Love my iMac!
Written: Jun 26 '00 (Updated Aug 05 '00)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Fast, Flexible, Near-portable, decent amount of software included.
Cons: Lack of easy/cheap processor upgradability.
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| Furo's Full Review: Apple iMac Blue Dalmatian 15 in. (M8347LL/A) Mac D... |
Edited 8/5/2000
You just gotta love an all-in-one, grab-it-by-the-handle-and-go, fast (400MHz), quality Mac.
The iMacs didn't float my boat early on, but the DV/SE is the exception. This is the ONLY one I would buy, and I had to nearly be forced into buying it. I'm not sorry in the least for having made the purchase, however.
As a computing professional, I keep my toes in a lot of different technologies, and the Mac world has to be no different. For various reasons I decided to go with the iMac instead of a G4, not the least of which was overall price. For about $1500 you get a complete, adequate solution that includes a whole gaggle of software applications and the much-acclaimed MacOS 9.
Macintosh versus PCs has been a long-raging debate and this is probably something that should be mentioned with a review of a Mac product in a seemingly PC world.
The Macintosh camp talks up the higher performance and capability of applications, where the PC world claims multiple operating system capability and breadth of software availability, as well as easier development capability.
While all true in their own right, some details may add to the mix. First the overall performance of a PowerPC chip versus an Intel x86 chip will leave the PowerPC running circles around the x86. This is a function of the instruction sets the two use. PowerPC is a Reduced Instruction Set (RISC) chip and the x86 is a Complex Instruction Set (CISC) chip.
These are gory details, of course, but when it comes down to it, the high-end CISC chips are about on par with the high-end RISC chips in the retail world once you factor in how operating systems run and the advantage/disadvantages of each. There have been independent studies done, and most come down to a "pick-em" opinion... use the one you like.
When I think about what I use the Mac for in my day to day computing activites, I see that the Mac is generally used for web browsing, email, chatting, some web development and watching TV. I also do these same things on the PCs. The specific reason for using the Mac really comes down to a feature or two, or maybe a particular freeware/shareware application that's available for the Mac that isn't for the PC.
It really comes down to minor issues. I could live without either because there is enough software available for the Mac to accomplish the same tasks, but in truth, there is more variety in the PC world. I rather enjoy the simplicity of having a select few applications that are in general better-written and more stable. I reboot my Mac far less often than my PCs. This speaks to the overall stability of MacOS 9 and the iMac in general.
The included USB and FireWire ports, as well as built-in Ethernet and modem make the iMac a complete package in todays world, as well as tomorrows. One thing that sticks out is the lack of floppy disk drives with Macs. This is on purpose. About the only times I use floppy diskettes is when I'm installing Microsoft Operating Systems or Linux on PCs. Otherwise I either use a Zip drive or transfer things over the network.
That brings me to my next point. The available operating systems in both worlds. There are emulators that allow you to run Windows on a Mac and there are PowerPC distributions that will run natively on the Mac, including iMacs. There are also various operating systems and emulators that run on the PCs, of course, and this includes available MacOS emulators that are out there.
Finally, software development. I will admit that I don't have a lot of development experience in the Mac world outside of web development software, but the available tools for each make them both much easier than they were even 2 or 3 years ago.
Again, the Mac versus PC debate is really a what-you-like proposition. If you like Macs, the iMac DV/SE is the best out there. Especially since the new 500MHz version was added to the line up. I've now ported all of my Quicken 99 data over to the free copy of Quicken 2000 included and I've imported several video clips into iMovie, the video editing package that's included with the iMac. Very simple, but can do some pretty nifty things!
-Furo
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
Furo
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Member: Randall S. Nieland
Location: Waterloo, Iowa
Reviews written: 35
Trusted by: 1 member
About Me:
Newsletter editor Lockergnome.com and owner of MacAquarium.com
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