A switcher's review of the new iMac

[RichardI]

I started out "computing" back in the 80's with a PC clone that didn't even have a hard drive. It had two floppy drives. I just switched to Apple from a PC that had a quad core extreme 2.67, 4GB of DC RAM, a GEForce 8800 ultra, a Lian Li aluminum case, two optical drives, two 10,000 rpm hard drives, a liquid c CPU cooler, and a 20" LCD monitor. My main uses of my PC were online banking and gaming - mostly Flight simulators of all genres and Links 2003, a golf simulator. I built all of my own systems for about the last 6 years now. I have fried many PC components, including motherboards, power supplies, RAM, video cards, etc. I always bought the best hardware. Just to give you some background on where I'm coming from. When MS released Windoze Vista, I had finally had enough .
I have had my new iMac for about 1 week.

Hardware
The first thing I noticed when my iMac arrived was how well packaged it was. The materials used were as good or better than any I've seen. Even the packing boxes are well designed and attractive. The attention to detail is amazing. For example, I noticed how flexible the power cord was. Not stiff like all the others I've owned. Not a big deal, but an indicator. If that level of detail has been put into the rest of the machine, I've made an excellent investment. The machine itself is nothing short of stunning. By far the best looking piece of equipment I've ever owned.
Setup was amazingly easy. Just pull it out of the box, set it on the desk, attach the power cord, the keyboard, plug the mouse into the keyboard, connect your peripherals and you are ready to go. I have an old HP Laserjet 6P printer, and 3 CH controllers. No problem - all recognised by OSX and all working. I suggest adding a powered USB hub if you have more peripherals. This machine is very quiet. A new experience for me, and a sign of quality. The keyboard is just awesome. Again, proof that funcionality does not mean ugly. It looks good and performs even better. The mouse is definitely difficult to get used to and is the only negative I've found so far, but it may just take more time to get used to. The hardware is perfect in my opinion.

Software
It is different. Different, but better. Everything works absolutely flawlessly. The result of the hardware being made by the same people who write the OS. The programs that are part of the OS are awesome. Safari is terrific. The OS is so flexible that you can set up your Mac any way you like. Just terrific. It is what Windows only wishes it could be. The screen is big, bright and gorgeous. Sleep mode actually works!

In short, if you are thinking about switching - do it! I was really apprehensive but all my fears and concerns have been melted away. get a Mac, you won't regret it.

Rich

 

[jczubach]

You are now officially a mac-geek. congrats, the world just got a little bit brighter....

 

[paetrick]

I started out "computing" back in the 80's with a PC clone that didn't even have a hard drive. It had two floppy drives. I just switched to Apple from a PC that had a quad core extreme 2.67, 4GB of DC RAM, a GEForce 8800 ultra, a Lian Li aluminum case, two optical drives, two 10,000 rpm hard drives, a liquid c CPU cooler, and a 20" LCD monitor. My main uses of my PC were online banking and gaming - mostly Flight simulators of all genres and Links 2003, a golf simulator. I built all of my own systems for about the last 6 years now. I have fried many PC components, including motherboards, power supplies, RAM, video cards, etc. I always bought the best hardware. Just to give you some background on where I'm coming from. When MS released Windoze Vista, I had finally had enough .
I have had my new iMac for about 1 week.

Hardware
The first thing I noticed when my iMac arrived was how well packaged it was. The materials used were as good or better than any I've seen. Even the packing boxes are well designed and attractive. The attention to detail is amazing. For example, I noticed how flexible the power cord was. Not stiff like all the others I've owned. Not a big deal, but an indicator. If that level of detail has been put into the rest of the machine, I've made an excellent investment. The machine itself is nothing short of stunning. By far the best looking piece of equipment I've ever owned.
Setup was amazingly easy. Just pull it out of the box, set it on the desk, attach the power cord, the keyboard, plug the mouse into the keyboard, connect your peripherals and you are ready to go. I have an old HP Laserjet 6P printer, and 3 CH controllers. No problem - all recognised by OSX and all working. I suggest adding a powered USB hub if you have more peripherals. This machine is very quiet. A new experience for me, and a sign of quality. The keyboard is just awesome. Again, proof that funcionality does not mean ugly. It looks good and performs even better. The mouse is definitely difficult to get used to and is the only negative I've found so far, but it may just take more time to get used to. The hardware is perfect in my opinion.

