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• Apple iMac Display Problems Reported

  Apple M9177LLA Silver 20" Cinema LCD... (10 offers) Online shop Price See more products Over the last month, questionable upgrade pricing (Apple OSX Leopard: More Angry Customers), censorship (Mac OSX Cracked for PCs/More Update Woes (Is Apple Now Censoring Tom's Hardware?), and a bug-ridden operating system (Update: More Leopard Problems Plague Apple) have plagued Apple. While they represent problems for Apple, they are certainly surmountable for a mega corporation. But a new development may not be so easy to repair: Multiple sources indicate that at least some 20 and 24 inch iMacs sold since their debut August 7, 2007 may have shipped with defective displays. The 20 and 24" iMacs, with the Mac OSX Tiger default desktop. A Closer Look At The 20" Display Issue Originally, there was some hope that the 20" issue may be dependant on the video card. Two video cards are available for the 20" iMac: ATI's 128 MB Radeon HD 2400 XT and 256 MB Radeon HD 2600 Pro. However, user reports have confirmed that the problem occurs regardless of the video card Compare Prices on Mac 20" Computers. The problem shows as a change in the display of colors from the top to the bottom of the iMac screen. When looking at the display from a typical front viewing angle a solid colored background appears normal at the top of the screen and gradually changes color as your eye approaches the bottom of the screen. At the bottom of the display, the color appears faded or washed out. Medium blue becomes light blue, and light colors become white. A You Tube video, posted by a Mac owner whose retailer refuses to accept a return of his iMac, illustrates the problem: (iMac screen washed out). Note that the issue is inherent to the display; it occurs regardless of whether you are using the Tiger or Leopard operating system. For that matter, you could be running Windows or Linux on the iMac, and the malfunction would still be there. Although this type of problem may not be serious to someone who uses their Mac for sending emails and browsing the Web, it is likely to be a serious issue to anyone who uses their Mac for such tasks as photo editing or graphic design. And keep in mind that the Mac is marketed primarily as a multimedia platform. As someone who spends a great deal of time using his computer for multimedia work, I would find a display in this condition unusable. You may wonder why users don't notice the problem before buying their iMacs. First, many iMacs are purchased from the Apple website. However, even when looking at an iMac display in a retail store, the issue is not immediately obvious, because iMacs are displayed with colorful desktop graphics. Until you become suspicious that something isn't right and confirm it by using a solid colored desktop, you won't notice that there's anything wrong. And that usually doesn't happen until your iMac is at home or in your office. Both OSX Tiger (previous image) and OSX Leopard (above) have default desktops that make the screen defect hard to detect. Bright retail store lighting may further complicate in-store detection. Join our discussion on this article!

