New 27-inch iMacs won't ship until next month

Apple's latest estimate points to a wait time of three to four weeks, meaning new buyers will have to hang on until February.

Lance Whitney Contributing Writer

Lance Whitney is a freelance technology writer and trainer and a former IT professional. He's written for Time, CNET, PCMag, and several other publications. He's the author of two tech books--one on Windows and another on LinkedIn.

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Lance Whitney

Jan. 8, 2013 5:51 a.m. PT

Those of you ready to order a new 27-inch iMac will have to wait till next month for it to arrive.

Apple's latest estimate calls for a ship time of three to four weeks, zeroing in around early to mid-February. In early December, Apple offered a vague time frame of January. So people who ordered at that time hopefully will receive their computers by the end of the month.

The new 21.5-inch and 27-inch iMacs popped up for sale at Apple's Web site on November 30. The 27-incher offered an initial ship time of two to three weeks, but that jumped to three to four weeks after just a few hours.

At Apple's fourth-quarter earnings call on October 25, CEO Tim Cook cautioned that supplies of the iMac would be "constrained" the rest of 2012, leading to a "significant shortage."

Consumers eyeing the the 21.5-inch model face a wait time of 7 to 10 business days.