Software
It is different. Different, but better. Everything works absolutely flawlessly. The result of the hardware being made by the same people who write the OS. The programs that are part of the OS are awesome. Safari is terrific. The OS is so flexible that you can set up your Mac any way you like. Just terrific. It is what Windows only wishes it could be. The screen is big, bright and gorgeous. Sleep mode actually works!

In short, if you are thinking about switching - do it! I was really apprehensive but all my fears and concerns have been melted away. get a Mac, you won't regret it.

Rich

Which one did you buy!?, 20 or 24" ?

 

[RichardI]

Sorry, I bought the 24" with 4 GB ram and a 750 GB hard drive. It is awesome!

Rich

 

[Wayfarer]

Welcome to the other side.

 

[AdeFowler]

Thanks for sharing Rich. Always nice to hear some positivity around here

 

[craig1410]

Hi Rich,
What you have written could easily have been written by myself as it mirrors my sentiments as a fellow "recent switcher". I got my 24" iMac on the Saturday after release and it's the best computing investment I've ever made.

Regarding the mouse - I know where you are coming from but you might not be aware of one thing. See if you run windows via boot camp or parallels/vmware then you may be surprised to know that you can "right click" by pressing the upper right corner of the mouse. I presume it has a switch on each side or something. I do like the scroll wheel and the ability to activate expose and dashboard. You can also customise the functions a bit if you need to.

Cheers,
Craig.

 

[FatSweatyBlldog]

Regarding the mouse - I know where you are coming from but you might not be aware of one thing. See if you run windows via boot camp or parallels/vmware then you may be surprised to know that you can "right click" by pressing the upper right corner of the mouse. I presume it has a switch on each side or something.

You can add/alter mighty mouse functionality in System Preferences (Keyboard and Mouse). You can right-click in OSX by adding the "Secondary Button" to the right side (default setting is set to primary button). You'll also find that you can activate the dashboard by pressing down on the scroll wheel. etc.

In short, it has nothing (and everything) to do with the OS you're using

 

[bonafide]

Cheers to the OP!

My thoughts exactly.

I originally had an Amiga 500 back in the late 80s early 90s. I used it to 'geek;' playing online games through a local BBS. When the internet came Windows seemed to explode and that was the wave of the future according to my father. Anways... needless to say we purchased a PC so we could play video games (My Dad is/was a much of a computer game geek as me.) Eventually I grew up and purchased my own computers... 4 of them all PCs switching through them every 2 years.

Much like the OP said "When Microsoft released Vista that was the end of it for me." I started searching out these forums for a better way... the Apple Way!

I waited and waited. When the new iMac was released I jumped all over it.

I got the below noted computer, except I purchased it with 1G of RAM and bought the 2x 2G sticks of RAM from OWC, which I am very pleased with.

Hardware:
Excellent... I couldn't ask for a more beautifully designed machine. It is really a pleasure to look at on my desktop. There is no question I could have done without the 24" screen but in my world it's go big or go home!

The machine is amazingly fast at processing all my requests. I use the sleep mode exclusively and my wife is actually impressed with the purchase. Thank god, because a happy wife = happy life.

I was able to sell my old PC on Ebay and I fetched a fair price for it. So that money was used to lessen the cost of the 24".

Software:
OS X is very different. It has taken me a bit to get used to. I've put a few small threads in these forums about "Where is this... Where is that..." I've used these forums extensively for searches and found it to be amazingly easy. It is definately an adjustment from Windoze but that was expected.

The mouse I'm afraid might have to go. I had a Logitech Mx510 before and I cannot stand having to go up to the top corner of my screen to go back on a webpage. It doesn't fit my hand right and I'm just not getting used to the feel of it. I'm going to give it another 30 days and then make a decision. We'll see...

I got Mac OS X: The Missing Manual from a local bookstore and it has been helpful in the transition but I don't think it was entirely necessary. A lot of my questions have been answered online and OS X is a lot more user-friendly then I orignally anticipated.

Anwyays... Cudos to the OP and as you can see I am in full agreement!

 

[mkrishnan]

Nice review, and welcome!

My own history was TRS-80 Color Computer -> Commodore C128 -> Amiga A500 -> 486/Windows -> Pentium 150 notebook -> AMD K6/2 desktop -> iBook at the end of 2003. I'm a very happy switcher also.

If you do have trouble right clicking with the mouse, try lifting your index finger when you right click. Lots of people do that naturally. I believe (unless it changed at some point) that the way the Mighty Mouse works is that there is only one button / switch, but there is/are one or more capacitative sensors that determine where your fingers are. The combination of the two determine whether you left or right click.

