Apple iMac, second edition
Written: Sep 15 '02
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Product Rating:
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Pros: LCD screen, superdrive
Cons: none at this price
The Bottom Line: The iMac is one of the best computers on the market for a first time computer user.
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| jefhatfield's Full Review: Apple Flat Panel iMac 700MHz G4 / 15-in. TFT / 40G... |
I am a computer repairman and one of my newest clients just purchased an Apple iMac with a 15" inch LCD screen, 800 Mhz G4 processor, 1 GB of RAM, 40 GB hard drive and a superdrive optical drive. At the time several months ago, this $1900 dollar computer was Apple's top of the line iMac in their inventory. Apple also still makes the less expensive cathode ray tube original iMac which starts at $799 dollars but this unit is most notably different that it sports a G3 processor.
Looking at the pictures of the new LCD iMac in magazines and online made me weary of the design of the machine worrying about two things.
First, I worried that the long, movable neck which held the 15" LCD screen might not be strong enough to hold the it. As it turned out, the extra heavy duty steel neck would easily be strong enough to hold a 17" LCD if Apple had decided to make such a model. As of this writing, Apple has released a 17" inch LCD iMac model!
The second concern I had about the iMac was that it looked like the unit could tip over when one moved the adjustable monitor around, up and down, back and forth, which it really does with amazing ease. By actually trying to throw the iMac off balance, my computer client and I found that the 22 pound half sphere of a base was more than enough to keep the computer grounded on his small, but sturdy TV table. Actually, it would take a really strong gale to knock this machine over.
I like the touch of the optical mouse which works on virtually any surface except for a highly polished one which can confuse the tracking mechanism of the laser which guides the mouse arrow on the computer screen. My client's TV table has a highly polished surface, so sometimes it took a little extra effort to make the mouse arrow go where one wanted it to go. We solved that issue with a dull textured mouse pad.
The iMac's keyboard has white keys with black letters on it, a major improvement over the older iMac's black keys with white letters on it which is not quite as easy to see. The higher end mac, the Powermac G4 DDR has a black keyboard with white letters but still sports the same Apple optical mouse.
While my client is not interested in making his own movies, the superdrive installed in the base section of the iMac does allow him to store DVD movies he can make and literally be able to play them back on his iMac or any DVD player. Other than that, he could use the superdrive and blank DVD disks for massive amounts of storage which he will never likely use. Like the majority of computer users, my client bought the iMac for three things...e-mail, internet, and word processing.
For e-mail and internet, the iMac comes with the default Microsoft email and web browser software which he utilizes with the iMac's rj-11 or standard telephone port. The computer also comes with an rj-45 port for ethernet and DSL capability if he decides to do either in the future. Besides that, he can use the standard usb and ultra fast firewire ports to add peripherals such as printers, scanners, joysticks, microphones, cameras, MP3 players, extra optical drives, and external storage units.
And for his word processing, Apple graciously included the office productivity software suite Appleworks 6. Other software is included such as the OS X operating system, the legacy OX 9.2 operating system, fax software, palm pilot software, and games.
Without doubt, the most controversial piece of software on the new iMac is the OS X operating system which does not have the full support of the computer industry Apple promised it would have more than a year ago. Being heavy on the graphic user interface, the operating system runs slowly even with the amazing G4 processor and the full 1 GB of RAM.
As of this writing, Apple has replaced that version of OS X with a new version of OS X dubbed "Jaguar" which is made to work faster with all Apple macintosh models. While the reviews are mixed on OS X Jaguar, it is still an improvement over previous versions of OS X and the only operating system which will be available for any mac starting in January of 2003. Many users of the legacy operating system, 9.2 and earlier, which my client's iMac has, will surely be unhappy about that.
Because my client who bought the iMac is an 85 year old first time user of the computer, I have to admit I would not say that the computer's operating system was easy to use for him, or any more easier than Windows XP would have been. But with time, my client has learned the basics of word processing, email, and the internet.
Many people don't notice, but when my client's iMac arrived, it came very heavily protected in an attractive heavy duty cardboard box twice as thick as any box I have seen on a PC computer. And being a PC technician and network engineer, I have seen my share of shipping boxes.
With these little attentions to detail, I recommend the new Apple iMac for any first time computer user. Five stars.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 1899
Operating System: Macintosh
Processor: PowerPC G4
Processor speed: 701-800
Hard Drive (GB): 31-40
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Epinions.com ID:
jefhatfield
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Location: California, USA
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