designed for humans
Written: Aug 11 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: designed really well
Cons: transition
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| kmohnkern's Full Review: Apple iMac Blue Dalmatian 15 in. (M8347LL/A) Mac D... |
Apple knows how to make a good first impression. Just opening the iMac box is an experience. Inside is a small bundle of cords and books, a mouse, a keyboard, and the iMac. Period. Plug it all in and push the button on the front. That's all there is to it. It starts up with a setup wizard that walks you through the necessary registration and net connection steps. I was amazed at the ease of it all - even in my case, where I'm not signing up for the Earthlink ISP. It's a pleasure to use a product that was so obviously designed for human use (unlike the Dell/Microsoft conglomeration I use at the office).
So now that I've had it a few days, I still like it very much, and here's why:
- It's beautiful. The graphite cover is translucent enough to show all its lovely guts. (Snow was my first choice of color, but I don't dust very often.) The new optical mouse is a wonder to behold, all buttonless, clear, and glowing red.
- It's quiet. No fan. Even in my stuffy home office it doesn't get very hot.
- It's fast. 500 Mhz even makes the 56K internal modem seem to run fast.
- It's loaded. 30G drive, 128Mb RAM. I haven't been bitten by the iMovie or MP3 bugs yet, so I can't imagine needing this much computer. And it comes with some decent software preinstalled. The included games that show off the graphics accelerator are fun but cheesy, and Quicken Deluxe 2000 seems like something I'll use. Though I'm not into creating movies, iMovie is a wonderful piece of software for an interaction designer to learn from.
- It's alive. You thought the old Mac Plus was anthropomorphic. Instead of shutting down, I've been just putting it to sleep by pushing the power button. It nods off and the button throbs like it's breathing in a slow sleepy rhythm.
- It's, um... MacOS 9 is really nice.
Gripes? Okay, here's a few:
- Transition is a hassle. There's no way to easily transfer my stuff from my old PowerMac 7100. I could transfer stuff in 20Mb chunks over modem to my new iTools net disk, but that'll take forever. And the transition to USB is tough. I have yet to figure out how to get my old Palm cradle and Zip drive to connect.
- The keyboard has black keys, which is hard for a hunt-and-peck typist like myself to use in my dim office.
- I do like the scroll wheel on my mouse at work, and wish that Apple would work one into their mouse designs.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
kmohnkern
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Member: Ken Mohnkern
Location: Pittsburgh, PA
Reviews written: 3
Trusted by: 0 members
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