Apple iMac G5 Desktop with 17" M9248LL/A (1.60 GHz PowerPC G5, 256 MB RAM, 80 GB Hard Drive, Combo Drive)

Rating:
Summary: Using One Now- FANTASTIC!
Review: As an engineer, consultant, businessman, and educator- pramatism (bang per buck) absolutely rules.

No question- having suffered dozens of daily crashes with the latest PCs and Microsoft software, hundreds of OS updates, crippled unreliable Dell and IBM laptops (yet working in aerospace, space and formula one)- I am so P**sed off with the quality (lack thereof) in IT (17 years worth!)....Count the hours wasted and dollars spent on software...

To the new Apple- within 5 minutes it was connected to the Internet, talking with all the printers, scanners, faxes, gamespads, videocams without any hitch whatsoever (REAL WOW). OK so OSX looks scary- 30 minutes to get used to without even looking at the straightfoward manual. Appleworks free office suite reads all my papers and articles without a glitch even though they were written (and crashed) in MS Office. Some software updates- quick with a disk optimiser automatically (no fragmented disks..).

Speedwise an iMac G5 1.6/ 512MB RAM/160 GB HD/17 screen boots up and feels about 3 x faster than a Dell Inspiron Laptop/Pentium 4 1.6/512MB RAM/30GB HD/16VRAM/15 Screen. Never mind the cool factor or that an equivalent Dell costs more.. I even have to move my head from side to side as the screen is so big!

Moans- more power would be great (e.g. better graphics card options, dual processor option) but in reality the iMac is such such a marvel of industrial design in the true sense, doesn/t crash all day, and works very effectively at a great price. BTW I did a factory 1 slot 512MB option so that could 3rd party upgrade another 512 more cost effectively- but am told that the 2 slots do not need to match in size.

Overall- a real winner- My *New* Dell laptop has become a paperweight holding a cable!

UPDATE (a few days later)- everyone who has seen and used the new iMac wants one; I *want to* use the computer (fun!) rather than dread it (Windows); think that office productivity - languishing despite vast IT investments- may rebound if coporations were brave enough to invest in one of these for all staffers... (not one crash in 40 hours use- a record!!!). BTW may start to put in some industrial strength engineering modelling apps soon (with a second new Mac- a Dual PowerMac 3GHz when it comes)...

UPDATE 2- another 512MBRAM (to 1GB pair); big hardware boost for graphics:
Numbers: CINEBENCH 2003-rendering 1 cpu- 170; graphics C4D shading 204; OpenGL SW-L 529; OpenGL HW-l 928; Speedup 4.59
XBENCH Results 146.68

Hard not to smile with this computer- no crashes, virtualPC for Win apps, no viruses- soon m$ free ...

Rating:
Summary: Runs Like a Car Without Wheels...
Review: Do not get confused by the photographs, this computer is NOT a laptop. It is not powered by a battery therefore it is not portable. Instead of purchasing an expensive computer that looks like a laptop that you can't take with you anywhere, why don't you buy a real laptop? Apple makes laptops too but their batteries don't last long, you would be buying obsolete technology (too slow) and they are incompatible with the Windows world; other brands of laptops have inexpensively matched the beautiful designs that Apple has. This is a no brainer.

Rating:
Summary: Do not buy- looks aren't everything
Review: First of all, this computer dies after three months. That's just how first generation Mac products are. Don't buy first generation- it WILL die. This thing freezes literally every time I use it.
Secondly, Apple doesn't help at all. Tech support doesn't do anything for you. They refuse to honor my one year hardware warranty, and I've talked to customer service AND tech support, and all they do is try to sell you Apple care- why would I want to extend coverage for a product that they already refuse to honor service for? Their service team isn't a service team at all. They are a group of trained salespeople who try to sell you their product. Why should I have to buy Apple care for something that should already be covered?
I've grown up on Macs, and loved them all my life. But the company's integrity is going down hill, and this was the last straw. Between the horrible products and the sleazy "support," I'm never buying an Apple product again. Linux, here I come...

