So, on Friday (10/23) I headed to the apple store on Michigan Avenue in Chicago to pick up a new 27-inch iMac. I like being an early adopter so I knew I wanted it as soon as it was announced. As soon as I bought it, I hopped in a cab to take it home. The packaging is pretty slim like all Apple products but since the computer itself is big and heavy, the box is big and heavy.

At home, I connected it to my wireless network and everything was working smoothely. I installed all software updates along with some additional software. Then, suddenly, I had to internet access. I checked my list of wireless networks and it wasn’t showing any. I restarted the computer and they all came back and I was immediately connected to my home network.

Then it happened again. I called Apple tech support and they had me boot up to the Snow Leopard DVD to test the wireless card and then reinstall all of Snow Leopard. The problems seems to occur when lots of data is being transmitted wirelessly such was when using Skype or watching videos on Hulu.

Apple tech support keeps insisting I restart my router and change my router’s security. Apparently telling them that no wireless networks at all show up even though I live in a condo in downtown Chicago doesn’t mean anything to them. Tech support set me up with a Genius Bar appointment with my brand new iMac so we’ll see how that goes. I’ll keep this post updated as I learn more about the tech support process at Apple.

Update: Apple just replaced the iMac after showing the person helping us at the genius bar what was going on. It would not show any wireless networks and also crashed twice.

Update: The new one we got has dust behind the screen. We’re going to pick up a new one tonight.