back out to Indianapolis, then back to Cali. Don't understand the purpose if it was out of state in the first place. I assumed it was a screwup.

But yes, saving tax was nice. Just annoying that they didn't deliver on the date promised (not shipping out of state would have made it ontime) and the driver "couldn't" find my place.

[HouseSold]

Originally Posted by codex57

Really? How does that work? I thought as long as you bought from a store out of state, they won't charge sales tax. It shipped originall from like Maine or something like that. One of those northeast states. Made it to Cali, then back out to Indianapolis, then back to Cali. Don't understand the purpose if it was out of state in the first place. I assumed it was a screwup.

But yes, saving tax was nice. Just annoying that they didn't deliver on the date promised (not shipping out of state would have made it ontime) and the driver "couldn't" find my place.

Has to do with how a vendor does business. If they have a business presence in a state (corporate HQ or warehouse) some states (Calif. Board of Equalization-Franchise Tax Board) make a vendor collect and pay sales tax.

Amazon gets around it (based in Washington state) QVC does not (based in Pennsylvania) because of product sources.

[palple]

Originally Posted by Macadvo

There have been a few more updates to my shipping details on the Apecode website.

26 jan 06 86 14 booking slot obtained | Apple Shanghai | 27 jan 06
26 jan 06 30 00 departed to NDC | NLAMS07 | 01 feb 06

Hopefully this means I can expect delivery on Monday. They're usually pretty quick once the plane lands. If I'm REALLY lucky the ETA of 27th Jan will be accurateandI'll be playing with my new toy tomorrow! Though I'm not holding my breath

[EDIT] Just thinking aloud here but it's normally overnight from the mainland to the UK, if it gets to the UK delivery centre through the night then I suppose there is every possibility that I could have it tomorrow (provided it's being delivered by TNT here in the UK whos delivery centre is fairly local).
If its a different carrier then tomorrow night they will ship to my local delivery centre for delivery on Monday. I may be able to get a contact number for the local delivery centre in that case and maybe organise for me to collect it on Saturday morning??[/EDIT]

I think it's delivered to TNT only when it says 'handover accepted'.

[baw]

Delivered.

[baw]

First post from my new iMac 2.0GHz Intel Core Duo.

[baw]

So far so good. Except Software Update.

Code:
Software Update Tool
Copyright 2002-2005 Apple

2006-01-26 17:53:00.136 softwareupdate[258] loader:didFailWithError:NSError "timed out" Domain=NSURLErrorDomain Code=-1001 UserInfo={
    NSErrorFailingURLKey = http://swscan.apple.com/content/catalogs/index-1.sucatalog; 
    NSErrorFailingURLStringKey = "http://swscan.apple.com/content/catalogs/index-1.sucatalog"; 
    NSLocalizedDescription = "timed out"; 
}
timed out

[baw]

Looks like Software Update is down.

[codex57]

Does "Int'l Shipment Release" mean it cleared customs and is now ready to head towards the local sort facility? Argh. Says it's still in Alaska. Guess I won't be getting it tomorrow afterall.

[baw]

Bah. Two stuck pixels already. One green, one blue.

[codex57]

That's not cool. What's Apple's replacement policy? I know some companies require quite a few stuck pixels before they'll replace. If they agree to replace it, do they let you keep your old computer until your replacement arrives?

[HouseSold]

Originally Posted by codex57

That's not cool. What's Apple's replacement policy? I know some companies require quite a few stuck pixels before they'll replace. If they agree to replace it, do they let you keep your old computer until your replacement arrives?

Download Pixel tester from versiontracker. Run it to be very sure of which and where and maybe not more.

Pixels can sometimes be GENTLY massaged with a very clean thumb and a circular motion pressing firmly, but lightly, without lifting your thumb off the screen. I've done it. YMMV. The iMac screen surface is harder than the powerbook's.

Also on rare occasion, pixels that are stuck, may need a jump start. I saw a utility that rapidly fires all the colors (red, green, blue, black and white) successively for hours (if need be) and can get them going.

[baw]

They don't bother me to even mess with. I've had pixels become unstuck on their own in the past. Also, I can't see the stuck pixel unless the screen has a pitch black image on it.

[Macadvo]

Originally Posted by palple

I think it's delivered to TNT only when it says 'handover accepted'.

Yeah in the past it's either said 'handover accepted' or 'reached final destination' when using TNT but just lately my orders have been from a variety of couriers including UPS and some firm that just had a grotty looking red van (I know I know I spend far too much money in the Apple store).