• Accessories Promise sells its NS4600 as a barebone enclosure, following the build-your-own approach. It comes bundled with everything a NAS unit needs, save the hard drives. Its printed multi-language manual that guides users through the setup steps is something of a rarity these days, and a pleasant surprise. Screws for fastening the drives in place, a power cord, a network cable, and a CD containing software (such as the SmartNavi application) round out the bundle. Build Quality and Connectivity Promise once again picks plastic as its material of choice for the casing and the drive bays of the NS4600, just as it did with the NS4300N. The column of drive status LEDs found on the right side of the case’s front plate is now set behind a little plastic window of sorts, blending into the overall design of the unit much more unobtrusively and increasing the perception of quality. The design of the drive covers has been revised as well, adding small ventilation holes for better airflow inside the case. Another new feature found on the front of the case is a small lock to physically secure the drives. The on/off button has moved to the back of the case, leaving the One-Touch-Backup button as the sole front-mounted control. This feature allows users to copy the contents of USB devices to the NAS device literally at the touch of a button. Joining the power button on the back of the case is an eSATA connector, which can host an external HDD. While that drive can't be included in the RAID array, it can be used to offload some of the data stored on the NS4600. The unit is powered by an internal power supply unit. Comprehensive Multimedia Functionality The NS4600 offers a good bit of multimedia functionality right out of the box that users had to tack on to the NS4300N by using plug-ins. Those features include the BitTorrent and eDonkey client MLdonkey 2.9.1, the Firefly media server for iTunes support, and DLNA server. This last addition allows users to stream videos and music to other media-capable devices on the network, such as an Xbox 360. Using the DLNA-standard is meant to ensure that other compatible devices will be able to detect the NS4600 automatically. Promise’s NAS also supports media tagging for better organization of movies and music files, allowing users to add information about a piece’s artist, album, genre, and title to individual files. RAID and Snapshots for Data Security Users can configure the NS4600 to use RAID modes 0, 1, 5, or 10. If RAID 5 is selected, there is a choice between using all four drives for the array or keeping the third as a spare to be used if one of the other drives fails. The snaphsot feature is also very handy. As the name implies, it can take snapshots of files at user-defined intervals, creating either one or several backup versions of it. If a file accidentally gets deleted, it can be restored from one of the snapshots. Usually, only much more expensive NAS devices like Thecus' N7700 offer this feature. Power Consumption We measured the device’s power consumption while the NS4600 was equipped with four identical Samsung Spinpoint HD321KJ hard drives. As it turns out, power draw is indeed similar to that of the Thecus N4100 Pro powered by AMD’s Geode. Promise NS4600: Power ConsumptionOff3 WSleep (HDD Power Down)25 WIdle48 WRebuild ( RAID 5, HDD 4)54 W Specifications CPU/RAMIntel 600 MHz / 256MB DDR II Power SupplyInternal, 90-100W with PFC, 100-230V auto-ranging, 50-60Hz AC Weight2.5 kg (excluding drives)Dimensions (HxWxD)188 x 152 x 229 mmWarranty3 years (1 year for PSU-fan)Supported Network ProtocolsSMB/CIFS (Microsoft), AFP (Apple/MAC), NFS (Linux/Unix), FTP, DHCP client, NTP client Supported Operating SystemsWindows 2000, XP, 2003, Vista x86/64, Linux/Unix, Mac OSX v10.4SmartNavi  Software: Supported Operating SystemsWindows 2000, XP, 2003, Vista x86/64, Mac OSX v10.4 Security / User ManagementDomain integration, Microsoft ADS, Unix NIS; User Level, Group & Quota managementUSB ConnectivityHDD/Flash-Drive (FAT/FAT32, EXT3), Printer, APC UPS eSATA ConnectivityHDD (FAT/FAT32, EXT3) Data BackupSnapshot Backup, NAS-to-NAS Replication, Client-to-NAS Backup (SmartNAVI), One-touch Backup for USB-Drives and digital camerasFile SystemEXT3 journaling file system, multi-volume Misc.Integrated print serverNetwork and MultimediaMultimedia ServerUPNP and DLNA certified media server Download ServereDonkey, BitTorrent Remote AccessSupports various browsers on portable devices RAID ManagementRAID ModesRAID 0, 1, 5, 10 RAID FeaturesHot spare, on-line RAID-level migration, capacity extension System ManagementSupported BrowsersInternet Explorer 6 or above, Opera, FireFox 1.5+, Netscape 7.0, Safari LanguagesEnglish, German, Chinese (traditional), Chinese (simplified), Japanese, Spanish, Italian, French, Korean, RussianCoding SystemUnicodeManagement Protocols / System MessagesHTTP/HTTPS, NTP, SMTP, E-mail, A/V feedback (buzzer/LEDs)Management ToolsSmartNAVI, WebPASM, One-Touch  Network InterfaceLAN Interface1000BASE-T,100BASE-TX, 10 BASE-TSupported Speeds10/100/1000 Mbps, Jumbo frame 4K/9K/16K supported at 1,000 MbpsUSB ConnectionsType and Number of Ports2 x USB 2.0 Type AeSATA ConnectionsNumber of Ports1 ConnectorDisk InterfaceNumber of Drives4 Drives (3.5") / hot-swappableSpecificationsSupports 3 Gb/s and 1.5 Gb/s SATA drives with NCQ/TCQ; 48-bit LBA support

• Manufacturer APC Belkin Eaton Model Smart-UPS SC1000i F6C1000eiTW-RK Powerware 5115 Form Factor Rackmount or Tower Tower Rackmount or Tower max VA 1000 VA 1000 VA 1000 VA max Output (spec) 600 W 615 W 670 W Battery 2x Vision CP1290 (12 V, 9 Ah, lead) 2x Ritah RT1250 2x Yuasa NPW45-12 (12 V, 7 Ah, lead) Charge Time ~ 11 hours ~ 4.5 hours ~ 7 hours Battery & Surge Protected Power Ports 4 6 6 Additional Surge Protected Power Ports - 2 - Network Transient Protector 1x RJ45 1x RJ45 1x RJ45 Phone Line Protection 1x RJ11 1x RJ11 - Weight 16 kg 9 kg 13 kg Battery Weight 5,6 kg 3,5 kg 5,3 kg FAN Yes no yes Supported Operating Systems Linux, Novell, Solaris, Windows 2000, Windows 2003, Windows XP, Windows Vista Windows, HP-UX, IBM AIX, Linux, Mac OS, Novell NetWare, SCO OpenServer, SGI IRIX, Sun Solaris Linux, Mac OSX, Windows 2000, Windows XP Power Cord 0 1 0 Client Power Cords 2 2 2 USB/COM Cables yes/yes yes/yes yes/yes Warranty 2 years 3 years 2 years Price $320 $120 $280 Test Setup System Hardware Processor AMD Opteron 875 (Egypt 90 nm, 2.2 GHz, 2x2 MB L2 Cache) Motherboard Iwill DK88 Dual Opteron Board Chipset: Nvidia nForce Professional 2200, BIOS: 1.4 Common Hardware RAM 2x 1024 MB DDR-400 (CL 3.0-3-3-8) Micron 18VDDF12872G-40BD3 Graphics Card ATI RagelXL System Hard Drive 120 GB 7,200 RPM, 8 MB Cache, SATA/300 Samsung HD120IJ Benchmark Hard Drives 4x 320 GB 7,200 RPM, 8 MB Cache, SATA/300 Samsung HD3210KJ RAID Controller Areca ARC-1220 8-Port PCIe RAID6-Controller Firmware V1.43 2007-4-17 DVD-ROM Teac DV-W50D Software ATI Graphic Windows integrated Nvidia nForce Professional Version: 6.70 OS Windows XP Professional 5.10.2600, Service Pack 2 Before running the battery tests, we charged the batteries for 24 hours before performing the benchmark, and we repeated each test run a second time to verify our results.