As functional as it is attractive!

My three year old G4 iBook is sadly on the way out and had gotten to the point where I could no longer run the programs I need to run on it. I considered replacing it with a MacBook but the video card was not adequate for my needs. The MacBook Pro was better, but out of my price range and I didn't feel that the quality of the system was enough to justify the high price. For me, the solution I finally came up with was to buy an iMac for the programs that I need to run that require more power and keep the iBook on hand for traveling.

Here's the system that I decided on:
20 inch screen
2.4 Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo processor
1 GB of 667 Mhz DDR2 SDRAM
320 GB Hard Drive
ATI Raedon HD 2600 PRO graphics processor with 256 MB of SDRAM

I paid $1499 for the system, with my educational discount and bought it from university's computer store.

Overall, a fairly respectable system for home use. It has enough power for most people's basic needs, even if you use a lot of 3D functions, such as highly graphical games. It's more than adequate for what I need. As I've used the iMac, I haven't noticed any slowdown, even when using a fair amount of processing power.

Design: I am extremely impressed with the design of the system. It is very attractive to look at and a delight to use. I find the glossy screen much brighter and easier to read than my old matte screen on my iBook. The iMac has only one cord in the back to connect it to an electrical socket, and 3 USB ports, 2 Firewire ports, and various video connection ports. The super-thin keyboard plugs into a USB port in the back and then the mouse connects to the keyboard. The one problem I have noticed is that I have experienced system shut down on two occasions when I tilted the screen and jostled the power cord. You have to be very careful when moving the screen to make sure that the cord stays in place!

Keyboard and Mouse: I was a bit dubious when I first took the nearly flat aluminum keyboard out of the box but it has won me over. It looks good with the iMac and is comfortable to type on. This might be because I am used to typing on the flat iBook keyboard, but it does work for me. The mouse is also very comfortable to use and includes a scroll wheel and two side buttons. The side buttons don't seem to be very well-placed and I do sometimes have problems pushing down on them enough to register, while in a normal mouse hand position.

The Included Software: My iMac came with OS 10.4 loaded, but an upgrade disk to 10.5. I had no problems installing Leopard, but then did have to restore my admin access because Leopard "lost" it during the upgrade. The pros and cons of Leopard have been discussed elsewhere, but I will just say that it looks fantastic on the 20" glossy screen, and really seems to be designed for the iMac.

Other: I have used the built in speakers, mic, and iSight camera quite a bit and am very impressed with the quality of sound and video. The built in speakers are so good that I haven't even bothered setting up my peripherals yet.

Overall, the new iMac is an extremely attractive and functional product; it just "works" and it will look excellent sitting on your desk.