It's not at all clear what the root cause of the problem is, but we've noticed a big uptick in people complaining about performance issues on new 27-inch iMacs on Apple's support boards. The most common symptom seems to be incredibly slow Flash video playback, but people are also claiming that there's a bug forcing the hard drive to spin down, that there's a corrupted Snow Leopard build preinstalled, and even that the problem is bad permissions, which is basically how an OS X user gives up trying to figure things out. Apple hasn't said anything yet, but neither of the 27-inchers we have here are having problems, so we're keeping our fingers crossed while we wait for an official resolution. Video of the issue after the break.
[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
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posted October 29th 2009 7:17PM
Flash is always an issue, on any platform/hardware/software combo. I have yet to experience a 100% stable Flash installation on any browser on any OS that performs well. So if Flash video is a problem, blame Adobe.
As for overall performance, if that is an issue, my guess is probably the fact that you have a desktop chip sealed in a tight close space. I don't know the technical stuff related to i5/i7, but maybe there's a speedstep/overheating issue?
And, how many times have we been through this? Buying a Rev A Apple product has never been a good idea. I would at least wait till the same lineup available on the refurbished section.
It's talked about like Flash player is written completely separately for windows and Mac this is very unlikely, programming doesn't work this way. They will have a shared code base probably written in C or similar and maybe some assembly code to optimize. Only a small portion of the code will be specific to an operating system especially bearing in mind Mac's now run on x86 processors.
Also playing video in flash is not always hardware accelerated check this by going to the settings on a video. You do this in windows by right clicking on a flash animation/video and pressing settings I don't know how it appears on a Mac but I imagine in a similar way.
I think this is something to do with snow leopard. My Mac book pro reaches 85' Celcius when i play flash games on Facebook. Both with FF and chrome so should not be a browser issue but either OS or Flash issue
PEBKAC ;-)
I played with a 3.06 GHZ at the Apple Store.
I wasn't using flash. I was using things like, iPhoto, iMovie, Safari, and nothing else. But it ran horribly. I run a 1.83ghz Macbook with Leopard and 3 gigs of ram, and it ran those programs better than that thing.
I don't know what the issue was, but I couldn't even resize a window without a hiccup.
Actually it looked a lot like that video. It it wasn't playing flash.
I had a bad permissions problem on my 24" iMac running Snow Leopard in the past 3 weeks that gave me a rapidly flashing icon that looped from a Mac face to a question mark folder to the "no" symbol. Thank Jobs for Time Machine or I would have been one angry customer. Bad Snow Leopard! Shame on you!
This is what happens when computer and software companies care more about the competition and releasing their products too early than testing them in every possible way. It's happened to both MS and Apple. I am really not surprised this happened seeing that apple cannot come out with a good knock out to hit Windows 7 with. It's too bad when this happened. I would rather wait around with my older imac until a well polished product comes out than spending a bunch of money on something that doesn't perform well. We talked so much about Windows vista and how it should have been released later and look at us now.
As someone who just purchased the new 27-inch iMac and could benefit from some healthy dialog around these issues, I was floored by how ridiculous/ignorant most of these comments are.
How about some feedback from people who are experiencing any of the issues mentioned, and possibly some solutions? Maybe I'm in the wrong place for that, either way, I'm not sure how any of this is productive and it's a shame this is what Engadget's audience has become. For those of you who are partial to a particular brand, you must be nut in your Superman underwear when you see a post like this.
I'm a fan of technology which includes both Mac and PC. I have to use both in my line of work and I'm rooting for everyones success, because it helps mine.
@OverDriven. I think you did a great job summarizing most of Engadget's audience.
Bought my 27" iMac a few days ago... have noticed some performance issues with regard to flash and video, but considering this is my first Mac, I didn't have much to compare to. Then the keyboard died. Brought it back to the Mac Store for a replacement. Then, screen flicker started to occur. A little at first... and got worse for the next few days. Today I grabbed my camera to capture what was happening.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhXW6DHoT88
You'll notice the little flickers followed by the big black-outs.
I am taking the thing back tomorrow. We'll see what happens. Also posted this the Apple support forums but so far, no resolution. I'm hoping a new one will fix the problems. Or if it is a persistent issue, I hope that Apple will release a software update. This computer overall is pretty sweet, and I hope it isn't a problem long term.
anyone else find it ironic that he uploaded the movie to youtube when hes having flash problems?
Typing from a new 27" right now no problems to report here.
In case you guys can't figure out why these articles keep turning into "Windowz rulz" arguments, it's quite simple. The vast majority of youth are using Windows machines because of the gaming and customization. The vast majority of Apple users are adults, who after using crappy PCs for years have finally decided they want to do things easily ON their computer, instead of constantly having to do things TO the computer.
