Good call. My sight is too complicated to allow ordering remotely bu I’ve booked a session with my local optician (UK - maybe US term is different).
Make sure you bring the measurement of distance from eyes while you’re sitting to the screen you’re observing. That’s needed to calculate the prescription.
For reference, there are three terms in the US:
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Opthalmologist is a medical doctor (MD or DO), who is licensed to provide all kinds of optical care, up to and including surgery.
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Optometrist is not a medical doctor, but has a different degree (OD). They are licensed to provide primary vision care, including routine exams, screening for various conditions, prescribing corrective lenses, and prescribing some kinds of medication.
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Optician is a technician licensed to fill prescriptions for corrective lenses, make and fit eyeglasses and other related tasks, but that’s the extent of what they do.
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Dust and cat hair, especially masonry particles like fine gypsum powder, would certainly stress out an iMac. I’d think you would hear some early signs of compensation like the fans actually running fast. They are never what I think of as noisy, but if the iMac is attempting to throw off a lot of heat they are audible.
I’ve had iMacs since the original Bondi Blue came out. One died after a power surge during an electrical storm—you could see on one of the RAM boards where an IC had an actual hole and residue markings. One (the flat-panel lamp) was eventually given to a good home, and I still love that design. The squarish white one (one of the first Intels) scrambled its internals so completely that Apple couldn’t fix it for a reasonable price; I think capacitors had a role in that as well. But my two aluminum 27-inch iMacs (late-2012 and 2019) are both running like champs. I’ve stressed each of them heavily, especially for video rendering, and they whine about it but they throw off the heat and keep running.
The Mac Pro is still an imposing and amazing machine, and I love how it was designed from the start to throw off heat. I wonder in this new era of Apple’s “M” chips whether thermal issues are still the problem they were when Intel’s chips were implemented.
If you’ve got power problems bad enough to be frying computers, I would strongly suggest getting high quality power protection. I don’t know what you’re using, but my systems are connected to an APC SmartUPS SMT-1500C. In addition to protecting the computer against bad power, it also provides a lot of backup runtime (nearly two hours with my Mac mini system, thanks to Apple’s low-power designs).
In the past, I used other SmartUPS models (always big enough to provide at least 60 minutes of runtime for the attached equipment) and have never had attached equipment get damaged due to power issues.
For devices that I want to protect, but don’t require backup power, I use ZeroSurge power filters.
Unfortunately, neither of the above options are cheap, but it’s what I’ve been doing and I’ve been very happy with the results.
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Our small business has used Macs since my first Mac 512, NOT KE!
5 eMacs blew out their capacitors almost immediately; all fixed free and fast.
Occasional fixable problems with portables.
Never, to my memory, any troubles with an SE, iMac, Mini, or xServe. Or any of the assorted flat boxes they cranked out, such as LE or special numbered models sold by Sears, Macy’s, etc.
Never an unfixable or dead Mac. Mostly we use them for approx 10 years and then retire it.
We’ve probably bought perhaps 50 or more Macs since 1985.
I’ll buy another when I next need to.
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Thanks David, but not useful in this case. The iMac was connected to a UPS, and it suffered from the “leaking electrolytics” problem that plagued those models in the mid- to late-2000s. I’m not going to go into the precautions I take to keep my power clean (which start with a whole-home surge protector and get more granular at the level of individual devices) because they are not relevant here.
The Grape iMac was not at my home, but had gone to live with an ex-spouse whose rented house was not nearly so well protected. My daughter brought it to me in tears, and I was able to rescue her data from the hard drive but the main board was well and truly cooked.
I’m very well aware of what’s needed to keep my own environment, with distributed network devices, a ton of lighting controls, and Macs in just about every room, safe and running well.