Q: New iMac 27inch screen flickering/tearing/shutoff

happy to help

Yea you don't know who to believe either. The first guy I talked to at B&H said they get shipments once a month. The guy I talked to this morning says every week. And this guy could not look up the Model to find out how many were returned. The guy from last week looked it up & reported 3 returned. Only one out of 3 were returned because it was defective. SlickRick (from this Forum) got his from the same place (B&H in NY). i'm still waiting to see how his replacement is.

i am 100% if this one goes faulty sending it back as im sick of exchanging now.

i personally think if this one goes faulty they should give me a macpro (when **** freezes over)

RAUL:

Welcome to the forum.

There are some on here who will advise you to get a refund, and wait until Apple has defined the problem, and instigated a cure for it.

It's sound advise, for some.

Others will advise you to notify Apple of the problem, and arrange a replacement.

More sound advise, however, you might be one of the unlucky few who do get a bad second machine, there are probably a dozen or more on this forum who have done so. The odds are against that happening, but it could.

I would only ask you one question. If you decide to ask for a refund, and wait for Apple to solve the problem, what machine will you have to use in the meantime?

The solution was easy for me. Even with the flickering, this iMac is light years better than any machine I have ever owned, or used.

Apple will fix the problem, and all of the defective machines, the only question is how soon. In the meantime, you can continue to use the i7, or go back to whatever else you were using until whenever.

Dino........another thing to consider....

Even if B&H does get a new shipment once a week....where does that shipment come from?

If it comes from a B&H warehouse, and not directly from Apple, then there could still be a lot of the older machines in the lot.

The same may happen with some low volume Apple stores, however, I would expect that it would happen more frequently with third party sellers. They may warehouse quite a few units based on expected sales.

I think it was sparkie that posted that he had just received a new replacement.......a week 45......others on here are getting 51's, and even a few 53's.

I got my week 51 two or three weeks ago.

Yep and this is a busy apple store in London!!!

I asked him for a newer one too! Oh well so far so good

pazuita, some good points. Mine is probably being shipped from their Warehouse in Brooklyn, where the Online Orders get shipped from. The store is in Manhattan & they probably only keep a small amount there. B&H are one of the busiest Electronic Stores in NY. Hopefully, there is nothing sitting in that warehouse too long. It's all a matter of Luck at this point. We can sit around trying to figure this all out, but bottom line is we don't know how many good ones a particular Warehouse or Store even has. According to some people on here, the defective ones are only a fraction of the amount being made. I don't really agree with that. But here's why I made my decision to exchange. Btw, No  Store for 300 Miles from me. And it's always about $, isn't it? Here goes! I paid $160. US Dollars Cheaper because I bought it on Black Friday & Paid No Tax because B&H are in NY & I'm in Florida. So...if I got a refund, I would have to add at least another $160. in order to get my same iMac. That may not seem like a lot of $, to some of you, but it is to me. So I'm taking a chance on an Exchange at least Once. I will call B&H tomorrow & send it out tomorrow. The turn around time for me to get my replacement will be several weeks. And I'm hoping like The Rolling Stones sang, "Time Is On My Side".

Glad to hear yours is working "so far". Hope it keeps it up.

Apple may be dealing with the same problem the retailers are with "on the shelf" stock.

What if the problem is a lot of defective displays, or even a connecting cable?

How many thousands, or even millions of these components has Apple ordered, and is there any way to identify which ones are bad.
With the displays, it might be possible, but with a small cable, it may not carry a registration, or manufacturing # that would make it identifiable, and easily removed from existing stock.

Cases of the defective components could still be sitting on Apples warehouse shelves, and may still find their way into circulation from time to time, however, that frequency should decline with time.

I just hope that you are in the high percentage of users who get a good replacement this time, and don't have to deal with the issue again.

Those of us who keep getting defective machines are still in the very small minority.

... and as pazuita already said, it's important to have a machine in the meantime.
I was wrong: A refund is not the best solution. Let's hope Apple will find ASAP a fix.

Have you asked B&H if they will allow you to keep your existing machine until the new one arrives?

Apple does this regularly. Since we don't have any B&H in my area, I don't know how they operate, but it wouldn't hurt to ask.

When I arranged my first replacement, Apple allowed me plenty of time to get the new machine, transfer data, before having to ship the old one back. It only set me back a few hours, and was almost painless.

I know you may disagree on the numbers of defective units, but if B&H is really that large a retailer, and they say they have only had one unit returned as defective, that's a pretty good indication of very low percentages.

There's been some amount of debate here about the percentage of units that are affected. I don't know more than anyone else, but based off high school math I'd guess that it's higher than a 1% defect rate.

Let's say it's a 1% defect rate. If you're a person who will buy a new model but exchange it over and over until you get a working unit, that means that there's a:

1 in 100 chance you'll still won't have a working unit after your first purchase
1 in 10,000 chance you still won't have a working unit after your first exchange
1 in 1,000,000 chance you still won't have a working unit after two exchanges
1 in 100,000,000 chance you still won't have a working unit after three exchanges

There have been many reports of folks on this forum alone who still don't have working units after two exchanges. I think there was even someone who still didn't have a good unit after three exchanges. Doesn't matter if these people are more vocal or not - all that matters is if they're reporting it. And certainly not everyone is exchanging, either.

So a 1% failure rate + only the anecdotal reports on this forum from people who did exchange over and over would imply, mathematically, that there have been at least tens of millions sold, if not more.

How many units have actually sold so far? Hard to say, but likely not that high. 3.05 million Macs (of all kinds) were sold last quarter, most of which were laptops (laptops have sold more than desktops for a while now). Supply issues have kept the 27 inches out of many customers' hands for most of the last quarter. The smaller iMacs usually sell better than the larger ones, too. So even factoring in holiday sales + an increase in demand due to the model refresh, I'm doubtful that they've sold even a million 27 inch iMacs.

If I had to take a wild guess, I'd peg the failure rate anywhere from 2% to 5%, depending on how many people never reach this forum at all.

Somehow I don't think a NY based company is going to let me keep mine until they send another one. Unless of course I let them Charge my Credit Card for 2 Computers. I am probably right about this. But it does not hurt to ask. Good point. And yes I was surprised that B&H had only one defect. It was a DOA. There were 2 of us on this forum who had defects from B&H. SlickRick & me. B&H are a huge store in NY. A lot of Pro Equipment for Photographers & Pro Audio as well. But it's hard to imagine it's a small percentage when people on here are getting 3-5 defectives in a row. Are we the only Unlucky ones? Are we cursed? I know some YouTubers who I asked about their new iMacs & they report no problems whatsoever.

Yea I still have my trusty Intel Core 2 Duo Mac Mini, with a Samsung Screen. And an eMac that I love!

Maybe all new iMacs are defective. Who knows. Maybe they will be all sooner or later flickermonster. I don't hope so, but who knows.

Pazuita i do not understand exactly what is your point about get a refund (and keep using my old computer) or get a replacement what should be my third machine. I WANT A IMAC 27!!! **** IT!!!

Along this week i will report to applecare my lightly faulty machine and i will ask for them that honestly explain what is going on and the options that i have.

I love this computer, i want it and i want to be sure that they can fix it or replace it for another flawless. What really worry me and **** me off is the lack of information, the suspense, don´t knowing what is gonna happen, this start to looks like a Alfred Hitchcock movie.