I got one of the new Intel-based Apple iMacs last week for my work. It took 72 minutes of partial attention from the point of opening the box to the point of starting work and being productive. Here’s the timings:

0913 … Re-arrange desk so the iMac can fit on
0914 … Open box, lift out, unwrap. Grrr, can’t find a connector to link the iMac to the 23″ monitor. Spend time looking in the garage and in drawers for one, no luck.
0933 … First turn-on
0935 … Language select (“English”)
0936 … Choose country (“New Zealand”, and it was in the default list of 6 items too!). Choose “New Setuup” (not “transfer my settings and data from an existing Mac”), select “US keyboard”
0937 … Enter Apple ID, choose user name and password, set an Account name, take a photo
0939 … Set IP number for use within my network
0942 … Connect to IMAP mail server via Apple Mail
0943 … Get down to work with email … catchup on what’s happening
0944 … Download 200 MB or so of updates from Apple. Install Bluetooth keyboard.
1007 … Get the Mac equivalent of a blue screen of death. Grrr. Reboot, fill out error report on restart
1015 … Call Mac shop in town and complain that they didn’t tell me that there was no monitor adapter in the box. “Did we neglect to tell you about that?” says they. They offer to send one out; it arrives the next day.
1020 … Download and install Skype
1025 … Get down to work … Email via Apple Mail is ready to go, data is available via online file and data storage

Key takeaways:

• The setup experience wasn’t as smooth as I’ve experienced with my 3 previous Macs. The “blue screen” within the hour was totally unexpected … I couldn’t believe it! The lack of the monitor cable, or at least the lack of being advised about that on the day when the computer shop had been told that I wanted to connect it to a 23″ cinema display was extremely poor.
• Time to productivity was awesome. If I hadn’t had to search around for the cable, it would have been even quicker. I like.

Tags: mac+setup, mac+setup+problems, mac+time+to+productivity, eric+mack