Quite simply, my iMac has turned me into a computer nerd all over again. It really does just work. Stacked spec to spec against most PC's the price really is very reasonable. I got my iMac G5 20" with built in Airport (Wi-Fi, G) and Bluetooth for $1600 after a $100 student discount and $100 mail-in-rebate. In this review I will try to focus more on hardware rather than the OS and included software (the stuff that really matters).

By far the most impressive feature is the screen. It's HUGE, perfect for watching DVDs and working with multiple windows or studio programs like Photoshop, Dreamweaver, or Final Cut.

The machine multi-tasks like no other. I always have Mail, iCal, FireFox, iTunes, and Address book open and it still kicks butt in Photoshop and the entire Macromedia Suite. I do all this with only 512mb of ram (I am still going to upgrade to 1.5gig just for the hell of it).

The Super-drive is fast and quiet compared to drives in most PCs. My friends always drop their jaws when I casually pick up CDs and shove them into the side without opening a tray, I get the same reaction when I hit the eject key and switch CDs without them noticing.

Bluetooth and Airport both work flawlessly and never fail to get a strong signal. Configuration for both is cake work.

The keyboard is great. It's solidly built and has a nice tactile keystroke. The mouse on the other hand is elegant but not very practical. I had to have two buttons; one just wasn't working out for me.

My printer (Canon MP750) installed perfectly. My Logitech mouse was plug-n-play easy. So support for peripherals is definitely there.

It is a little tough being a lifetime beige box PC user and moving to a machine with so little upgrade possibilities. Then I think of the stuff I have done to my HP PC since I bought it 4 years ago... uh... new graphics card, that’s it. So for me upgradeability is in all honesty, irrelevant.

UPDATE:
Ok, I was in Best Buy yesterday and found a 512MB stick of PC3200 Random Access Memory for $50. I went ahead and picked it up to give my Mac a full Gigabyte. Installation was AWESOME! Taking off the back panel is a breeze. Loosen 3 screws (there is stop so they can't come out all of the way, Thanks Apple) and the entire back comes off. This process is very well documented in the user guide. Everything is so perfect on the inside, no wires flopping around or awkward fan covers, etc.. I spread the clamps for the Ram in the spare slot and loaded my new module, replaced the cover and tightened the screws back. When I booted I went to "About This Mac" and sure enough, it says 1 Gigabyte. The entire process took about 10 minutes. The cool thing is that Apple took the extremely boring task of upgrading RAM and made it a pleasurable and even fun experience. I was staring at the shiny G5 processor cover for about 3 minutes.

Was it worth it...
Yes, my Mac would bog down some when working with high resolution stuff in Photoshop. Photoshop performance was still alright but the jumps to and from Dashboard and other apps got a little choppy. For most people I think 512MB would be fine, for the uber nerds the upgrade may be worth while. My advice would be to buy the Mac with the standard 512MB of RAM and evaluate whether you need more. Apple is currently offering an upgrade to 1GB for an extra $125, I bought my stick for $50, so I saved $75. That sounds like a good reason to buy an iPod Shuffle.

Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 1600
Operating System: Macintosh
Processor speed: over 1000
RAM: More than 256
Hard Drive (GB): Over 50