The Apecode page is still showing an ETA of today so I'm patiently waiting for my iMac, as well as DOA4 for Xbox360 and a remote for my EOS350D. If they all come today it'll feel like Christmas again

Hmm just thought, the Apecode page is normally 12-24 hrs behind isn't it? Maybe it's already out for delivery..... /me hopes

[EDIT]Normally when using TNT I can track via TNTs site as soon as my item reaches Europe as that's where TNT take over. So far the tracking number is unknown to TNTs site so they must be using someone else....I think :| [/EDIT]

[codex57]

Originally Posted by HouseSold

Download Pixel tester from versiontracker. Run it to be very sure of which and where and maybe not more.

Thanks! I'll give it a try once the Mac finally gets here. Real anxious cuz it's my first Mac. Says it just left Ft. Worth Texas so at least it's in the lower 48 now. Considering the amount of time it took, they musta driven it from Alaska.

[codex57]

How fast is FedEx Express shipping supposed to be? I just realized, they're going to take an INCREDIBLY long time to ship my iMac. It's gonna be 6-7 business days to ship. Isn't Express supposed to be the fast one? I don't think Ground takes that long.

[badnewsblair]

Oh yeah! Great way to start the weekend!

I am here at work and it will be delivered here. I will have to stare at the box all day until I get it home.

GAH!

[badsey]

I ordered my iMac 20" from Amazon yesterday at around 11pm and I am now writing this message with it. It came around 9AM today.

So what is the new Intel iMac like after using Windows machines for 10+ years?

The screen is large and it's the first flat panel besides a 13" laptop I have used. The area underneath the screen is not bothersome at all. The screen is very nice and vibrant. I have no idea how to set the screen brightness and it may be automatic = it doesn't matter anyway because the brightness is about spot-on..

I would go wireless with the keyboard and mouse if possible, just because it makes the iMac look even better.

Get used to having your picture taken and know which angles you look best at. (This may be embarrassing for some people)

My iMac is absolutely quiet (20").

The keyboard ramps-up in the back so the number keys are easier to reach. The keyboard key-spacing is also a little smaller than my old one.

Your DSL or Cable network link will hook up automatically. (no work unless you need to plug in the cable)

The screen is very nice and large. It really puts a smile on your face. (yes, I am saying this again)

Quite an upgrade for me:
17" CRT -->20" LCD
Wireless network ability
CDRW (I had 5 of them) --> DVD R/W
Windows 2000/XP --> MacOSX + Linux (eventually)
Alot of my old Software was pirated --> I'm starting fresh and with the Mac comes a ton of software out of the box. I am expecting to use OpenOffice (free) instead of MS-Office.

You will be happy with the iMac, but expect some transition and alot of questions bringing you to a forum like this. It will be a new and happy experience I hope. Expect to be glued to your new iMac.

[badnewsblair]

I just got it! Go FedEx for beating the estimated delivery date (though I think that was somewhat planned). What is it they say, Under-promise, over... something.

Anyway, I have it and it is sitting next to me at work in its over box. Totally excitied to get this thing home!

[parsec_kadets]

Originally Posted by badnewsblair

Oh yeah! Great way to start the weekend!

I am here at work and it will be delivered here. I will have to stare at the box all day until I get it home.

GAH!

Lucky you. Mine is being delivered today as well, but I have a flight to Salt Lake at 3:00 today. So it will be sitting in my appartment manager's office until I get home from work Monday evening.

[codex57]

Wow, it is being delivered today. I love how FedEx's estimates are so accurate. Now, let's see if the driver can find my building.

[palple]

Originally Posted by Macadvo

Yeah in the past it's either said 'handover accepted' or 'reached final destination' when using TNT but just lately my orders have been from a variety of couriers including UPS and some firm that just had a grotty looking red van (I know I know I spend far too much money in the Apple store).

The Apecode page is still showing an ETA of today so I'm patiently waiting for my iMac, as well as DOA4 for Xbox360 and a remote for my EOS350D. If they all come today it'll feel like Christmas again

Hmm just thought, the Apecode page is normally 12-24 hrs behind isn't it? Maybe it's already out for delivery..... /me hopes

[EDIT]Normally when using TNT I can track via TNTs site as soon as my item reaches Europe as that's where TNT take over. So far the tracking number is unknown to TNTs site so they must be using someone else....I think :| [/EDIT]

Did you get it? Mine it's still in Shangai

[codex57]

Hallelujah! Supposedly, it's been delivered to my apartment. Guess all those e-mails I sent to FedEx with directions to my place actually worked!

[codex57]

Argh! Forum software froze and my post multiplied like bunnies.

[codex57]

Multiple post...

[codex57]

Multiple post.

