Home > Consumer Reviews > Apple iMac Desktop 15" M8672LL/B (700MHz PowerPC G4, 128MB RAM, 4GB HDD, CD-RW drive)

I ordered my iMac in Feb and had to wait 5 weeks for it.. It just about killed me... When it finally got here the wait was sooo worth it...The new iMac is impressive as is OS X..

This mac only takes up about 11 inches on my desk, I had it set up and running in 10 mins.. The mouse plugs into the keyboard the keyboard plug into the back of the mac and plug the power cord into the power outlet...Thats it!!!! I have so much more room now.. The screen is the best I've ever seen on a computer it is so crisp and moves with one finger to any height and stays there..

The dock in OS X is my favorite thing about X .. You can put all your programs and documents in it ... Everything is one click away just click on the icon in the dock and all the options are there for you...

The software that comes with the mac is awesome... itunes I feel is the best mp3 player out there.. Burning cd's is as easy as adding a new playlist click and drag the songs you want to burn in that playlist then click the burn cd button.. Then you have iPhoto.. You can crop your own photos inlarge them take out red eye, you can even make you own photo album..

I could go on and on... OS X is rock solid and the iMac is super fast... I am a ex pc user I switched to the iMac it was painless!!! I would recommend this computer to all...

I've played with computers since the TRS-80 . Since 1984, I've used PCs. I've never been a fan of Apple or it's computers so I never owned one, until the beautiful iMac.

So why buy an iMac?

First the aesthetics. A beautiful machine no doubt. Unfortunately, although Apple has done an admirable job of reducing the number of cords they didn't complete the journey and make the keyboard, mouse and speakers wireless. The iMac still scores huge points on its form.

Next, function follows form! The cooling fan is so quiet you can hear it only in the quietest of rooms. The speakers, although beautiful clear half-globes, sound wonderful with clear high/midranges and warm bass even without the bass module. The keyboard has a wonderful touch and is useful with 2 USB ports. You will never have to worry about the mouse cord getting tangled again. And the fantastic screen is so deliciously clear and readable. It puts no strain on ones eyes and it effortlessly adjusts to any useable position with the touch of a finger. Apple has scored a home run with the functionality.

On hardware and software stability/compatibility the iMac stumbles a little. Everyone says Macs don't crash. This is simply not true as I have had numerous crashes out of iMusic, iPhoto, and iMovie. The only way I could get the computer to work again after one crash was to unplug it from the wall. The hardware, however, is all top notch and works perfectly. You can only modify your iMac internally by adding memory or an Airport card but with the USB (unfortunately not 2.0) and amazing Firewire ports (wow they're fast) you can add just about anything you want externally. This is clearly a next generation computer with no throwbacks to obsolete interfaces such as serial and parallel ports and 3.5" floppies. Bravo to Apple for that. So what does this mean? The computer is rock solid, the operating system is not quite there yet.

The much touted ease of use and integrated software is also a mixed blessing. In general, all of the iSoftware is very easy to use. iMusic being the best. Pop in a CD and iMusic starts. Connect to the internet and with a click it finds all of the titles and artists for your CD. Way cool and time saving. Click one button and you're ripping songs. It also plays songs from the CD while it rips... very cool and very easy. Hook up an iPod and it automatically updates it for you. It is so simple, easy, and fun you will be making your own portable music library within minutes. iPhoto, iMovie, and iDVD still need work. All are pretty easy to use but there is no manual and the help is lacking. When I was trying to import movies and pictures into iPhoto, it would not let me or tell me why. Very frustrating (reason: iMovie will import only DV or a specific movie format. It won't import normal Quicktime movies. Also, the JPEGs were the wrong size so it would not import them.) All of that should be transparent to me. The next thing about these programs is that they are easy to use but you'll outgrow them after the first time you use them. These programs could easily have been made more powerful without making them any more difficult. However, once you start playing with your photos and movies and creating marvelous digital albums of your life, you'll be addicted. I made a movie from pictures of a recent hiking trip. Set it to music and I was amazed. A whole new world has opened. In addition, it was incredibly nice to plug in my Digital Camera, my Digital Camcorder, and my Smart Media reader and have them all work seamlessly. No trying to figure out how to install a driver. No wondering if you loaded the software in the right sequence. It just worked. Very Very nice.

To the PC veteran thinking about switching. For the most part things work very similarly so you should have no trouble using the machine. If you stick with the standard mouse, you will miss the right click and scroll wheel. iMac can read PC files so you can copy any info you want to the Mac. Also, the is a Windows emulator so you can even run many of your programs albeit slower.

To the computer newbie. Apple really touts the ease of using the iMac. I would say it is easier to use than a PC. But, that doesn't mean it is as easy to use as a common household appliance. The help system is pretty descent but doesn't replace a good manual that all computers so sadly lack. You absolutely must learn file management and common commands. In plain English, don't expect to just plug in the iMac and know how to do anything useful. Take a class, read a book, or have a friend teach you.

Apples, to me, have always been overpriced--one of the reasons I never owned one. Although there is no comparable PC, the iMac does cost slightly more than a comparatively equipped PC but the difference is negligible.

So what does all this mumbo jumbo boil down to. Very simple. If you like to play games, don't buy one. The video card is obsolete and there are relatively few games available. If this computer speaks to your soul, buy one. If you're in the market for a computer in iMac's price range, buy one.