 

[petvas]

Cheers to the OP!

Software:
The mouse I'm afraid might have to go. I had a Logitech Mx510 before and I cannot stand having to go up to the top corner of my screen to go back on a webpage. It doesn't fit my hand right and I'm just not getting used to the feel of it. I'm going to give it another 30 days and then make a decision. We'll see...
!

Just press the Backspace key and you will be able to go one webpage back

 

[mkrishnan]

Just press the Backspace key and you will be able to go one webpage back

Also if you (bonafide) are going to spend money anyway, you might consider something like Steermouse -- it's an alternate software driver that gives you more control over things like assigning this function to a button on the Mighty Mouse (or any other mouse). You could make this the squeeze function on the MM, for instance, if you wish (although can certainly also get a mouse with more buttons yet).

 

[ucfgrad93]

I started out "computing" back in the 80's with a PC clone that didn't even have a hard drive. It had two floppy drives. I just switched to Apple from a PC that had a quad core extreme 2.67, 4GB of DC RAM, a GEForce 8800 ultra, a Lian Li aluminum case, two optical drives, two 10,000 rpm hard drives, a liquid c CPU cooler, and a 20" LCD monitor. My main uses of my PC were online banking and gaming - mostly Flight simulators of all genres and Links 2003, a golf simulator. I built all of my own systems for about the last 6 years now. I have fried many PC components, including motherboards, power supplies, RAM, video cards, etc. I always bought the best hardware. Just to give you some background on where I'm coming from. When MS released Windoze Vista, I had finally had enough .
I have had my new iMac for about 1 week.

Hardware
The first thing I noticed when my iMac arrived was how well packaged it was. The materials used were as good or better than any I've seen. Even the packing boxes are well designed and attractive. The attention to detail is amazing. For example, I noticed how flexible the power cord was. Not stiff like all the others I've owned. Not a big deal, but an indicator. If that level of detail has been put into the rest of the machine, I've made an excellent investment. The machine itself is nothing short of stunning. By far the best looking piece of equipment I've ever owned.
Setup was amazingly easy. Just pull it out of the box, set it on the desk, attach the power cord, the keyboard, plug the mouse into the keyboard, connect your peripherals and you are ready to go. I have an old HP Laserjet 6P printer, and 3 CH controllers. No problem - all recognised by OSX and all working. I suggest adding a powered USB hub if you have more peripherals. This machine is very quiet. A new experience for me, and a sign of quality. The keyboard is just awesome. Again, proof that funcionality does not mean ugly. It looks good and performs even better. The mouse is definitely difficult to get used to and is the only negative I've found so far, but it may just take more time to get used to. The hardware is perfect in my opinion.

Software
It is different. Different, but better. Everything works absolutely flawlessly. The result of the hardware being made by the same people who write the OS. The programs that are part of the OS are awesome. Safari is terrific. The OS is so flexible that you can set up your Mac any way you like. Just terrific. It is what Windows only wishes it could be. The screen is big, bright and gorgeous. Sleep mode actually works!

In short, if you are thinking about switching - do it! I was really apprehensive but all my fears and concerns have been melted away. get a Mac, you won't regret it.

Rich

I too am a recent switcher, and really wish I would have done it years ago. It is way better!

 

[wazgilbert]

Like nearly all forums - what have you owned? comes up sooner or later,

Acorn Electron,
Elonex 80386, DOS 6.22 Win 3.11
PII 300 - 256Mb 6.4gbHDD (woohoo!) Win95 / Suse 6.2 / redhat 4.5 (ish)
AMD 1.4Ghz 512Mb 60Gb Win98 / Suse 8.0
AMD 2.1Ghz 1.5Gb 160Gb x2 WinXP MCE / Suse 10.1 / ubuntu 7.1 / solaris 10.
[end of line]

the next will not be pc or win based. Vista is defintely not on the menu.

those lovely people at Sky have issued a 12months 0% interest on Purchases

 

[rainydays]

Yeah the mouse is really the weakest point. I wouldn't even bother unpacking it. Just sell it straight away and get another brand.

 

[zap2]

Yeah the mouse is really the weakest point. I wouldn't even bother unpacking it. Just sell it straight away and get another brand.

Really? I love my one click mouse....I had a wired MM and it seemed nice, but I wanted a BT mouse(this was before BT Mighty Mouse)...and since you can scroll in coverflow its even more useful now.


OP, yes Mac OS X is really as good as they say, isn't it!

