I thought Mac were suppose to be user friendly?

My daughter's iMac (a refurb mid 2011 model) came in yesterday and she did the initial unboxing and setup herself, including creating an AppleID. By the time I got home and started doing the real config (software updates, etc.) it was so laggy you would click on something and it would literally take 1-2 minutes for it to register the click and do or show anything. Also, software updates would start to download and then stop after approximately 30 seconds and then fail.

Even though it occurred with everything, not just network related tasks my first steps were to eliminate the network from the equation. First I moved it downstairs right next to the wireless router, no difference. Then I plugged it into the router, no difference. So wifi, network and internet were not the issue.

While doing this testing I was Googling the symptoms on my iPad and came across a post or two that indicated it might be a corrupt user profile on the computer. So I created another new admin account and logged in with it and everything worked perfectly. Responsive, no issues downloading updates, etc. Just like it should be.

So I delete the original (admin) account my daughter had created and then recreated it only to experience the same issue. After deleting it again and rebooting I created another admin account named slightly differently and still got the same issue. At this point it was nearly midnight so I gave up for the night.

The only thing I haven't tried is not tying the user profile to her AppleID right away to see if that has any effect on the situation. My plan is to try that when I get home this evening and see if it does anything different and if not then punt and use the AppleCare she (wisely, at my insistance) purchased.

In the mean time, does the GRM Mac knowledge base have any input or ideas?

My experience with Macs tells me that she did something wrong. Not to sound like a jerk, but something is wonky there. Take it to the genius bar and it will be sorted quickly.

They don't want them to be user friendly, otherwise they wouldn't be able to charge you to bring it back to their "Geniuses"

It's something screwed up in her account. I'd try doing a permission repair as a last effort before you take it to the bar.

Oh, and all new Apples (even refurbs) come with a year of free service under warranty. I don't usually opt for the apple Care right away, but if I have a computer that I don't trust, I'll add it toward the end of the standard warranty.

jg

They are also supposed to be free from virii and malware, make you more creative, and help you pick up chicks. ... at least that's what the ads say, and people believe ads.

Hmm, the setup should be pretty straight forward. Something is definitely wonky there. When I bought the Mac, they basically made me open it up in the store and set it up there. The only thing that was different from setting up a PC was tying the Apple user ID to my login. But it sounds like you have a handle on that. I would try contacting Apple's tech support. They were pretty helpful the one time I had to use them. Or as pinchvalve suggested, bring it to the genius bar. I don't know what size your iMac is but my desktop is a 27"er, bringing it to the store is the last option for me.

As much as I've enjoyed using a mac, I truly hate trying to fix one.

I agree with the suggestion to take to an Apple store and let their genius folk fix it, instead of trying it yourself.

foxtrapper wrote: As much as I've enjoyed using a mac, I truly hate trying to fix one.

Thats why I only use my Mac for work and play on a PC. Hell, I am on my PC right now while the Mac is sleeping.

I use a Mac for anything creative, play on an Ubuntu Linux box, and fix other people's PCs.

Ugh, Ubuntu. I have that on my Netbook. I thought I'd like it better than the Windows 7 that was on it originally but I grew tired of it quickly. Maybe its because it is a Netbook though. Its cool though, that is my 4th string computer.

DaveEstey wrote: They don't want them to be user friendly, otherwise they wouldn't be able to charge you to bring it back to their "Geniuses"

I've taken everything from week-old laptops to 6-year-old desktop machines to the bar, and never been charged a dime for anything they've fixed in software or diagnosed for me in hardware.

My coworked just bought a brand new macbook that she had to take back a day later because it completely died on her after an hour of use. Nothing useful to add, nothing is immune to having issues, no matter how expensive. Take it to the genius bar and let them finger it out.

DuctTape&Bondo wrote: Take it to the genius bar and let them finger it out.

That got a little naughty there at the end...

I saw a really good comedian do a bit about how awesome the Mac was and how much he loved it..."and then I got this filthy old whore of a PC out in the garage that I use just for surfing pr0n. It smokes. It's got every virus known to man..."

I'd either wipe it completely by reinstalling the OS if something went screwy there, or take it to an Apple Store as everybody suggested. This isn't normal behaviour on a Mac, not even the older ones I have.

If it is running Lion, you should have a recovery partition that's going to become visible if you boot it with the Option key held down.

the coucil of geniuses should be able to fix you up..

Anti-stance wrote: ...

I don't have anything helpful to add but the avatars of fromeast2west and anti-stance right after each other are quite appropriate for this thread.

In reply to EvanB:

I did change my avatar before this thread but after seeing fromeast2west's avatar pic. Someone should be Moss around here.

Even better now

What's Richmond doing out?

Have you tried turning it off and on again?

Did a full OS reinstall last night will report back if that did the trick. FWIW, Apple phone support (out of Texas?) is very friendly and helpful and wasn't stuck to a script as I had already run Disk Utility and a couple of other things so we just skipped those steps and moved on.

fastEddie wrote: Did a full OS reinstall last night will report back if that did the trick. FWIW, Apple phone support (out of Texas?) is very friendly and helpful and wasn't stuck to a script as I had already run Disk Utility and a couple of other things so we just skipped those steps and moved on.

Yeah, the experience I had calling the support people was top notch. Very rare these days that you talk to people that don't have to follow a script.

Anti-stance wrote: In reply to EvanB: I did change my avatar before this thread but after seeing fromeast2west's avatar pic. Someone should be Moss around here.

Well if everyone else is doing it...

OS reinstall seems to have done the trick. Kind of annoying to have to do that right out of the box but hopefully that's the worst of her (our) experience with it.