Rating:
Summary: Nice machines, but do consider alternatives.
Review: I bought an iMac G4 and sold it because the wide screen made reading regular text way too small. I then bought a PowerMac G4 and put a large 19" LCD display on it and got ready to be "amazed". Well, it didn't happen. Yes, the Mac is a fantastic machine, but it really does not do anything you can't do on a PC for less money. More choices for software and hardware for the PC means it will cost less to buy those items for the PC. One example: look at video cards for a PC and a Mac. The Mac version will cost much more. I understand the passion that Mac owners feel for these machines, but once you put the emotion aside, it's an expensive machine for any casual user. Also, while I owned my Mac's I found that there were frequent OS updates from Apple, and each release of their OS X cost like $135. There has been something like 3 or 4 releases of their OS in the last couple years, so just do the math. And I did need to get drivers for it for some products, so the statement that everything is plug and play is not true. Finally, if you're used to using Windows, the Mac OS does take getting used to, and it's not as easy as some here would make it out to be. Take this for what you will, but I have been a pretty hard core computer user for better than 20 years.

Rating:
Summary: Simple to set up and use.
Review: I bought this for my wife who wanted her own computer. She hates dealing with the technical stuff associated with PCs and just wants to be able to sit down and use the computer. I opened the box, installed an Airport wireless network card (which took less than 5 min. start to finish)and handed it to her to set up. Within 10 minutes she had everything up and running including a printer, memory card reader and access to the internet over our existing wireless network.

The 17" flatscreen is beautiful, the fans in the back are quiet and the computer is relatively fast. Perfect for digital photography, web surfing (no popups or spyware attempts so far), email, and managing a digital music collection.

If you don't have to use a bunch of programs written only for Windows machines why subject yourself to all the extra (viruses, spyware, popups, adware, system crashes and constant security downloads and updates) hassles?

Windows XP has come a long way but based upon my experience it is still quite a few steps behind Apple and OS 10 for making computing more enjoyable.

Rating:
Summary: Ignorance is not bliss, Bob
Review: I have to agree with other reviewers of this system that praise the power, the industrial design and the usability of the iMac G5. Apple has always been an industry leader in user-friendly computing and yet guys like Bob have to jump at any opportunity to slam them.

If Bob had done any research at all, or better yet, had ever USED an iMac for longer than his 2 minute maximum attention span, he would realize that most of his opinions are unfounded.

Software is not an issue and hasn't been for many years. I challenge Bob to list all the essential software he can't live without on his "Dell Whatever" that is unavailable on a Mac. But I'd also take this one step further to suggest that he may need more software to get things done on his PC that can be done in fewer steps with better results on a Mac. The very fact that every new Apple ships with a complete office suite (Apple Works), photo and video editing software (iPhoto, iMovie), not to mention iDVD (a DVD mastering program), iTunes (the industry-leading mp3 software) and Garage Band (a sophisticated music composer) has been completely overlooked by our friend Bob. All that software is in the box! What's even better is that all this software is designed by Apple and designed to work with each other in much the same way. That means once you become comfortable with a particular Apple-designed program, you'll intuitively understand how to find your way around the others. What's more, you can pull elements from each program into another (adding photos to an iMovie and bringing them both into iDVD) without any hassle. At the very most, you might want to pick up a copy of MS Office if you need to, which, by the way, is 100% compatible with the PC version making file sharing perfectly seamless.

Let's not forget about the thousands of 'drivers' that the PC world simply can't live without. You know, those annoying little programs that have to be given to you on a CD rom or download from the internet for your PC so you can operate a printer or a digital camera? In the world of Apple, the drivers for all current and most future peripheral devices are pre-installed. Have a digital camera you want to connect? Plug it in and the Mac instantly recognizes the device and even opens the program you need to use. Have a new printer, plug it in and print. If you're not a computer techie and don't get off on dabbling in DOS, stop wasting your time with a PC.

And to the comments about DELL having better value, check it out. Do your research. To get a comparatively powered machine from Dell (remembering of course that 1.8 Ghz on a Mac equals about 2.6 Ghz on a PC) complete with comparable monitor, graphics card, RAM and software the price is the same if not more. The technical specifications cannot be compared between the two platforms, but it's not worth getting into here.

Fact is, since Apple holds a comparatively small marketshare of consumer computers, most of the general public are unaware of the many, many virtues. If you like to be creative, if you like to be efficient, if you like to use your computer as an extension of your abilities, the iMac should be seriously considered. Once you go Mac, you don't go back.


Rating:
Summary: It's a whole new level
Review: I received my iMac G5 yesterday, and here's what I an tell you about this new machine:

1)If you have a Mac with a Firewire port and supports the Taret Disk bootup mode, this will be the easiest, most pain free upgrade you'll ever have. I was somewhat unsure about how good the Setup Assistant would be..it does the job RIGHT. I didn't have to worry about any of my DSL network settings, finding my iTunes library, my various passwords and logins--I shoud have taken a photo of the screen telling me "your iMac G5 is ready to be used" Just amazing!

