Rating: 
Summary: The Best Computer...Period!
Review: I own this computer... and take it from me. Whenever you here about Dell being the best PC in the market place, Mac's arent included in that search. Why? Because Macs are different from PC's. Another thing to look out for is comparing processor speed between Macs and PCs. A 1GHz Mac is equal to about a 2.3 GHz PC. Not only is Mac the easiest computer to use, but its software is outstanding as well. Forget those 25 icons on your desktop, use the Mac dock, a small, spacesaving way to hold important documents. Guess how many icons are on a Mac origionally... 1... the Mac HD. I highly recommend ordering more memory than the 256 included... believe me, you're going to need it! Macintosh... they think different.
Rating:
Summary: Better than a kick in the head!!!!!
Review: Got your attention??? This machine is the greatest device ever. Nothing goes wrong, things just work, things make sense.....thats it! Very Simple. OUt of the box, even a computer idiot like me can figure it out. As far as set up goes, the instructions are a joke.....literally just like 3 pictures of a persons hand plugging in a few plugs......AMAZING!!! Couldnt be easier. As far as cool factor goes, it is the coolest design around. Man I wish I knew about this product a long time ago, I would have thrown my pc out the window back then!!
Rating:
Summary: No more hand-me-downs for the wife! I'm her hero now!
Review: I'm fast closing in on two full decades of being a Mac user. And, for once, I've finally broken my purchasing pattern of "one new Mac every five years" (more or less). Purchase of this 17" flat-screen iMac comes barely two years after I acquired my Titanium G4 PowerBook.But "breaking the pattern" was done in a good cause. A very good cause, in fact. For all the years we've had two Macs in our household, the older one always seemed to end up as the "hand-me-down" that my wife used. Needless to say, this didn't exactly endear my S.O. (a Windoze user when at work) to the Mac OS. (Most recently, the hand-me-down had been a seven-year-old Power PC desktop running OS 7.6; not exactly state-of-the-art, despite my installing a neat utility called Action GoMac that emulated the Windoze "Start" button and Task Bar.) Well, now she's got herself a state-of-the-art Mac, and one that in my opinion represents the best value of the entire product line. There is hardly a feature that this 17" flat-screen iMac doesn't have, including a number of small but significant upgrades over the iMac it replaces: Processor speed is bumped up to 1.25 GHz (with a matching increase in bus speed), USB ports (3 of them) are now configured to run the much-faster USB 2.0 protocol (nearly as fast as FireWire, for which there are 2 such ports), the standard hard drive is now a huge 80 Mb, and this iMac also comes with its own built-in CD/DVD burner. I just can't wait to give iTunes (Apple's proprietary and totally legal, moral and ethical approach to on-line music file acquisition) a try, with this capability as part of both the hardware and the OS X.2 software. (For the record, the only iMac having more than this model is the 20" flat-screen model, which, at about 400 smackeroos more, means that you're paying quite a bit for that extra display real estate; all other features and specifications are identical.) Once again, Apple has outdone itself in terms of industrial design. This is really a work of art for which other computer manufacturers can only look on with envy. The footprint is minimal, with everything built into the hemispherical base (no need to reach under the desk to find the CD drawer, or the power switch, for that matter). There is virtually no limit to the range of placement for the screen, which glides to one's desired position with just a finger touch. And the materials, and the "fit and finish," are top-grade throughout. Even the packaging is its own work of art! Set-up couldn't be any easier. Prior to its initial boot-up, I had already installed a Linksys BESFR41 cable-modem router so that "we could surf together." With the OS X.2 system software version installed on this iMac, "plug and play" reaches a new high in simplicity. Nothing needed to be configured in order to get on the Internet; everything was done automatically, as I found out when I launched the two browsers provided (Internet Explorer and Apple's own Safari): Simply launch, and "there you are." This is my first experience with Apple's OS X (my PowerBook is still running OS 9.2.2), and I wasn't sure whether I'd like it. Well, I LOVE it: Every bit as intuitive as the earlier "Classic" OS's yet refreshingly different. More to the point, OS X seems perfect for the Windoze user migrating to a Mac for the very first time: My wife took to it like a duck to water. I guess it's accurate and fair to say that the OS X dock provides the best features of the Windoze Start button and Task Bar combined into one useful palette. All of this would have gone for naught, had it not been for one simple feature nicely incorporated into OS X.2. (Like previous versions of OS X, this version will run "Classic"-mode programs, automatically booting up OS 9.2 as needed, but then automatically returning to OS X.2 mode when the Classic application is quit.) Nearly 20 years ago, I purchased (for, I think, five bucks or less) a single-sided (400 Kb) floppy disk containing a bunch of games that would run on the original (1984) Macintosh OS. One of those games was Klondike solitaire, a game which had become a near-addiction for my wife over that period of time. Had this game NOT run on her new iMac, I'm pretty sure that she'd have said "Take it back!" Well, this iMac's a keeper. Klondike booted right up (after a second or two required in order to run OS 9.2 on top of OS X.2). There, in its own window, in stunning 1984 black and white, was her beloved Klondike, running just like it always did. For nearly twenty years. I'm her hero now, Iyam. I don't have iMac envy. Well, at least that's what I keep telling myself. But I'll get my chance at iTunes. If and when she'll let me. :-)
