Adam Q Salter
Registered
Dear all,
I am looking for a place to tell my sad story please hear me out...
I recently made several mistakes in purchasing Apple hardware, which from one point of view could be categorised under the "let the buyer beware" category, but I'm still pretty upset.
I bought an eMac recently. We (my wife and I) investigated various options... We need a new computer, because sharing a single computer does not allow us enough time to get all our work done. We had several requirements - fast, not too expensive, runs OS X <grin>, hardware looks great and matches the decor <double grin>, large screen for graphics work. We looked at getting something second-hand and eventually decided to bite the bullet (expense wise) and bought an eMac.
Got it home and we tried not to get to excited (I remember reading one review saying that using Apple products reignites the old computing excitement - so true) and set it up in the study.
Took a moment to appreciate the whole object (we bought the stand as well, mighty fine looking computer)... and turned it on.
At about this point the illusion was badly dented. The eMac fan is loud. I would equate it with sitting in the drivers seat of an idling car. During the OS X registration/set-up we tried not to mention to each other what we were thinking... We admired 17" screen size. Finally, I said "The fan is quite loud, isn't it?", we looked at each other. So we said... "Lets just watch a DVD and forget about it...". Second rude shock. The "consumer" version of the eMac doesn't have a Combo drive (I know some of you are probably trying to slap the back of my head at this point... but I had honestly thought a "consumer" would want to pay a few dollars extra for a Combo drive eMac, i.e. play DVD/write CD, drive... And if Apple only released one model to consumers it would be the Combo drive model... Dear oh dear silly me)
Next morning bright and early, called the Apple rep. explained that I could not live with the noise and that it doesn't play DVDs (although the "Using the eMac" doco mentions watching DVDs if you have the correct drive option?? and DVD player is in the Applications folder. "Why would they put DVD Player in the applications folder if it couldn't play DVDs" said my poor innocent wife <sigh>).
Their response - The noise: They suggested that I should have listened to the demonstration model (although mentioning that the air-conditioning is quite loud in their shop) and that I should call Apple tech support and find out if there are any "settings" I can set to reduce the fan noise. Although sceptical, I understand that (by design) he is just a reseller and the people I should be making a stink with are Apple, since they actually manufacture the, quickly becoming shun-able, machine. The DVD: the DVD playing "Combo" option is only available to educational customers. (at this point I really felt ripped off!) So this meant to me that Apple obviously made a design choice to open the eMac to "consumers", but restrict the consumer model so that it doesn't quite fit into the "digital hub" peg hole as well as the, considerably more expensive, G4 iMac - an idea which stinks in my opinion since I am a "consumer" and I wanted a Combo drive! (and I have an already considerable financial investment in Apple products, making me part of Apple per se)
Our response - The noise: We thanked the rep. for their help (they are really at the mercy of Apple anyway) and decided that we needed to know the "advertised" dB operating noise level of the eMac (so we could confirm that out model did in fact conform to "advertised" levels and there was no subjective "this is not noisy"/"yes it is" nonsense). We scoured the eMac user manuals and technical specs provided with it and on the web. Running temperature mentioned and other technical information - operating noise level not mentioned. We called Apple tech support and nobody called us back. So we packed the eMac back up, virtually untouched, and sent it to the reseller (which was what Apple support kept telling us to do anyway). It is now languishing with them as they try to procure noise level information from Apple.... and good luck to them. I don't think such information exists. The DVD: We asked the rep if an upgrade path exists. Nope. So we may just have to double curse Apple every time we turn the machine on - if we can't get it returned on grounds of the noise.
To say my wife and I were surprised by the noise is an understatement, Apple's renowned dedication to usability and design somehow never managed to turn the eMac on in anything less than a room full of primary children. The noise is such that I would not like to put five into a classroom as it would start to sound like a air conditioning generator room. As an example I played an audio CD and had to put the volume to 4 notches before it was understandable above the fan noise. I refuse to believe that the noise could not be reduced, since noise can be reduced by around 50% just by cupping your hand over the area directly behind the fan (not recommended - your hand gets tired after about 5 mins).
I would not like my children to work in a room full of eMacs, and I would not recommend an eMac for work or home (of course it depends on your sensibilities). I work with computers for a living and any computer we have that sounds like the eMac we send back to the manufacturer.
Any suggestions greatly appreciated,
Adam Q Salter
adam.salter@saplingdesign.com
Sydney, Australia.
