An iMac I'm Proud To Own
Written: Nov 05 '99 (Updated Nov 08 '99)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Design is pure genius. Superlative Value.
Cons: DVD player software is buggy
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| DanCallaway's Full Review: Apple iMac DV Indigo 15 in. (M7639LL/A) Mac Deskto... |
This computer picks up where the earlier iMac left off! The DVD player is great, the design is perfect, and the performance is very, very high.
Apple has packed a lot of power and usability into the new iMac. One of the greatest things about it is the new industrial design- the unit is very robust and well-thought-out.
The DVD drives 'slot loading' functionality is a very welcome change for the iMac and for Macs in general. The new drive accepts and ejects CD's and DVD's in the same way a floppy drive does disks. It is very intuitive and not fragile at all.
G3 power! There are a lot of foolish reviews on epinions that really miss the point with this processor. The iMac DV screams past my roommate's Pentium III 600Mhz in everything I have used it for. The windows freaks are wagging their heads and whining their Intel-implanted arguments about special instructions and high clock speeds- don't listen for a second. This processor destroys PC's and is really the best buy on the market in a great package.
The 64 MB of memory that ships with the iMac DV has pleasantly surprised me. In the past, using virtual memory on the mac caused slowdown and software problems. The iMac flies with VM on, though, and I can use Explorer, Word, Excel, Outlook and Hotline comfortably at once. I plan to upgrade the memory in the future, but the days of memory problems out of the box are OVER.
The iMac is positioned to be an audiophile's dream. The new speakers, while they have thin low-end response, are very crisp in the treble and with good reason- Apple has announced the upcoming iSub USB subwoofer, which will simply plug in and take over the low end of the frequency spectrum, letting the speakers do their work. I look forward to hearing the 'total effect,' although the machine produces rich stereo sound as it is. Another nice touch is the extra headphone jack on the front of the machine- it's right where it needs to be, and there are two of them! I'm sure schools will love it and siblings can finally agree.
Apple's revisions really impressed me in a subtle way. The unit has no fan, and as a result it is very quiet. The hard drive is the only audible sound coming from the machine, and it is very quiet. Apple went beyond the call of duty here: How can you advertise the lack of a fan compellingly? This part of the iMac's design will grow on you, and in the long run I have been so happy with it that I can't believe I used to put up with my Performa 6400 and its nuclear-turbine fan rumble.
The included 56k Modem is a very good one. It consistently connects at higher speeds than other modems to the same provider, due to its extensive line checking. This modem sounds particularly bizarre when it connects, but you will know where that extra 'bleep-squawk' went when you get 2k more per second than the el cheapos.
The DV's software complement is not on the same standard as its structural and architectural design. My machine shipped with OS8.6, and showed several shortcomings until I upgraded the software to the new OS9. I am a mac fan from childhood, so I can appreciate that their software is not as sculpted and tweaked as Microsoft's. However, the DVD player software that came with the machine proved to be very poor. It allowed the audio and the video to get about half a second out of sync, and froze repeatedly after numerous sound problems. Having dealt with Apple before, I didn't mind the problems because I knew that they shipped the first wave of DV's out the door to meet demand without OS9, which is the first OS that is designed with the DV in mind. However, beware that an OS 8.6 iMac DV might make a poor impression on a new Mac user.
The last shortcoming of this machine is the mouse. The small hockey-puck design is very difficult to use and often stalls when used to access submenus. I am not a silent sufferer, so I went out and bought a Microsoft Intellimouse Explorer, which I love and review in the 'Input Devices' computer section. This mouse works well with the iMac and strikes me as a similarly new-age design.
I enjoy the iMac's keyboard. I know a lot of people hate it, but I find it to be very solid and responsive to type on, quiet, firm and stylish. Why are people such followers? Try it and you'll probably feel the same way as I do.
If you don't want an iMac, don't get one- and stop reading this review! If you are curious about the iMac DV and have considered it, be assured that it is a great computer and there are plenty of software titles and games for it, with more coming every day. Features I didn't mention include firewire, which I haven't used, and the VGA port, which allows mirroring to an external monitor.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
DanCallaway
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Member: Daniel Callaway
Location: Baltimore, MD
Reviews written: 63
Trusted by: 76 members
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