Ok, after checking around a bit, looking at demos, speaking with Apple staff, I decided to take a bite out of the Apple for myself. Got the 27" IMAC. I also bought the MC Office for MAC. iBeautful graphics, lots of whiz, but - at this point in time, am regretting the decision.
 Got it home Sunday AM after getting my files and docs loaded up from my PC and getting a 1 hour introduction.
Froze up about 3 times that night and had login issues with passwords and had to make a few calls to Apple-care.
 
 Festool has a simple Excel sales order form used for dealers to place their Festool orders and am unable to get past the Excel error message, even after long calls to Apple support and talking with the Apple in store help. I am going to have to speak with MC about resolving this issue. My warehouse uses a Citrix based login system and was unable to log on - due to error messages - even Apple staff were unable to get on. Finally a friend got  me logged on, but the F9 key (the most used key for me to check inventory) does not work properly (even after holding the fn and command key). So at this point am using my older PC to check inventory.
 
 Now, I totally understand that there is a learning curve from PC to Apple - and a huge learning curve for older, untechy guys like me; but the 2 most important/most used areas - using Excel for Festool ordering and checking inventory have yet to be accomplished - this after almost a dozen service calls and hours spent on work arounds.

 I so do understand why some people like the MACS, and I want to like it too, but right now, it ain't working for me. Soooo, I will continue to muddle through, go to the classes and call that help line, but unless things change 180, I'm going to return it.

Bob

Bob,

What happen whey you press F9?

Fidel

That doesn't sound right... Apples generally work right out of the box.  Excel files not opening even though you got Excel installed?  No.  Something is not quite right.

... and with that, I declare I have nothing further to add.  ) too funny.

We have both Macs and winPCs in the office. We have one application that does not work on the Macs so we to use the Windows version of Cirtrix. Which is basically just a dumbed down version of Citrix. It works great, no problems.

Even with all the Apple WWDC hype (lion, iOS5 and iCloud) I still feel that Apple is a much better computer for the home and personal use.  When is comes to business and the business environment Windows seams to be to goto operating system and applications. 

OK, duck for cover and keep the flak jacket on....

Bob,

F9 is assigned to one of the Exposé functions by default, so the OS is intercepting that particular key before the application gets to see it.

Try changing the key assignment to something else to free up F9 and see if that fixes the problem:


Under the Apple menu, open System Preferences.

Click on Keyboard, then select the Keyboard Shortcuts tab.

Select "Exposé and Spaces" from the list on the left, and either turn off the "All Windows" option (which is assigned to F9 on my Mac -- probably on yours as well, as this is the default), or double-click on the "F9" in the list and assign a different key for that.

See if that fixes your issue with accessing that feature under Citrix.

I had to take a similar approach to moving the Dashboard button from F12 to F13 because of needing F12 for use within Blender...


Also, another tip: on the "Keyboard" tab, there is a checkbox "Use all F1, F2, etc. keys as standard function keys", which inverts the behavior of the "fn" button -- if you check that, then the Fn keys act as Fn keys by default, and you hold the "fn" button to get the pictured behavior, instead of the other way around.

I just found that one myself and turned it on; pleased to have done so, as I would rather have the Fn keys easier to access -- I believe I will wind up using them more often.


You certainly shouldn't be experiencing freezes or anything of that nature; is everything up-to-date from Software Update?  You can choose that from the Apple menu to check; also, try opening Disk Utility (open the hard drive, then the Applications folder, then the Utilities folder; should be in there), select your hard drive from the list on the left, and click on the "Repair Disk Permissions" button.  See if that comes up with anything; sometimes a rogue installer (even Apple's software updates on occasion) or will mess up permissions on something important somewhere; that feature of Disk Utility will usually be able to find and correct that in the event it comes up.

I don't use Excel on my mac, but I've opened some Excel files with other programs before and never really had trouble with the limited use I needed to get out of them.  OpenOffice.org has a free version out that seems to handle the majority of them fairly well... regardless, what error are you getting?

Get bootcamp.  Set it up to dual boot Windows and osx - and you'll be happy as a clam. 

 

Something is definitely wrong with that computer, and like the previous poster suggested, it sounds like bad RAM.  Take it back to where you got it, and exchange it for a new one.  I bet all your problems go away.  Don't resign yourself to the purgatory that is the world of Windows just because of one bad stick of RAM. 

Why would you say bad RAM?

 I just may bring this into the store next week. Lots of quirky things - like right here on the FOG; when I scroll down to the last post, the screens shoots right back up to the top of the page, I mean like ?
I will give it more time as I see some of the beauty of the beast, but right now, there's more beast than beauty.

Bob

I'm telling you... there's something wrong with that particular unit.  Apple would not be where its at selling defective equipment.

Intermittent and impossible to predict lockups and freezing problems are often indicative of bad RAM.  In the build-your-own PC world, it could also be the result of things like overheating or a too-small power supply, but you probably don't have to worry about those issues. 

I'd probably run a memory test utility like memtest (Mac version available here: http://osxdaily.com/2011/05/03/memtest-mac-ram-test/) to check it.  Let us know or PM me if you have trouble figuring out how to run it.

It probably wouldn't explain your login issues, though. 

good luck with that... let the experts do their thing.

Bob,

I have the same 27" IMac as you and I remember when I first got it that the Nikon software I was running would freeze from time to time, unlike on my previous generation 24" IMac. In time, Nikon released a fix and now it runs fine.

I also have the Microsoft office software on my IMac and it generally runs fine. Updates are being released all the time, however, so run a "Check for Updates" and see if you have the latest version.

All the best
Richard.

The mac ships with a hardware diagnostic you can run.  It should be on one of the install DVD's that came with your computer.  When you find it, insert the DVD and restart your computer.  Hold the 'D' key down on restart.   'D' stands for "diagnostics".  See this link for the Apple Support page for details.  An error code will be reported if there is a problem.