brad's Full Review: Apple iMac 17 in. (M8812LL/A) Mac Desktop
Well, here I am with the review I promised, following my Epinions editorial about my frustrating Windows experience.
I bought my iMac in early August of this year, 2002. At the time, because of popular demand (according to Apple), my Mac was on back order. It finally arrived, just short of September. So what do I think about the Mac experience?
In a sense, it was a brilliant decision. In another sense, it was a terrible decision (to switch from the Windows environment).
This review could be a book, but I’ll try to keep it short as I feel is merited.
The complication here is that I’m reviewing both A) a switch to a different operating system – entirely software related, and B) a piece of hardware – a different PC.
For starters, I’m going to define my own terms of exactly what it is I’m reviewing. I operated in the Windows environment for nearly a decade. Prior to that, I operated in the Apple PRO-DOS environment (ironically, a Microsoft operating system run on certain Apple models). In other words, I was on a “PC,” but “PC” stands for Personal Computer. The PC name was adopted by the media as an alternative to “IBM Compatible.” No. These are all “personal computers,” in reference to computers that are not servers, “supercomputers,” or special computing devices. I don’t like the media terminology. Either we have a Windows PC or a Mac PC. Actually, it shouldn’t even be a “Windows PC,” as the word “windows” is a generic term. It should be a “Microsoft Windows PC” (obviously I’m overly irritated by the monopoly Microsoft has, to the extent that even the word “windows” is considered copyrighted).
In any case, let’s get this review rolling.
The Mac, and this is even more complicated that you might think, is different than it once was. The new Macs are not very comparable to the old Macs. What do I mean? Well, the “new” Macs are based on the Mac OS X operating system, which is greatly different than the old Mac OS operating system. The Mac OS X operating system is Unix-based, which, as I’ve found out, is quite a bit different than the old Mac OS.
What do I think of the Mac OS X operating system?
The thing is rock solid. So far, with this system, I’ve had one crash. In other words, the system broke down and didn’t respond. It wasn’t functional at that particular time. I had to re-boot the system for it to work again. Since I installed Mac OS X.2 (Jaguar), I haven’t had any sign of a crash or sign of unreliability.
The interface is superior to Windows in numerous ways. It is much easier to figure out how to configure the system, In other words, it is much easier to make my PC do what I want it to do, than it is with Windows.
The interface is much cleaner, or “prettier.” Why Microsoft can’t take a few cues from Apple and make the interface more pleasant to the user, I am dumbfounded. Microsoft could easily make its interface more functional to the average user, but has essentially stuck to its Windows 95 interface since, well, 1995. It’s no wonder why innovation has stalled, when Microsoft controls 95% of the operating system market.
If you want to do something on a Mac, you’ll know if you can do it or not, without much effort. The Mac is automatically configured so that it will do most of what you want it to do. Drivers are, for the most part, a thing of the past. If your peripheral is Mac OS X supported, you don’t need drivers. Plug it in and it will work; it really is that simple. I have a Kanguru external hard drive that is Windows and Mac compatible. I used it to load my stuff from a Windows PC, but I had to install drivers and software to get it to communicate with Windows. When I wanted to connect it to the Mac, all I did was plug it in with the FireWire cord. That’s it. The drive appeared as an icon on the desktop and I was ready to drag, drop, and do what I wanted.
In theory, the Mac OS is greatly superior to Windows. It looks a heckuva lot better, it functions a lot better, and it is much easier to use. Why then, isn’t it more widely adopted?
Well, the real reason is probably because Apple has a different business model than Microsoft, but that’s for another debate. What is holding back the Mac OS is support by third party software and hardware vendors. It’s not rocket science. If you’re a software or hardware developer, where is the money? Well, if 95% of the market uses one platform, what’s the use in committing resources towards the other 5%? That’s the multi-billion dollar question. The answer is fairly evident, and can be provided by objective Mac users.
I can’t use KaZaA. It’s not Mac supported. The most popular, by far, peer-to-peer file sharing client in the world won’t run on a Mac. I can’t update my website because I use Homestead Technologies’ site editor, as it doesn’t run on Macs. I can’t use my personal fax/voice mail provider, j2 (jfax.com), as it isn’t supported for Macs. These are some important products I heavily used when I was in the Windows world. This point hit home when I began using my Mac.
