A Novice's Gripe About Basic Features
Written: Mar 01 '01
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Easy enough for a child to use.
Cons: The mouse and key board.
The Bottom Line: This isn't a bad computer, but Apple has better. Look those first.
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| BadgerGirl's Full Review: Apple Power Macintosh G3 (M7104LL/A) Mac Desktop |
I realize that I will probably get blasted both by Apple lovers and by anyone who feels that this epinion isn't technical enough. I'm not a technical person, but like most other Americans, I do use technology on a daily basis. I know what I like and feel comfortable with and what I don't, and I don't like or feel comfortable with certain aspects of the G3. I'm actually a PC person, but I teach at an elementary school that is Mac oriented, so I've learned to adapt.
I don't know much about what goes on inside of a computer. I do know that outside of the G3 is very attractive. When we were moving furniture around the school, I made sure to manuever this computer into my room. I was so excited to have something newer than an Apple IIe, which is all I had to work with at my previous school. It is definitely faster than those well-used dinosaurs, and it does have a CD Rom drive. Other than that, I'm not too excited about it.
My first issue with the G3 is the mouse. It doesn't fit my hand and I have a terrible time finding the button on a round mouse. I also miss having two buttons, which is a PC vs. Mac thing that I won't go into here.
I am also bothered by a lack of disk drive. I know that things are being stored on CDs and zip drives more frequently, but I'm not done using the disk drive yet! Our school constantly reminds us to back up any files that we put on the hard drive, but how can I back something up without my disk? I would save to the network, if I knew that it would be up and running the next time I needed it, or that I could find it again in the quagmire that is our network. This, combined with the fact that most of our students can't figure out how to save to the network means that each student can only use the computer that s/he started typing on. I could tell you some great stories about fights and arguments that I've broken up over who gets to use the computer, since both children have assignments on the G3.
By far, my biggest complaint with the G3 is the keyboard. I don't understand why it needed to be so compact. My fingers trip over each other constantly and I'm a fairly quick and nimble typer. I can't imagine the frustration some of my less coordinated students face. And where did the delete key go? Every other Mac in school has a delete key, but not this one! How can I "open apple, alt, delete" if there is no delete key? (Or is it "open apple, control, delete?" The other computers crash so frequently that I don't even have to look anymore, but that's another issue all together.) Anyway, I figured out that there was a reset button on the computer. Since it's not marked and I'm not fluent in computer symbols, I always have to guess which button to push. This aside, I am a person who frequently uses delete and it's frustrating not to have it. Getting back to my keyboard issues, it is so lightweight that it won't stay put on the desk. The slightest nudge sends it skating across the work space. The other keyboards have some mass to them, so they stay in place more easily.
Don't get me wrong, this isn't a bad computer. It suits my purposes for game playing and word processing with few problems. It's just that these little annoyances make it difficult to really get into typing. Maybe if this was someone's only computer it wouldn't be so bad, but it would drive a person mad if s/he uses a couple of different computers. I don't know why Apple would create a computer that has features inconsistent with other Apple computers. Granted, I haven't used a Mac newer than the G3, so maybe these changes are something that Apple is hoping to make standard in their new lines. I guess I'm just old-fashioned enough to be bothered by fixing something that "ain't broke" as my dad always said.
Recommended:
No
Amount Paid (US$): ?
Operating System: Macintosh
Processor speed: Don't Know
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Epinions.com ID:
BadgerGirl
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Member: Jill Miller
Location: Middleton, WI
Reviews written: 73
Trusted by: 5 members
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