Clearly, the adults won't be on here engaging in flame wars. But the kids have nothing better to do.
So how about we just ignore the little kids, let them holler and yell and call people names until they get tuckered out and go have nap. Okay?
A7
I'm an adult and have used both OS up till the latest ones and still prefer Windows because it's simply more productive. What the OS or applications can't do, I simply search for 3rd party software and can quickly get my PC to do what i need from it. My own use case with Macs have been the same as PCs with the exception that the Macs are a completely closed system requiring/necessitating expensive peripherals or upgrade options once you hit a brick wall/problems. I know when someone is squeezing my balls for more cash and hence I prefer the PC. Objectively, PC's are just as and in some cases, simply more productive.
It is a lie to state that Macs are more productive. they are not. And that is the truth beyond buying into a marketing message. It's simply not true that only adults buy Macs. I don't and I won't.
Problems like Flash not working on Macs properly are an issue that does go right down to the OS. If the most popular interactive media format doesn't support your OS, it is yet more compelling reason to buy a PC. For a Flash guy or anyone who deals extensively in Flash, productivity is REDUCED using a Mac. See there?
Why hasn't Apple aggressively pursued Adobe/Macromedia (known for producing Mac software! for DTP) to find a solution? Other companies play ball with Adobe and adobe lets them run flash on even mobile devices. Yet Apple refuses to, which impacts the capabilities of OS capatibility. So they can't even get the most widely used interactive software/plugin to properly support them.
This says more about Apple than it does Adobe.
Only, there are plenty of adults who need to get work done, and thus can't use an Apple product for anything. My experiences drafting on an Apple were so atrocious that I'll never go near one again, because I can't take the constant crashing/stability issues. Meanwhile I'm using the latest copy of Vectorworks on my 3 year old Dell without any issue, and that's nothing compared to how my i7 handles VW and 3dsmax.
Terrible argument man.
As most of you know Apple has never been a fan of flash, that's why they are moving to their own standard pretty soon :/
Just saying.
This is pretty hilarious. A new product has an issue and people dogpile on it because it's Apple. All I know is that Snow Leopard is running amazingly on my MBP and shows no signs of sludging up, unlike the Windows box I switched from.
Yeah, Windows 7 is slick and I Bootcamp/VMWare to it when needed, but I'm so much more productive and less likely to want to smash my machine open when running OSX.
Computers will always have problems, even ones made by Apple. Good thing Apple has the best customer support in the business.
Watching that video makes me think that perhaps it's a driver/vid card issue. Flash runs just fine in Leopard for me on an Nvidia card.
Sorry guys... where is the iMac???? I just see software...???
Not sure it's related but I hit Software Update on a 27" imac in the Apple Store... and PERFORMANCE UPDATE 1.0 showed up. This is the update that was released for some Macbooks to help with hard disk spin downs.
you know what's my biggest pet peeve? iphone users that record video in portrait mode. those black bars on the side are a pure sign of ignorance. i mean, come on! it's cleary evident that the youtube container is meant for landscape video. just hold the camera on it's side! is it that hard?! you'll get more video in your frame that way! geez!
...this is coming from someone who owns a 32gb iphone 3gs.
Snow Leopard is buggy as hell. Don't let the brainwashed fanboys tell you otherwise. Windows 7 is way more stable at this point.
Flash is not from Apple.
Last time I looked it up, Flash was from Adobe. And while the new iMac with high res screen certainly makes the issue much more visible, it's been there for years.
Flash video and Flash generally takes an awful amount of processing power on OS X compared to the Windows implementation (on the very same machine). Obviously the software is not using the platform efficiently, so let's hope that Adobe get's *their* act together with CS5.
Kabe
its so friggin elementary its not even funny. its almost a no brainer.
THIS VIDEO CARD DOES NOT HAVE ENOUGH HORSEPOWER TO DRIVE A 27" DISPLAY TO DRIVE 2560-by-1440 WHICH IS ITS NATIVE RESOLUTION I DONT CARE WHAT CPU IT HAS.
Apple's hardware engineers are idiots. they care more about the friggin case than they do an OVERALL GOOD DESIGN FOR A HIGH PERFORMANCE SYSTEM.
this is why those same idiots marketted the G5 power pc as a "super computer"
I don't think you get it... The same 27" iMac runs fine when booted in Windows. Nothing to do with the video card which is more then enough for youtube video. Same system, same hardware. It's an Adobe issue.
Hey ppl btw this prob is not just the new 27 inch macs but also for the 21 inch as well. The title needs to be changed !!
