I finally buy a new production Mac.

Back in September, about three weeks ago, faced with the prospect of having to burn a dual-layer DVD — which none of my current computers could do — I finally broke down and bought a new production Mac: a 24″ iMac.

I bought the computer at the Apple Store at the Biltmore Shopping Center in Phoenix. It’s not my favorite store — I really prefer Chandler — but it was on the way home from the airport, where I’d just picked up Australian photographer Jon Davison. I don’t get down to the Phoenix area very often and I really went in to buy a universal card reader that would work with SD and Smart Cards. But I walked out with a much bigger box. It was a good thing I had Jon to carry it for me.

Out of Stock?

The whole story is a rather interesting tale of a commissions system gone wrong. At least that’s how it seems to me.

Flashback about a month before. I’d been wanting a new Mac for some time and I called the Apple Store to work up the pricing for one. I get a small discount because of my connection to Peachpit Press and the only way I could get it was to work directly with a sales person. We worked up a price on a 24″ 2.4GHz iMac with 2GB of RAM and the AppleCare Protection Plan (after being burned three times with repair bills over the past five years, I no longer buy a Mac without the extra warranty). The big question was, when Leopard came out, would I get a free upgrade? The answer was no. So I decided to wait. I dutifully took down the phone number and extension of my sales guy and promised to call when I was ready.

Time passed. The Leopard beta cycle was getting weird and my Leopard book was in crunch time. It looked as if I’d have to obtain the beta on my own as a download from the Developer Web site. Only problem (other than my 512 Kbps Internet connection to download a 6GB file) was that I needed to be able to burn a dual layer DVD. None of my computers could do that.

It looked as if it was time to bite the bullet and buy the new computer.

So I called the sales guy at Apple. He wasn’t there. So I called and connected to any sales person. The guy who answered told me that the Apple Store didn’t have any iMacs in stock and it would be at least a week until they could ship one. That’s not the news I wanted to hear.

“What about the Apple Stores?” I asked. “The physical Apple stores?”

“They don’t have them either,” he said. “They’re really popular. We’ll probably get them before they do.”

Since two weeks was too late for the computer, I decided to find another solution for that dual layer DVD.

Not!

Meanwhile, life was hectic. I had to pick up Jon at Sky Harbor the next morning. He was going to photograph my helicopter for his upcoming book. I also needed to install some software on my Treo using its SD card which, for some reason, wasn’t working right. I decided that a multi-format card reader would be a good addition to my accessories collection. Since the Apple Store was right up route 51 from Sky Harbor Airport, it made sense to pick one up at my way home.

And while I was there, I figured I’d check the iMac availability.

You should be able to figure out the rest. The iMacs were indeed in stock and ready to go. I must have been feeling rich that day, because I went with the upgraded 2.8GHz dual-core Intel processor model, which already had 2GB of RAM and a 500GB hard disk. I stuck with the wired keyboard and mouse because of all the problems I’d been having using a wireless Mighty Mouse with my dual G5. (More on that in another post.)

And yes, I got the card reader, too. Unfortunately, it hasn’t helped with my SD card problems. (I think I have a bad card.)

Jon Uses it First

While the computer wasn’t really an impulse buy, it wasn’t something I needed immediately. So I just left the box in a corner of the kitchen until I was ready to set it up. Keep in mind that I was incredibly busy working on my Leopard book and, when I wasn’t, I needed to fly around with Jon so he could get his photos. So it isn’t as if I had time to clear a space on my desk, set the thing up, and start configuring it for use.

But having it sit there was driving Jon nuts. He’s a Mac user, too, and had brought along his MacBook to work with the photos while he traveled. He had an old version of Photoshop on the machine and claimed that it was slow because it couldn’t take advantage of his computer’s Intel processor. So I cleared a space on the kitchen table, plugged the computer in, and went through the Setup process. Within about 4 minutes, the computer was up and running, showing off it’s absolutely magnificent screen.

I pulled out Photoshop CS3 and installed it. I was already using it on my Dual G5, so I could not deactivate it there and activate it on the iMac. Fortunately, Photoshop has a 30-day trial period. Jon was only going to be around for a few days. So I left it as a trial and he started using the computer to fine-tune his photos. (I guess that was his reward for carrying it to the car.)

Normally, this would have made me very jealous — spending thousands on a new computer and watching someone else get to use it first — but I really was too busy with work to even think about that.

And if you’re wondering about that dual layer DVD, well, I never could download that big fat beta file. I got the beta on disc just as I’d gotten all the previous betas.

Back in the Box

When Jon left, I got back to work on the book. I wound up installing the Leopard beta on the iMac so I could illustrate features of iChat for my book — some features require that both users have Leopard installed. But that’s all I needed it for, so I shut it down and didn’t start it up again.

Worried that it might get bumped off the table, my husband and I packed it back into its box.

I went on two separate 6-day flying gigs. With only 3 days between them, I didn’t have time to get the computer set up. So the box sat on the floor in the living room, waiting patiently for me.

Finally! Set Up Time!

I finished my second 6-day gig on Friday. With nothing seriously pressing on my calendar for a whole week, it was time to get the new computer up and running.

The first thing I did was reformat the hard disk and reinstall all the factory-supplied software. You might think I’m crazy enough to run beta system software on a production machine, but I’m most definitely not. Tiger’s on this computer and will remain on it until I get a final version of Leopard.

Then I let Software Update bring all those Apple software products — Mac OS X, iLife, etc. — up to date. That took a long time with my pokey 512Kbps Internet connection. While it worked, I installed Photoshop and InDesign and Office. And a bunch of the other software I use every day.

It’s Monday at 5:22 AM. I’m about half-way finished installing software and copying over data files. I’m now using the computer for e-mail, blogging, tweeting, Web surfing, and general writing tasks. I’m resisting the temptation to use the G5 for a task when the software’s not available on the iMac. Instead, I install the software and/or data files I need on the iMac and use that. It’s the only way I’ll complete the setup quickly. It’s also the reason I didn’t set it up sooner.

First Impressions

I am absolutely amazed at the difference in quality between the iMac’s LCD display and the 20″ Sony CRT display I’ve been using for the past six or seven years. No wonder my close vision is starting to go! The Sony’s image quality is nowhere near as good as the iMac’s. (I wonder if it was always this bad or if it has gone bad over the years?) The colors are bright, text is clear. While the glossy screen does indeed add some reflections to the picture, it’s not distracting enough to make me look for some kind of matte overlay for it.

And the keyboard, which had me very concerned, is perfectly fine to type with. I’m a touch typist and probably average about 80 to 100 words per minute. (When you write for a living, you develop good typing skills automatically.) I worried that this flat keyboard would just not feel right to me and would negatively impact my typing speed or accuracy. Not so. It’s fine. I just wish I could find a keyboard skin for it; the dusty environment that is Arizona makes a protective skin required equipment.

I’m sure I’ll write more about the computer in the weeks and months to come. But right now, my goal is to complete the setup process and start using it full time.

And I’m very happy to finally have it on my desk.