Now to the details.
First problem. Getting the cover off to the memory slots. I bought 4 gigs of RAM from OWC (Other World Computing) for a little over a hundred bucks (compared to what, $800+ for Apple's RAM) and they even have a great install video online to guide you through the process. In fact, Apple realizes that us amateurs are going to do this ourselves and go so far as to put a diagram on the bottom of the base showing you how to open the memory slot plate; they also use a fairly common size phillips head screw as well.
Easy: just unscrew the plate and it comes right off. Nope, mine was stuck on; the screw loosened just fine but wouldn't come out and the plate remained fixed in place as well. My wife came up with the great idea of using two paper clips, bent like hooks to grasp the ends of the plate and pop it off -- and voila! it worked like a charm.
It was then just a matter of putting 2 gigs of the new RAM in the empty slot, then removing the 1 gig of Apple RAM and replacing it with the new 2-gig stick. Five minutes later (and plenty of tugging) and I stood the iMac upright, plugged it in and turned it on.
Everything came on fine and in under five minutes I was up and running Tiger OS 10.11.
Second problem. Migrating my files. I set up the laptop, our existing computer, in target mode in order to migrate files from my user folder to the new iMac.
So far so good.
A few minutes after the migration assistant took over and began the transfer process it stalled; it wouldn't budge. After about ten minutes of hang fire I decided to "force quit" migration assistant. In retrospect this was probably a big mistake and I should have given the computer more time to figure things out on its own.
Anyway, I forced the program to quit and then restarted the computer. That, too, was probably another mistake. Anyway, when it restarted it asked me for both the admin name and password for the computer. Naturally it wouldn't accept the ones I had created when setting up the system.
I suppose there was an easier answer to this problem but I took the faster way: I simply reinstalled everything and started all over. I really had nothing to lose in any event. And, frankly, it was good experience.
After that it was all pretty much a process of installing my software (Photoshop, Quicken, etc), and getting the new computer ready to assume a position of responsibility in the home.
Naturally there was a third problem: iTunes and getting the new computer to access my music. More of that next time.
By and large the new iMac is working out fine. Software has been installed and so far so good -- of course there is the occasional glitch in getting a piece of software to function properly with what I thought was the original serial number/registration key. Hey, life goes on.So far so good.
A few minutes after the migration assistant took over and began the transfer process it stalled; it wouldn't budge. After about ten minutes of hang fire I decided to "force quit" migration assistant. In retrospect this was probably a big mistake and I should have given the computer more time to figure things out on its own.
Anyway, I forced the program to quit and then restarted the computer. That, too, was probably another mistake. Anyway, when it restarted it asked me for both the admin name and password for the computer. Naturally it wouldn't accept the ones I had created when setting up the system.
I suppose there was an easier answer to this problem but I took the faster way: I simply reinstalled everything and started all over. I really had nothing to lose in any event. And, frankly, it was good experience.
After that it was all pretty much a process of installing my software (Photoshop, Quicken, etc), and getting the new computer ready to assume a position of responsibility in the home.
Naturally there was a third problem: iTunes and getting the new computer to access my music. More of that next time.
The one thing is the height, the place of the box. right now it is sitting on my dad's old rolltop desk and I suspect it's a bit high. We'll see.
So far I'd give it a pretty big thumbs up -- great screen (aside from the occasional daytime glare on the glossy screen), I love the keyboard (but then I've been using a Powerbook as my primary computer for the past two years). My suggestion is, like you didn't already know, to get your own RAM and buy a couple of extra hard drives, particularly if you are going to use Time Machine in Leopard.
And speaking of Leopard I'm waiting until my Powerbook comes back from Apple (possible logic board issue) until I install 10.5; I don't want to screw things up on our only connection to the cyberworld.
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