Home > Consumer Reviews > Apple iMac Desktop, snow (500-MHz PowerPC G3, 128 MB RAM, 20 GB hard drive)

I used to be a windows user, until I really needed a new computer. The slot loading iMacs were new then, and I was amazed by the specs. Its 400Mhz G3 (I have an older version that was discontinued in '00, but it's similar enough) was faster than any intel processors then, as macs are much faster per Mhz, especially when compared with celeron or P4 processors (P4s are significantly slower per Mhz than P IIIs, it was at the time just a marketing strategy to get more Mhz, but NOT more speed. but I digress) plus it had the then new firewire ports (which most PCs still don't have) which are 50 megabytes a second and plug and play! Plus its DVD drive (now a CD-RW drive), a built in monitor, the speakers and the iSub (a steal at . . .this price. . .) are great in combination, and the Rage 128 graphics card, really impressive then- and I still find it great now. The one in the new iMacs has twice as much video ram and other tweaks to it.

So now, after about 2 years of iMac-ing, I can easily recommend one to everyone. It is MUCH faster for anything I've ever done on it than my friend's P III (remember, faster thna celeron or P4 per Mhz) at 933Mhz, and my iMac is 400Mhz. Yes, macs are much faster per Mhz. Even more so with G4s. It is easy to do everything, much better than the confusing windows OS. all it takes is about 2 weeks of getting used to an iMac, and you're a happy mac-er for life. Plus they recognize everything as soon as you put it in. Plug in a zip drive, and it read the disk. Nothing to install unless you want iomega's disk tools, and no rebooting. you can read disks literally 5 seconds after plugging it in. Same goes for just about everything-iSub, game controllers, hubs, cameras, outside burners, you name it. And unless you need to replace video cards (if you do, get a powermac G4), it's totally upgradible... you can replace hard drives, and even the CD-RW if you get a notebook drive, you can replace the monitor if you're good with this stuff (I've tried it, but not as a permanent thing). Plus, you can add just about anything with USB, or with lightening fast firewire.

Now, at 500Mhz G3 (probably about equivalent to a 1Ghz P III, which was on some chart I saw rated higher than a 1.3 Ghz P4.) 20 GB HDD, built in monitor, nearly 100% stable OSX AND the classic OS9, an internal CD-RW drive, 128 of ram upgradible to 1GB, and the beautiful indigo case (or the rather off snow case, if you like that...) for that price? it's a steal! Pick up a couple today!

I bought this iMac about a month ago and just thought I would let others know that moving from the PC world was relatively painless. You have to say goodbye to all your old software but that turned out to be fairly easy. The iMac comes with software installed that does most productivity tasks (word processing, spread sheets, etc.) so you don't have to buy any software if you don't have to exchange files with anyone. Even exchanging files is fairly easy, as the built-in conversion software hasn't given me any problems yet and I use MSOffice at work. I just email the docs I need home - open them in Appleworks and then save them as MSWord docs when I'm done and email them back. Mind you, I don't work in graphics or formatting intensive docs, so I don't know what the outer edges of the conversion program can handle.

Switching my cable modem over was also a breeze. Other than having to call my cable company to get them to reset my password so I could re-enter it in the new computer (D'oh, wherever I wrote it down was too sneaky because I couldn't find it), the entire process took ten minutes and the computer "held my hand" the whole way.

From a design point of view, the iMac is also a nice change. Our family room (where the computer resides) is visible from our kitchen and it's nice to have a computer that doesn't look like a beige gargoyle perched in the corner.

The big issue for my kids are games - but since they are both pretty young, the theoretical problem of a lack of titles quickly disappeared once I gave them the concrete benefit of a new game each. ;-)

My one complaint - You call this a manual? It's only 30 or 40 pages long!! I've pre-ordered David Pogue's "Mac OSX: The Missing Manual" and hopefully that will have my one issue solved.

I was brought up using computers. For a long time, "computer" was synonymous with "PC" in my mind. Recently, (last week, in fact) I bought a new computer. The iMac G3 500MHz/128MB/20GB HD/CD-RW in a liquid Indigo arrived yesterday. Within 15 minutes, I was up and running. The computer is simple to understand, easy to use, and generally fantastic for anyone -- even a former PC-er. Beyond that, Apple makes a great product at a great price. With student discounts, special financing programs, and a host of other options, the iMac is easily available to anyone.

One of the best all-in-one computers made. Fast, easy to set up -elegant. Minor quibbles with speed of CD-RW drive and the 15" monitor is a bit cramped, but the whole package is hard to beat at the price point.

I have also been a long time pc user and I must admit that I was getting fed up with all of the error messages. I have for a long time wished that I could have a computer that was STABLE. I think gadgets should work for you all the time NO MATTER WHAT! The iMac has come the closest so far to achieving this self-imposed ideal. The only problem I have encountered so far is when I installed os X. I find that the classic environment doesn't work as well as native os 9. The modem also makes crackling noises through the speakers in os X. This is an absolute nuisance when I am trying to listen to my music while surfing the web. (and yes I turned off the modem volume before I noticed this problem). I have since removed os X and exclusively use os 9. When they get these minor bugs fixed maybe I'll switch back. I absolutely love the way that multi-media is handled on this machine. I dumped my ENTIRE cd collection onto the hard drive (in AIFF format). While this takes up an incredible amount of space, I will not compromise my music. I still have over 20 gb left on my hard drive which is 40 gb total. It took awhile for my wife to convince me to buy an iMac but I'm glad she did. This is one cool gadget! Pc's somehow seem crude now by comparison.