 

[blumoon]

In short, if you are thinking about switching - do it! I was really apprehensive but all my fears and concerns have been melted away. get a Mac, you won't regret it.

Rich

Thanks for the nice review Rich. I'm glad you're happy with your purchase and I'm sure I will be too.

 

[DoFoT9]

Sorry, I bought the 24" with 4 GB ram and a 750 GB hard drive. It is awesome!

Rich

Niiiiiiceee mate!! I am also getting the same configuration (it might even arrive today!!!) I cannot wait for it!! so excited. im pretty experienced with macs tho so it will be smooth sailing for me

glad to see your in love with your mac like the rest of us

 

[VideoFreek]

I've always found the emphasis on "switching" that's touted around here to be a bit ridiculous, as though one's choice of platform is some sort of religious conviction. Have we bought into Apple's marketing hype a bit too much? I quite happily run both platforms at home---a Win2k AD Server, various XP clients, a G5 iMac, and a new 24" 2.8 GHz iMac on the way (hopefully here in a week or two). I am quite comfortable in both worlds, and find that each has its stengths and weaknesses.

Originally, I added the iMac to the "fleet" for three principal reasons: I fell in love with the hardware design, I wanted to try OS X apps for photo and video editing as I found the experience under Windows to be frustrating, and I wanted to see what it was like to not spend hours each week updating virus DATs and anti-spyware, running scans, defragging my hard drive, etc.

I will concede that after nearly 2 years with OS X in the house, it has become the preferred platform for every member of my family. For my (non-technical) wife and kids, I think they appreciate the greater ease of use and intuitiveness of the OS and apps. In a word, they just like it better. For me, its the greater stability and freedom from all the overhead (and time) associated with running AV, anti-spyware, etc. The stability issue is a subtle thing--experienced Windows users will argue that if you maintain your system properly, Windows (especially XP) can be quite stable, and this is very much my experience. On the other hand, OS X does crash from time to time, so how is it that we feel OS X is "more stable?" For me, it shows up in the sense you develop, with experience, about how far you can push your system before problems develop. Under Windows, you develop a sort of instinct that if you open more than a certain number of applications, or try to do certain tasks concurrently, the system will become unstable and may lock up or crash. With OS X, I've found that I can push the system much, much farther before trouble develops, if it ever develops at all.

That said, I have a few quibbles with OS X. After 2 years, I still HATE the printing system--I think Windows' implementation is much more straightforward. And don't even get me started on managing folder and file permissions--this is absolutely primitive in OS X, which came as a real shock to me given the sophistication of the OS overall.

These and other minor gripes aside, I would advise any friend to strongly consider an Apple. The fact that Apple computers can also run Windows for times when you need it means that they have a versatility that no other machine can match.

 

[zepharus]

Holy Craptastic Batman.

This sounds as if I could have written it. lol, I mean almost to the T. the straw that broke the camels back for me was also Vista. I waited 6 months and gave it a shot. Man was I disappointed and disgusted. Even the driver support after 6 months was pathetic.

Ill obviously keep it for my gaming box, and vista will undoubtably get better, but for my money, TIGER is already ahead of vista. Leopard will just put apple's OS that much further ahead.

Bottome line is that with apple...it just works. With windows Vista it is a crap shoot..oh and it is ugly and slow. Im done with everyday use of windows and loving OS X on my MBP.


eff Vista

 

[pcorajr]

Great Review and congrats on you new computer and switching to the better platform.

I am also a switcher. Like the Op i also build my own computers and also purchased from he likes of Dell and Sony. 1 year after purchasing my Sony Vaio Desktop I started having trouble with he power supply. It turns out that the PSU was not enought to power the Nvidia card i had put in. I then made the mistake of upgrading to Vista. I fell like I wasted 250 Dollars for nothing.

The only reason i find my self using my pc is for Gaming. I m very happy with my decision to switch and with my purchase.

 

[Buttercookie]

I too am a recent switcher, and really wish I would have done it years ago. It is way better!

Add me to the list of recent switchers

 

[bembol]

Well said, congrats!

Apple certainly pays attention to detail, you're right even down to the Packaging.

 

[Dany M]

Im a switcher aswell and i am enjoing the new and great imac, my only complaint is that whenever an application downlaods, it downloads straight teh the desktop and whenever i open the appication a while disc thing shows up, how do i fix that??

 

[oduinnin]

Just double click the disk image. It will open, drag the application program inside to your Applications folder. Then, drag the disk image to the trash, which will show up as an eject button. Empty the trash. You're done.