2) Like all Macs, the iMac G5 is easy to set up and get going. The new bodywas easy to lift out and onto my desk. The screen is very sharp, I love just adjusting the angle (just for fun), and I had to wait until my house was totally silent at 5am just to hear the usual hum, annd I can barely pick that up. The fans will kick in when you go to a site like ESPN, which uses alot of animated icons, moviing text, etc, but in each case te fans slow down then stop after about a minute. Plus they pup out some nice cool air from the speakers! Some people have complained about the fans being loud, so far nothing I haven't been through before with my previous iMac G3--whose hard drive spinning makes it sound like a garbage truck compared to my iMac G5.

3) Speed and power--I ordered mine with 512 MB of RAM, and this should be what other buyers should do as well. The iMac G5 is built for power and speed--I downloaded the pdf manual on my old iMac G3, and rendering the pages would take a good 3-4 miniutes. iPhoto--getting my photos imported, edited, and ready for emailing took several minutes. Itunes, the same. On my new iMac G5, everything FLIES. In Preview, PDF files just zip opne like..I do't know, a regular text file. The Quicktime moie trailers are much more detailed. iPhoto takes your digital photos and have them ready for you to use like it was nothing. Itunes blazes.

I'm stunned. I really am. There aren't enough words to describe how happy I am with this iMac G5. The only thing left is to watch a dvd this afternoon on the widescreen, hmmm Star Wars maybe? This is the best computer I've eevr used, except now I do't have to go to a store to try it out--I own it!!!

Rating:
Summary: Attention to detail
Review: It is the attention to detail that I love about Macs. From the packaging to the software integration to the rounded end on the power cord that makes the back of the computer more seamless. It just all fits together perfectly and beautifuly.

I should also mention their tech support is the best in the industry. They really train their people so they know what they are doing. Not that you'll need tech support, but it's nice just in case.
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Some suprises:
The downfiring speakers do sound very nice. How they get that performance from those little things I'll never know.

The power button is in the back. It's a good placement for it once you know where it is, but is not obvious at first.

Fast user switching is not enabled by default. If you have more than one person who uses the computer in your home please turn it on. It is great, much better than in Windows XP.

It is the sharpest, brightest 17inch LCD I have ever seen. It blows all other 17 inch displays away.
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Let me add some practical advice on options.

First, the 1.6Ghz is not noticably slower than the 1.8Ghz, so don't spend the extra money for the "faster" model.

Second, do get more RAM. 256MB is not enough. You can buy it from Apple or install some yourself. Installing it yourself is cheaper and very easy (the instructions that come with it are pretty good by the way). It uses standard PC3200 memory.

Third. The wireless (bluetooth) mouse and keyboard are worth every extra penny. They are beautiful and responsive. They even come with Energizer batteries.

Rating:
Summary: Died in two weeks
Review: Probably I have bad luck, but Apple hardware sucks. This thing died in two weeks, and now I have to wait for two weeks for the replacement part to arrive. I also had a G4 that died after warranty and 17 inch flat panel that died also after warranty. If it wouldn't be for mac os X, I will stay away of Mac hardware

Rating:
Summary: A genuinely useful computer for the non-geek
Review: There are a lot of people who'll go on and on about the virtues of Macs as though they were divine gifts. Let's dispense with that and get down to why you really want one.

First is that you really, really do save space. My mother (the owner of a new 17" iMac G5) was astounded at the sheer amount of desktop area she got back by going from a comparatively bulky Windows computer to an iMac. You have room to breathe, and you never have to crawl on the floor to plug in a cable.

The second reason is that of security. I won't pretend that OS X is invincible, but it's been so free of attacks (and so free of the mistakes Microsoft made) that security programs are just good policies, not absolutely necessary. What good is a cheaper Windows computer if it's virtually guaranteed that you'll need security software or a trip to the local computer service shop?

Another point I've noticed while using the iMac G5 is that it's extremely quiet in common use. You don't have to listen to your computer humming or whirring. The loudest it gets is the DVD drive spinning! And the quiet is extremely valuable, since it lets you focus on the task at hand... or at least makes it easier to appreciate your music.

The only qualms I have with the iMac are that the video is a bit underpowered (it's still good enough for young kids or casual gaming, though!), and that many people will want to add more RAM shortly after they get it. But its strengths for the *real* average user - the one who wants to get work done, and enjoy the Internet instead of fearing it - more than compensate.