Rating: 
Summary: NOT fully compatible with Office; Chinese-users BEWARE
Review: I recently purchased an Apple Computer for my mother, who commonly deals with simple Chinese language documents, as a Christmas gift. Although the Apple web site prominently boasts, "[MS] Office documents are fully compatible between Mac and Windows," we quickly discovered that our machine did not perform as advertised, as our Apple was unable to accurately read MS-Office documents produced on Wintel machines that used Chinese language characters, regardless of software application used, incorrectly translating characters and/or changing the original formatting. After dealing with technical support on this issue for 4-5 hours, I then had to spend another 3-4 hours with customer and sales support getting Apple to waive its 10% restocking fee, with customer support wanting to blame the problem entirely on Microsoft and not admit our machine was unable to perform a simple task required by Chinese-language users worldwide and clearly did not live up to its advertising. In order to prevent other users from suffering the same difficulties, Apple should remove claims of ¡§full¡¨ compatibility with Office from its website and advertising campaigns (both English and Chinese-language) or make far clearer disclosure of this, as well as other potential incompatibilities. Second, Apple should classify such claims as falling within the set of conditions for which Apple accepts full return responsibility (i.e. waiver of restocking fee and payment of shipping charges). In the meantime, users who require Chinese-language support should think twice about making ¡§The Switch¡¨ to Apple from Wintel.
Rating:
Summary: I'm in love!!!!
Review: After four years with my old G3 iMac, which at the time I thought was the bee's knees, (all 333MHz, all 6GB), I can't believe the speed, the space, the screen size. Next week, the cable internet gets put in and I'll truly be in heaven. As a Mac user for many, many years, you can bet I'll be on board for as long as we're both around. This is a fabulous machine. If I can afford to keep upgrading every three or four years, I'll be happy, but any longer than that and I'll be sunk, both financially and technologically. Thank you, Santa Claus!
Rating:
Summary: Powerful, versatile, and user friendly too.
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 17" display -- which has about the same surface area as a typical 19" CRT monitor -- plus a 1.25 GHz G4 processor, yet costs less than its predecessor. 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 computer at a quite reasonable price. Highly recommended.
Rating: 
Summary: Great for seniors
Review: I'm retired and I while I wanted to get email I did not want to learn about computers. I bought an i-Mac because I heard they were good for novices and they were right! My grandson hates it because he can't play his games... one more reason I love it! :^) So I think this is perfect for retired people who don't need all the latest gizmos but just want to write letters and send email. Of courrse all the ladies in my golf circle think it's darling and I think it's just really cute. In fact I am trying to get my husband to paint it pink! I did subtract one star because the first one I took home broke down in the first week. But I took it back and got another one and it's working just fine.
Rating:
Summary: Reliable Machine
Review: I have the 1GHz model from early 2003, but it is very similar. This is a machine that has not let me down. Although OS X took some getting used to after using the old OS since 1989 and was a bit frustrating to learn, I came to appreciate its Unix core. The latest model should come with iMovie 4, which is a great movie making program (sure beats Vegas and iMovie 3, which was a bad joke). I do recommend Office X and Virtual PC for compatibility reasons when you buy an iMac--plus Office X beats AppleWorks for word processing, spreadsheet, and presentation (although not for object-oriented drawing). This is also a good system for developing programs, using a scanner (iPhoto is a nice complement), working with audio (the 2003 model had SoundStudio but I don't think the new ones do), and burning CDs and DVDs. It's a big investment but it will be able to run new software for quite some time. This model is gone now but the G5 should be just as good plus faster.
Rating:
Summary: Highly recommended.
Review: This is the most innovative computer in it's class. Macintosh computers are very user friendly: easy to set up and use and (unlike most PCs) seldom crash or malfunction. It has an adjustable flat-panel displays with exceptionally bright, sharp images. The processor speed is really great. This new iMac is a terrific computer at a quite reasonable price. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Great for seniors
Review: I'm retired and I while I wanted to get email I did not want to learn about computers. I bought an i-Mac because I heard they were good for novices and they were right! My grandson hates it because he can't play his games... one more reason I love it! :^) So I think this is perfect for retired people who don't need all the latest gizmos but just want to write letters and send email. Of courrse all the ladies in my golf circle think it's darling and I think it's just really cute. In fact I am trying to get my husband to paint it pink! I did subtract one star because the first one I took home broke down in the first week. But I took it back and got another one and it's working just fine.
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