I am looking for a place to tell my sad story please hear me out...
I recently made several mistakes in purchasing Apple hardware, which from one point of view could be categorised under the "let the buyer beware" category, but I'm still pretty upset.
I bought an eMac recently. We (my wife and I) investigated various options... We need a new computer, because sharing a single computer does not allow us enough time to get all our work done. We had several requirements - fast, not too expensive, runs OS X <grin>, hardware looks great and matches the decor <double grin>, large screen for graphics work. We looked at getting something second-hand and eventually decided to bite the bullet (expense wise) and bought an eMac.
Got it home and we tried not to get to excited (I remember reading one review saying that using Apple products reignites the old computing excitement - so true) and set it up in the study.
Took a moment to appreciate the whole object (we bought the stand as well, mighty fine looking computer)... and turned it on.
At about this point the illusion was badly dented. The eMac fan is loud. I would equate it with sitting in the drivers seat of an idling car. During the OS X registration/set-up we tried not to mention to each other what we were thinking... We admired 17" screen size. Finally, I said "The fan is quite loud, isn't it?", we looked at each other. So we said... "Lets just watch a DVD and forget about it...". Second rude shock. The "consumer" version of the eMac doesn't have a Combo drive (I know some of you are probably trying to slap the back of my head at this point... but I had honestly thought a "consumer" would want to pay a few dollars extra for a Combo drive eMac, i.e. play DVD/write CD, drive... And if Apple only released one model to consumers it would be the Combo drive model... Dear oh dear silly me)
Next morning bright and early, called the Apple rep. explained that I could not live with the noise and that it doesn't play DVDs (although the "Using the eMac" doco mentions watching DVDs if you have the correct drive option?? and DVD player is in the Applications folder. "Why would they put DVD Player in the applications folder if it couldn't play DVDs" said my poor innocent wife <sigh>).
Their response - The noise: They suggested that I should have listened to the demonstration model (although mentioning that the air-conditioning is quite loud in their shop) and that I should call Apple tech support and find out if there are any "settings" I can set to reduce the fan noise. Although sceptical, I understand that (by design) he is just a reseller and the people I should be making a stink with are Apple, since they actually manufacture the, quickly becoming shun-able, machine. The DVD: the DVD playing "Combo" option is only available to educational customers. (at this point I really felt ripped off!) So this meant to me that Apple obviously made a design choice to open the eMac to "consumers", but restrict the consumer model so that it doesn't quite fit into the "digital hub" peg hole as well as the, considerably more expensive, G4 iMac - an idea which stinks in my opinion since I am a "consumer" and I wanted a Combo drive! (and I have an already considerable financial investment in Apple products, making me part of Apple per se)
Our response - The noise: We thanked the rep. for their help (they are really at the mercy of Apple anyway) and decided that we needed to know the "advertised" dB operating noise level of the eMac (so we could confirm that out model did in fact conform to "advertised" levels and there was no subjective "this is not noisy"/"yes it is" nonsense). We scoured the eMac user manuals and technical specs provided with it and on the web. Running temperature mentioned and other technical information - operating noise level not mentioned. We called Apple tech support and nobody called us back. So we packed the eMac back up, virtually untouched, and sent it to the reseller (which was what Apple support kept telling us to do anyway). It is now languishing with them as they try to procure noise level information from Apple.... and good luck to them. I don't think such information exists. The DVD: We asked the rep if an upgrade path exists. Nope. So we may just have to double curse Apple every time we turn the machine on - if we can't get it returned on grounds of the noise.
To say my wife and I were surprised by the noise is an understatement, Apple's renowned dedication to usability and design somehow never managed to turn the eMac on in anything less than a room full of primary children. The noise is such that I would not like to put five into a classroom as it would start to sound like a air conditioning generator room. As an example I played an audio CD and had to put the volume to 4 notches before it was understandable above the fan noise. I refuse to believe that the noise could not be reduced, since noise can be reduced by around 50% just by cupping your hand over the area directly behind the fan (not recommended - your hand gets tired after about 5 mins).
I would not like my children to work in a room full of eMacs, and I would not recommend an eMac for work or home (of course it depends on your sensibilities). I work with computers for a living and any computer we have that sounds like the eMac we send back to the manufacturer.
Any suggestions greatly appreciated,
Adam Q Salter
adam.salter@saplingdesign.com
Sydney, Australia.