Plenty of printers are available for Mac OS X. However, only a handful of vendors have multiple models that are OS X compatible. This is an important issue. “Tons,” as I’ll put it, of printers are available for the old Mac OS, but only a fraction work on Mac OS X. My Samsung laser printer, the 1430-ML, said “Mac 8.1 or higher” compatible. No. OS X stands for Mac OS 10.0 (I believe, actually, 10.1). As I mentioned, there is a distinct difference between Mac OS X and anything that came before it. Plenty of peripherals are OS 9.999 or below compatible, but again, only a fraction are up to date with Apple’s new platform, and that’s really what it is. Apple has moved on to a new base for its operating system, (OS) just as Microsoft moved from the old DOS-based operating systems to the “NT kernel”(essentially, an entirely different platform for its line of operating systems).
To elaborate on the hardware problem, Apple has a lot of work to do in getting support from third parties in getting peripherals to work with its new OS. Even if the vendor says it’s OS X compatible, that isn’t necessarily true. I ran into this problem with Hewlett Packard. I bought a scanner, the ScanJet 3500c, which was supposed to work with OS X. It didn’t. Well, eventually it did, but that was an adventure. I called HP, in frustration, and I spoke in length with a fairly knowledgeable tech rep. His take was that Apple really left the third parties hanging when Apple released Jaguar (OS X 10.2, or, OS X.2). He complained that Apple’s new OS demanded a lot of programming on HP’s part to keep their products current with Apple. He said that Apple just came out and announced 10.2, but didn’t give fair advance to third parties. He said HP was working very hard to fix the compatibility problems with 10.2 (as opposed to 10.1, the original OS X), but that they simply needed more time. Well, to make a long story short, HP came up with a temporary solution that allows 10.2 users to use the scanner with the help of a software download. The download was rather large, so modem users would be more upset than I, but bottom line, I can actually scan items to HP’s bundled software.
Other Mac operating system notes before I get into the hardware issues… Office XP for OS X works seamlessly, as if you used it with Windows. Actually, I loudly applaud Microsoft for its efforts in making Office conform to the Apple environment. Office XP for OS X is essentially the same as the Office XP Standard Edition for Windows. It seems Microsoft can write software that fits the Mac “attitude” (look and feel), but can’t write its XP operating system to TRY to look and feel like the pleasant Mac environment. Another benefit of Office XP for OS X is that, in contrast to Office XP for Windows, YOU NEED NOT REGISTER THE PRODUCT! Microsoft is building an infamous reputation for its new subscription-oriented registration policies, but this doesn’t seem to apply to Macs.
… Continuing on the OS X notes … The software bundle included with OS X is very impressive. This isn’t Windows arriving with only Internet Explorer and a calculator. iTunes, Apple’s proprietary jukebox, is as impressive as any audio playback/burning package I’ve seen for Windows. iTunes is incredibly easy to use and couldn’t be simpler for burning CDs. The drawbacks are the inability to print label inserts and, in another realm, an inability to actually download the tunes you want (MP3s), because you can hardly find a file-sharing program that runs on Macs! Limewire works fairly decent for MP3s, but it is no KaZaA (movies, software, anything).
… continuing again on OS X notes … The software bundle comes with iDVD, which is supposed to do a great job in helping novices use digital cameras/camcorders to produce the images/homemade movies they desire. The iCal is an impressive product, although comparable services (albeit not nearly as loaded) are available online – Yahoo! Calendar, similar services. iChat is a clone for America Online’s AOL Messenger (“AIM”), but since AIM is by far the industry leader, it’s nice to have the iChat client to use without all the AOL adware attached to the experience. As for iDVD, I do have both a Canon digital camera and a Canon MiniDV camcorder, but I have yet to test iDVD as a supporting application (still using the provided software on father’s computer). I only read about the raves of iDVD’s virtues.
Okay, time to get to the hardware debate, which I expect will be less engaging.
Compressed Specifications: iMac – “G4” 800 megaherz processor with a 133 megaherz system bus (by Motorola), 512mb PC 133 SDRAM, 80 gigabyte 7200 RPM internal hard drive, DVD-R/CD-RW optical drive, built-in 17” “widescreen” flat-panel LCD monitor, 4 USB 1.1 ports, 2 FireWire ports. No floppy drive. No PS/2 ports for mice/keyboards, no parallel port, no serial port, no VGA port.