As far as which iMac to get. I recommend the G4 800. You get a faster computer, more memory, a bigger hard drive, and a DVD burner. Quite a good deal. If you don't want or need the DVD burner then get the cheapest one. There is really not enough in the middle one to pay the extra (speakers, more memory, and DVD player).

I really love my IMAC. The good looks are obvious, the operating system is wonderful. I enjoy using it everyday. I have several Mac's. Two at home and 5 in my practice running the business.
I noticed one very bad review, where slowness of the OS was a serious problem for the writter. I'm sure if that fellow had bothered to keep up-to-date with OS updates (10, and 10.1 were slow), he's be using OS 10.1.5, like all the rest of us and loving the speed, beauty, and utility of the this OS. And with 10.2 (which Amazon sells, so you can buy it at the same time) being released in a few days. There is no way anyone would be able to say any windows operating system is superior to OS 10.1.5 or greater.
In short,will all windows people enjoy the change to the Mac OS? Of coarse not; we all resist change, and it's more comfortable to stay with what we have and thoroughly understand. But the people who open their minds to change will be rewarded by a superior system. My computer has been on with a number of programs open and running with out a single crash for many months. And I have never in 8 yrs had to reload an operating system EVER...

There's very little you can't do with this computer. Edit video, page layout, rip cds, edit sound files, burn discs, dabble in computer programming, explore the world of unix, network with PCs and Linux computers, surf the internet on a dozen different web browsers, set up a preinstalled unix firewall, serve websites and/or e-mail,monitor network traffic, play cds, mp3, or ogg sound files, automate computer functions with shell scripts and/or applescript, simultaneously use the search engines of hundreds of websites with sherlock, manage digital photography with iPhoto, run maintenence checks with various Unix utilities like fsck, make presentations with Appleworks, create stunning visuals with Gimp, and share files or be your own webmaster with idisk. And all these things can be done without buying any additional software--with the software that comes with the iMac or with software that can be obtained free from the internet. What's more, these programs run on a machine that features an LCD screen that displays lettering with crystal clear sharpness and an operating system that's way ahead of the competition in terms of display capabilities, with anti-aliased font capabalities for easy reading of text and colorsync for professional quality color printing. And all this in a computer that takes up no more room than a large serving bowl and features a movable screen! For anyone interested in a heavy-duty multimedia machine that doesn't take up very much space, the flat-panel iMac is a near perfect fit.

A word of caution, however, lest this review raise expectations too high. I said "near perfect" fit. No computer is absolutely perfect. The flat-panel iMac has a few minor imperfections. To begin with, it has no sound input. You will need a USB mike if you want to pipe sound into it. You will also need speakers. This model does not come with them. It also, admittedly, doesn't do an absolutely exemplary job of playing cds or sound files. (Earlier versions of the iMac did better on the sound side of things.) It still does a better job at these things then most PCs on the market, but there's obviously room for improvement. Some may also find it a little slower than some of the newer PCs, even compared to comparable MHz on PCs. OS X has yet to be optimized for speed, so internet surfing, navigation of files, open applications is often slower than PCs, especially the faster PCs. But computers are so fast these days that this doesn't really amount to much. This computer is still very fast and will be even faster after Apple releases it's next major OS update, which will be optimized for speed.

I have had my new imac for almost two weeks-- i ordered it the day after they were announced!

The computer is simply perfect. as good as it looks, i must say that i appreciate most the lack of noise. it has a fan, but i cannot hear it. the air conditioning in my office is much much louder. my old 350 mhz imac was fan-less, but there was a lot of hard-disk noise. this is as close to a truly silent computer as i have ever seen (or heard).

the screen is also sharp as a razor. i have watched a dvd on it, seen digital pictures, and the experience is outstanding.

the pro speakers are very good, but not excellent. they may not be enough for the hard-core gamer.

Burning a music cd is literally as simple as people have reported: just open the program and swing away! plus, it seems quite speedy. disk reading and burning can be done while doing other work on the computer as well. very nice.

everything just works so nicely. if you are considering it, i would not hesitate one bit!

...

Others have pointed out many of the pros and cons of the new iMac, although every con I have read on any forum is either a 1-time occurance or something easily replaced (if you don't like the one-button mouse, buy a multiple-button optical mouse and sell your iMac mouse on ebay and MAKE money on the deal).

Here are a few more subtle Pros about the FP iMac. For starters, I prefer a quiet computer in my virtually silent work environment. The fan on this new iMac is VERY quiet, the quietest fan I have ever heard (even quieter than a Powerbook G4 550 fan). The iMac fan is on all the time, as a steady, low, quiet hum.

The 15-inch viewable screen at 1024 x 768 resolution is PERFECT. 1024 x 768 is a highly desirable resolution for many applications, and the fonts are very readable at this size on this monitor. The display is very bright, brighter than a Powerbook or iBook screen.

The included Pro speakers sound great. Remember that all other external speakers require additional power cords, but not the Pro speakers. Others have written that the iSub makes the sound even better...Virtually any peripheral can be added via USB or FireWire. Plus, even though Apple may not support nor recommend it, you CAN open your iMac computer to install a larger hard drive or more RAM. I received the stock configuration 800MHz/256MB/60GB, and opened the iMac to install a 512MB 168-pin DIMM as well as an 80GB Maxtor 5400rpm hard drive. P>The only thing you cannot upgrade is the video card. But a 32MB GeForce2MX is a pretty decent card.

TWO THUMBS UP FOR THIS NEW FLAT PANEL IMAC!!!