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Rating: 
Summary: Powerful, user-friendly computer with big wide screen.
Review: Apple is quite simply the best and most innovative computer manufacturer. Their various Macintosh computers are very user-friendly: easy to set up and use and (unlike most PCs) seldom crash or malfunction. Furthermore, the new iMac computers, although full-featured, are very compact and, thus, take up little desk space. The new iMacs all have adjustable flat-panel displays with exceptionally bright, sharp images. Now Apple has increased the processor speeds of these strikingly-attractive new iMacs and reduced their prices. This model has a big 20" wide screen display plus a 1.25 GHz G4 processor. Please don't be put off by the fact that the processor clock-speed is "only" 1.25 GHz. The G4 processor accomplishes more than twice as much per clock cycle as Pentium 4s do and, thus, is faster than a 2.5 GHz Pentium 4. All things considered, this new iMac is a terrific, versatile wide screen computer at a reasonable price. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Apple is getting it right!
Review: First, let me provide a bit of background. I have been a computer nut for about 25 years. I started banging out Basic programs on the original Commodor PET in elementary school. Since then, I have suffered the irresitable compulsion to purchase every "next great computer" offered. I have been through TRS-80s, Ataris, Amigas, Apples, and of course, many ubiquitous "PCs."I had strayed from Apple since owning a Color Classic in 1993 until 2001. At that time, the new Apple Cube caught my eye, as well as the beta version of OS X. I love the FreeBSD operating system, and was very excited about running a Unix distribution on a well-integrated consumer desktop. Alas, I must admit I was disappointed. The original OSX was far to slow for any reasonable work. Worse yet, it lacked the support to allow me to do simple tasks "what do you mean I can't play DVDs and my printer isn't supported?!?!" Nevertheless, I decided to try to stick with it. I sold the Cube and bought a DP 533 and 17 Studio display. Better performance, but still many nagging problems doing things that were a snap on a garden variety PC. I sold the DP 533, and bought two more PCs in the following two years. My last system was a AMD XP 2800+, DVD-R, 1 GB of ram and a 19" LCD. Performance was satisfactory expect for three things (1) the system was unacceptably loud for my home office, (2) it was nearly impossible to create a decent DVD despite trying a number of software packages (I have a two year-old daughter and new son on the way--lots of video), and (3) I HATE WINDOWS. The system required constant tweaking and chasing down glitches. Finally, I broke down, sold the PC and bought a 20" iMac. Unlike my experience two years ago, I am happy to report that Apple has got it right. The system works as advertised. The machine is quiet, well designed, and beautiful (had to mention that in any discussion of a mac). As a bonus, the system came with a suite of applications that cover almost every common task, often much more smoothly then their Windows counterparts. (Quicken, AppleWorks,iTunes, iPhoto, iEtc...) Add to that the huge collection of open source unix-based software available for free and you will find you need to buy very little additional software. While I was concerned about the speed of a 1.25GHZ G4 vs. my PC juggernaut, this was unwarranted. I am sure in pure processing speed, my new mac is not as fast. However, I have no complaints about speed and responsiveness when editing video, developing java applications on Netbeans, or playing the occasional game. The large screen makes it easy to juggle many windows, and Safari offers the best web browsing experience I have seen to date. I would recommend that you order your iMac with the 160GB drive and at least 512MB of memory for best performance. I find the 20" iMac to provide a very enjoyable overall computing experience. One caveat -- I would make sure your essential applications and peripherals will work with the machine. There are still some voids in hardware support, but not nearly what it was two years ago. Check out Apple's excellent web site for more information. If the 20" iMac fits the bill in that regard, go for it, it is an excellent machine.
Rating:
Summary: Apple is getting it right!
Review: First, let me provide a bit of background. I have been a computer nut for about 25 years. I started banging out Basic programs on the original Commodor PET in elementary school. Since then, I have suffered the irresitable compulsion to purchase every "next great computer" offered. I have been through TRS-80s, Ataris, Amigas, Apples, and of course, many ubiquitous "PCs." I had strayed from Apple since owning a Color Classic in 1993 until 2001. At that time, the new Apple Cube caught my eye, as well as the beta version of OS X. I love the FreeBSD operating system, and was very excited about running a Unix distribution on a well-integrated consumer desktop. Alas, I must admit I was disappointed. The original OSX was far to slow for any reasonable work. Worse yet, it lacked the support to allow me to do simple tasks "what do you mean I can't play DVDs and my printer isn't supported?!?!" Nevertheless, I decided to try to stick with it. I sold the Cube and bought a DP 533 and 17 Studio display. Better performance, but still many nagging problems doing things that were a snap on a garden variety PC. I sold the DP 533, and bought two more PCs in the following two years. My last system was a AMD XP 2800+, DVD-R, 1 GB of ram and a 19" LCD. Performance was satisfactory expect for three things (1) the system was unacceptably loud for my home office, (2) it was nearly impossible to create a decent DVD despite trying a number of software packages (I have a two year-old daughter and new son on the way--lots of video), and (3) I HATE WINDOWS. The system required constant tweaking and chasing down glitches. Finally, I broke down, sold the PC and bought a 20" iMac. Unlike my experience two years ago, I am happy to report that Apple has got it right. The system works as advertised. The machine is quiet, well designed, and beautiful (had to mention that in any discussion of a mac). As a bonus, the system came with a suite of applications that cover almost every common task, often much more smoothly then their Windows counterparts. (Quicken, AppleWorks,iTunes, iPhoto, iEtc...) Add to that the huge collection of open source unix-based software available for free and you will find you need to buy very little additional software. While I was concerned about the speed of a 1.25GHZ G4 vs. my PC juggernaut, this was unwarranted. I am sure in pure processing speed, my new mac is not as fast. However, I have no complaints about speed and responsiveness when editing video, developing java applications on Netbeans, or playing the occasional game. The large screen makes it easy to juggle many windows, and Safari offers the best web browsing experience I have seen to date. I would recommend that you order your iMac with the 160GB drive and at least 512MB of memory for best performance. I find the 20" iMac to provide a very enjoyable overall computing experience. One caveat -- I would make sure your essential applications and peripherals will work with the machine. There are still some voids in hardware support, but not nearly what it was two years ago. Check out Apple's excellent web site for more information. If the 20" iMac fits the bill in that regard, go for it, it is an excellent machine.