Former PC: Windows PC – “Pentium 3” 733 megahertz processor with a 100 megahertz system bus (by Intel), 256mb PC 100 SDRAM, 15 gigabyte 7200 RPM internal hard drive, CD-RW optical drive, floppy drive, 2 USB 1.1 ports, upgraded USB 2.0 2 port PCI card, upgraded FireWire 3 port PCI card, parallel port, serial port, VGA port, PS/2 ports for mouse/keyboard.
That said, which system runs faster?
Actually, I had a faster system that I sold, to make room for my new iMac, but I am using my father’s Windows PC as a comparison tool, since its specs most closely resemble the specs of my new iMac.
Hands down, the Windows PC, powered by Intel’s Pentium 3 processor, is faster. Internet Explorer pops up like it’s the Start menu, Word, nearly as fast; virtually any application responds to commands faster than the iMac, and, more importantly, NOTICABLY.
That’s the biggest problem. If I want to sit down and multi-task, the Windows PC gets my attention every time. My father’s HP Pavilion (Windows PC) is 25 feet from my iMac, yet I continually catch myself using that thing for casual Web surfing, even though it’s not my computer!
That’s really what it comes down to: functionality. What can I do today, or as Microsoft once put it: “Where do you want to go today?” I’m sorry, but the Windows PC with comparable specs moves considerably faster.
This doesn’t mean it’s the end of the story, however. It’s not just my father’s PC. It’s also every other Windows PC I’ve ever used. It’s every other Mac PC I’ve ever used. It’s the PCs I used in high school that run the Mac. It’s the PCs I used throughout college and, day-in, day-out, at work. The Macs almost NEVER crashed. The Windows PCs crashed so many times, during important projects, I could nearly justify hunting down Bill Gates. Heck, even today, at work, I was running a Windows 98 PC; IT CRASHED THREE TIMES TODAY! Hey, I learned the hard way. I save my emails, documents, and projects every 10-15 minutes. I know Windows could crash at any time. Windows 98 is bad, but even Windows 2000 gave me problems, with certain peripherals, that caused it to crash. Windows 2000 is the best operating system I’ve seen from Microsoft, but it gave me enough headaches with everything I had on my old PC that, even then, I had had enough. The Mac won’t crash, folks. You don’t have to worry about losing your 1,000-word email. You don’t have to worry about your three-page letter in your word processor. It’s nice to know that.
…
As the conclusion begins, here, I guess I’m torn. The Windows PC kicks so much rear as far as speed and multi-tasking that I’m almost ready to pledge my allegiance, BUT THEN THE DANG THING CRASHES!
If you want to email, surf the Web, do word processing. spreadsheets, or any other regular tasks, the Mac will never let you down. It will work to Steve Jobs’ deathbed to ensure your projects don’t go unfinished. The Mac has its place in the digital community; it’s demonstrated its place as a player in the consumer market, in helping novices make genuine use of digital technology (burning CDs, more than any other PC – burning DVDs). If you want a computer that will help you set it up to do what it is you want it to do (all those short words!), the Mac will help you, while Windows will ask you to contact your computer manufacturer’s tech team (call up Dell!). If you want a computer that is pretty, and I guess that’s my word as much as it is another’s, the Mac is your computer, otherwise, you’ll get a brown or beige box with Windows installed.
If you want the ability to diversify your computing experience, to limits that know no bounds, you should buy a Windows PC. A Windows PC effectively endorses any and every software and hardware platform out there, as, again, any and every third party vendor is willing to develop technology for Windows, while they’re not all willing to do that for the Mac. However, be prepared for the “holes” in the system, because Microsoft is not building a system that is ironclad. It is building a system that has been open to any third party vendor since its existence, and will continue to do so. Apple has refused to allow third parties to use its software. You can only buy the Mac OS X on Apple-manufactured PCs. Microsoft will sell Windows to anybody. The tradeoff is that Apple is certain its software will work on the computers it sells, while Microsoft can’t come close to matching that claim.
That’s my argument. I love my Mac. Then again, I hate it because I can’t do certain things. Then again, I love it because it won’t let me down. Then again, I hate it because my rogue friends, out there to writing the latest technology, won’t write it for my Mac! What gives? Arghh!
I report, you decide. Yours, brad.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 1994.00 Operating System: Macintosh Processor speed: 701-800 RAM: More than 256 Internal Storage: CD-RW and DVD Hard Drive (GB): Over 50
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