[Astronaut Jones]

Came out of a meeting this morning, had an e-mail from FedEx saying it had been delivered! Went into the front office, it wasn't there... checked the tracking number, it was delivered to "Mailroom" and signed for by somebody I'd never heard of... so I called Fedex.....

Turns out it was delivered by FedEx today.... to the freaking US Post Office downtown... who will then take their sweet time getting it to me. Un-freaking-believable... I've never had Apple/FedEx ship this way before. I went down to the PO and very politely asked them to look for it... oh yeah, forgot, it's a Friday, so they tried reeeeeaaaal hard , told me it wasn't even on their list of stuff received from FedEx this morning (FedEx says otherwise), and maybe come back tomorrow.

So maybe I'll have it by this time next week....

"irate" doesn't even begin to describe my mood right now. If I had known Apple was shipping it this way, I'd have cancelled it and bought from Amazon.

[icruise]

I've never had Apple deliver to a post office like that before. Is there something unusual about your address?

[baw]

Yeah, that is weird.

[Macadvo]

Originally Posted by palple

Did you get it? Mine it's still in Shangai

No it didn'tcome today TBH I didn't really think it would come today but am still gutted that I don't have my new iMac. Am typing this on my girlfriends iBook as my PC and Powermac are still at my folks house, long story but me and my g/f split up before xmas and have just got back together, only now she has her Mum living with her and therefore has little room for all my tech gear and gadgets. The upside to this is that she was ok with the all new Intel iMac (as it's AIO) but the downside is that I'm computer-less for the time being.

Ah well, back to my 360 and DOA4

BTW how many people has everyone 'converted' to the Apple way? I currently stand at 4 (2 Dr's, my gf and another nurse, with hopefully 3 more Dr's soon to buy)

[codex57]

Err, the wife and I are the first, altho I suppose you can say I had to convert her before I could order the iMac. Apple's styling made it easy tho.

[Macadvo]

Originally Posted by codex57

Err, the wife and I are the first, altho I suppose you can say I had to convert her before I could order the iMac. Apple's styling made it easy tho.

Hehe yeah I know where you're coming from. I was known at work as 'the guy to see if you want a pc' as I built and maintained a few for mates. After I bought my first Mac I realised that 'hey if get people to buy these then I don't have to be a free support line anymore!' and so I'm now known as 'the guy who is on commission from Apple' lol

Seriously though both myself and my gf are now Apple bods and are in the process of converting everyone we know

[Astronaut Jones]

My address is on the university campus, but our office receives FedEx deliveries every single day, sometimes more than once a day. I've purchased Macs and iPods and you name it and shipped it to my office many times over, but I've never had a package delivered like this before.

The problem with it going through the USPS now is that I know USPS doesn't come to our office, they just deliver everything to the university's central mail center, and where it will go from there, god only knows. If I had known the last mile was up to the USPS, I would've had it shipped to my home address. I'll go back to the PO tomorrow and see if I can intercept it before it disappears into the black hole of campus mail.

FedEx told me "that company (the shipper), IPD Direct (huh? who?) ships things from Shanghai that way, we deliver to the local post office and the post office delivers it to you." Yeah, that's efficient. Whatever.

[jyunderwood]

Yay, my imac arrived today along with my extra RAM. Dual 2.0 20" now with 1.5GB of RAM.

Now to claim my rebate.

[Macadvo]

According to the Applestore tracking my iMac left Nuneaton last night via UPS. The UPS tracking doesn't say where it is now but I'm pretty sure their local depot is in Sedgefield which is only about 20 minutes from me.

Correct me if I'm wrong but I'm assuming that UPS won't deliver today (Saturday) and instead will wait until Monday, as that's the next 'business day'?? If so I may ring them and see if I can collect today.

[Macadvo]

Damn.....multiple post......sorry

[codex57]

Yeah, my first post on the iMac. Was a little confused getting the internet to work. Nothing I tried worked last nite. So, I put it to sleep and went to bed. Next morning, I tried the ol Windows standby: restart. Did it, and internet worked.

Now, I'm just trying to get used to this OS. The mac keyboard takes a lot getting used to. Same with the mighty mouse.

Real impressed with the performance tho and this thing is absolutely silent. My Dell laptop keeps making all these fan noises and clicks and whirs from the hard drive. I got nada from the iMac. Can't tell if it's on or off by noise alone.

[grendel99]

Got my intel imac 20" a week ago. It was replacing my imac 400mhz so obviously it was a step up. I also have a 12 inch ibook 1.33 with 1.5gb ram. My initial impression of the intel imac was that it was really fast at somethings (starting up and safari for example) but not that much faster on many non-apple programs than my ibook. Firefox takes forever to load. Some programs (Civ III for example) just don't work on the new machine.