Rating:
Summary: I love this computer!
Review: I have not had this much fun with a machine since my days with an Atari 800 back in the early 80s. Apple got it completely right on what a computer should be like. I never owned or even operated a Mac until a few months ago. I decided to get one just for the heck of it. Man, what a machine! OS X is awesome. I am a Linux geek and have been for years, so switching to a Mac was no big deal. I can still play *nix if I want, but the interface on OS X is really something else. It just makes sense. Don't want a program installed any more? Drag it to the trash. None of this "Add/Remove Programs" junk. I have no problems at all playing with any video editing stuff. The CPU is more than capable of doing any task. I am also very impressed with Apple's tech support. The hard drive on mine crapped out after 60 days. I called Apple and the guy on the phone walked me through a bunch of tests. He was extremely helpful and a total pleasure to deal with. The best part of it all was that they sent a guy to my house to fix the drive. I did not have to take it anywhere or send it anyplace. Never again will I use a PC unless it is a Linux box. And my client machines will always be Macs.
Rating:
Summary: Smooth
Review: I never used a Mac before I bought this. After years and years of PC use, I did worry a little about switching, but it's no problem at all. Really, the differences are small - you click the mouse, you type, there are folders and files and icons... it's all very familiar. But compared to Windows, Mac OSX just seems calmer and more logical somehow. And it does feel very stable, though to be fair, so is Windows these days.
I wanted this machine for its famed "Digital Hub" and that works very well indeed. I was particularly pleased that I managed to download footage from my digital camcorder, create a movie and burn it to DVD without one error message! That's the difference for me: this thing just WORKS. It does what I ask it to do.
And when a computer works properly, you appreciate its design all the more and take pleasure in it. Instead of cursing it.
I ordered the 160GB hard drive and 512MB of RAM. I don't have a problem with speed - it seems about as fast as the 2.4GHz PC I use at work.
Really, when you take into account the spec, this isn't very much more expensive than a PC from Dell or whoever, so that's a bit of a myth.
First thing I did was go out and get a proper mouse with two buttons and a wheel. That Apple mouse is just Apple being silly.
The iLife software is great, but Appleworks is pretty terrible, so you'll probably need to budget for Microsoft Office.
And prepare yourself for a stuck pixel or two - a fact of life with these displays. Mine has one, and it's not too terrible. Mine also has a slightly lop-sided display, but I gather that can be tweaked by a specialist. Otherwise, this is a quality package that is much, much nicer to look at than any PC, and probably nicer to use too.
I'm prettty much converted.
Rating: 
Summary: Not perfect, but still better than any PC
Review: This is my first Mac of any kind. I had high expectations, especially considering the price.
So I was a little disappointed to find that the screen was lop sided. Only a little, but very noticeable. There was also a stuck pixel.
I decided to live with these (no choice in the case of the stuck pixel) and soon learned to ignore them and concentrate on the good points.
Panther is such a pleasure to use after using Windows. I quickly started to wonder why anybody would buy a Windows machine. Panther is so slick, and the iLife programs are everything Apple claim they are. Connecting to broadband was easy through the buillt-in ethernet.
The 20 inch screen, lop-sided-ness and stuck pixel aside was worth the extra, just about. All other screens seem small to me now.
Three months' use has thrown up a few points. There aren't enough powered USB ports. The supplied mouse is possibly the worst I've ever used and the keyboard isn't much better. That's a shame, because I'm going to have to replace them with ones that work properly and that'll ruin the look of the machine.
Unfortunately, my iMac, three months old, had to go into the repair shop with a misbehaving superdrive mechanism that turned out to be a very minor software glitch. Apple Care (I paid extra for the three years) was a HUGE disappointment. They had no idea how to fix the problem (they should have suggested a very simple fix which would've meant I didn't have to pack it off to the service centre), were the epitomy of the helpline pits, and now I appreciate why PC manufacturers offer on-site repairs: apart from the fact that it's a pain in the neck taking your computer to be repaired, do you really want some repair shop having access to your files?
At least they fixed the lop-sided screen while they looked at the superdrive, but I think the lack of on-site service is a major drawback to Apple ownership.
Oh dear, the shine has been well and truly taken off this machine for me. At this price, I think I have every right to be disappointed.
But still, now it's back home, and I've forgiven it. The honeymoon is definitely over, but I think the marriage will be pretty solid.
Rating: 
Summary: Great monitor, weak CPU
Review: This monitor is a work of art. The CPU is 2 years out of date. Buy a 2GHz G5 and a 20" LCD instead. This system is too out of date.
Rating:
Summary: Great monitor, weak CPU
Review: This monitor is a work of art. The CPU is 2 years out of date. Buy a 2GHz G5 and a 20" LCD instead. This system is too out of date.
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