Its probably just snow leopard being buggy. My finder corrupted itself, along with my time machine corrupting. All in all, snow leopard is way to buggy and when something as big as a hole user account getting deleted you know apple prrobably did not do as well as a testing job on the os as they should have done.
-disappointed mac user.
Hi I'm a PC and i have no problem with FLASH
Mac.hmmmmmmmmmm let me seeee
My Windows 7 works perfectly. I think Apple needs to stop running those ads, it is making them look desperate and stupid. Vista is over and so is the party Apple. Why should I pay double for the same hardware?????
Agreed. I was running RC for over six months with no problems, and now that I'm on the retail version I'm very happy indeed.
I have no problems with Windows 7. It's truly Microsoft's best OS to date.
i have experienced the same extreme slow flash video with Snow Leopard and Messenger 8 Beta opened... i mean, EXTREMELY SLOW FLASH. i think it's a software bug... not hardware.
Did you say Macbook Air? Oh sorry, my mistake.
Anyone remember the issues the Air had (and still has) when playing flash videos?
CPU usage spike which caused fans to run full pace and the machine to overheat?
I have deja vu...!!
When I was in the apple store the other day on a new 27" imac I thought the flash playback was incredible crappy. Not just the video playback, but flash sites as well. Interesting.
This makes me glad I switched back to PC. I paid less, and I get a computer that just works.
Thanks, ASUS.
Embarrassing moments, the good looking but generally clueless gal is smugly sitting, nose pointed to the sky, quietly polishing her lovely new toy, and the boys from the office show up.
They watch it choke on a you tube video.
Priceless.
Moment like this make me wish I worked in an office.
Or the one that is always yapping about "Winblows", etc.
Thank you adobe for these precious moments.
Because everything Microsoft releases works perfectly without problems from day one...
so, I just watched the same video on my new 27" iMac...and um, I have had NO problem with my flash player...and its running in safari...the video was played in standard definition and high quality definition...still, no problem with either versions...hum...
i waaaant a mac....17" lappy tho :D
Anyone that's blaming apple for the poor OSX support from Adobe is simply just too broke to buy a Mac. That's the way it is. I own a macbook pro with 2.6 C2D and 4GB ram. I run snow leopard and win7 nearly flawlessly, while at the same time, having a great looking and performing piece of hardware. The comparison between running flash 10 on Mac and running itunes on Windows is PERFECT. Apple didn't spend a lot of time coding iTunes for Windows as they did for Mac, and Adobe didn't spend the time coding Flash 10 for Mac as they did for Windows. I'm not an "apple fan boy" either.. I agree with Adobe for spending their resources developing for Windows because that's where the market share is. However, ever since Apple released intel processors, no other piece of PC hardware can compare in reliability and style. Just ask Tupac.. that's just the way it is.
"Hmm... Let's take an enormous computer, put it in a tiny case, run a ridiculous resolution, pretend that heat doesn't exist, and give it to people who expect things 'to just work.'"
"Don't forget to put new untested hardware in, running on old software"
"That should work right?"
Almost every new computer that comes out has small kinks to work out. we are talking about computers here people. apples job is to make sure that the hardware will be rock solid and then release into the market, then when the preoblems arise- apple works 24/7 to release software updates. after a couple updates - everything will be solid along with the hardware. Nobody on this comment string would even know or care about this problem if they didnt read engadget yet once they read and find out they are so mad at apple even though they use windows. that says something about some jealousy or something.
i put win 7 rc on my mac with boot camp and then deleated it like a week later because, in windown 7, it ran realy slow. i would have to wait like 10 mins for it to boot up in win 7. and win 7 copied some features from mac in the task bar. i like windows but latley i havent been able to put up with the OS's.
Are the speakers too close to the HD again?
Well done Engadget, you really are showing your general ignorance to the basic fundamentals of the real world operation outside this website.
Flash is a sh*t piece of software, it always has been since the days of Macromedia, to this day where we now have the Adobe monopoly - it has always been pretty crap for OS X.
Now with Safari moving to 64Bit operation - the Flash plugin is utter CRAP because Adobe will not get off their fat arses and fix the issues.
Oh, let's ignore with Windows boys, let them enjoy Internet Exploder 8, the failboat Registry and below par Windows 95 architecture - Laugh Out Loud.
Well I guess this problem is isolated somehow, because my 27 " iMac works just fine. There are five macs, 4 of which have either windows 7 or XP loaded in bootcamp and/or VMWare, and 3 windows machines in my house. I have no problems with any of them.
Just got my 27" iMac with i7 processor - Flash works perfectly, and no hard drive issues, looks like the fixed it for the custom quad core builds.