Overall I'm very happy with the machine but I'm not blown away by it. The nice thing is that this will be one of the few machines that will get faster over the next 2 years as more universal binary programs are put out (while most ppc machines will do the normal slowdown as more CPU intensive programs are released).

[DoctorGonzo]

Mine was due to be shipped around Valentine's Day, but left the factory two days ago (it said the 29th, but you have to factor in the international date line into your tracking analysis)

Thanks Apple.

[Macadvo]

Woohoo!! Just checked UPS tracking and my iMac and Applecare left my local depot at 0657 this morning and is listed as "Out for delivery"

/me waits not so patiently

[macintologist]

Grendell99, are you absolutely sure Civ 3 doesn't work on the intel mac?

[palple]

Originally Posted by Macadvo

Woohoo!! Just checked UPS tracking and my iMac and Applecare left my local depot at 0657 this morning and is listed as "Out for delivery"

/me waits not so patiently

Congratulations! Mine is still in Shangai...

[Macadvo]

Well, she's here and what a beauty she is! I'll post some pictures tonight...

Anyone want me to test/try anything?

[DoctorGonzo]

Originally Posted by Macadvo

Well, she's here and what a beauty she is! I'll post some pictures tonight...

Anyone want me to test/try anything?

Sim City 4, if you have it.

[Macadvo]

Ahh, unfortunately I don't have ANY games for Mac. Sorry.

/me looks sheepish

[parsec_kadets]

Originally Posted by DoctorGonzo

Sim City 4, if you have it.

I tried this out last night (I was finally able to get it delivered after being gone over the weekend). SC4 with Rush Hour seemed playable with the video settings set to medium. In a large city that I had saved from about a year ago I was able to drag roads around pretty easily. On my 1GHz G4 PB I would have to be pretty patient when doing this as scrolling the screen would take a few seconds. That doesn't seem to be the case on my 17" iMac with 1GB of RAM and 128MB VRAM. However, when moving the screen around a lot the passage of time would slow down or stop altogether. So it's better than my PB, but not by a lot. Overall I would rate the SC4 experience a C+. It's playable, but I hope Aspyr decides to release a universal binary, because I know this machine can do a lot better.

[Astronaut Jones]

Okay, the odyssey of my iMac and FedEx....

Saturday I called Apple and asked them if there was anything they could do to find my iMac. I was put on hold while the Apple rep contacted FedEx. When she came back to me, she said that FedEx had indeed misdelivered it and would be tracking it down and redeliver it and Apple would be following up with me. However, still believing it had been delivered to the post office, I went back there and had them look again, to no avail (made no sense to me for it to be delivered there, but that's what FedEx told me).

Well, Monday comes along and no word from either Apple or FedEx and another empty trip to the post office, so I called FedEx again. After getting the actual address of where the package was delivered, it turns out the whole thing about FedEx dropping it off at the Post Office was a complete red herring. It wasn't dropped off there at all. It was actually dropped off 25 miles away at an address in Oklahoma City. The FedEx rep also told me that the "package trace" was at a dead end because the driver went there and asked the mailroom lady who signed for it if they had any stray packages, and she couldn't find any, so I guess FedEx just threw up their hands and gave up. Ridiculous.

Using Google maps, I could see that address was for University Hospital. After making a couple of calls, I finally found the number to the mailroom and reached the lady who signed for my iMac at University Hospital. She was quite friendly and said that she sent all the computers that arrived that day to one of the doctor's offices, and transferred me to that office. The lady at the doctor's office said no, they didn't have any new computers, but their IT guys would know for sure, and she transferred me to them. I talked to the IT guy and explained that my computer was misdelivered to their address and I was trying to track it down, he said "it wouldn't be an iMac, would it? 20 inch?" They had received a couple of 17" iMacs that they had ordered, but couldn't figure out what they were supposed to do with the 20". So finally, I had located it, and I told him I would be there in an hour or so to pick it up.

I don't know if it was shipped in a plain brown box with the label and the IT guys threw it away without looking at the label, or what, but when I got there it was just the iMac box with no FedEx label, so I'm not sure where that part went.

Anyway, taking a couple hours out of my day and a 50 mile round trip, I had the iMac in my posession, with nothing more than an address from FedEx who was utterly useless in rectifying their mistake (upon mistake upon mistake). It took me 10 minutes to track it down once I had the address and FedEx couldn't put any more effort into it than asking them "Hey, did I leave an extra package here friday? No? Well, okay then."


Well, I'm glad it's here and it's a sweet machine. I haven't had much chance to play with it yet, but I'm already in love with Front Row.