Apple iMac Desktop with 20" Display MA877LL/A (2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 1 GB RAM, 320 GB Hard Drive, SuperDrive)

Amazon Customer Reviews

(5 out of 5)

Amazing deal for the price..

EDIT: Please note that I wrote this review very soon after these models came out to market. Some parts of this review are "outdated"..

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I have upgraded from 20'' iMac (previous generation) and this is simply stunning in every way. I personally have not found any problems with it yet and my experience has been phenomenal. There are few little things to consider when buying this Mac.

First of all, the verison I have comes with Intel Core 2 Extreme (I ordered the system from Apple). If you ARE planning on buying the version with Core 2 Extreme please know that it is a DUO chipset not QUAD. It has 2 cores, not 4. The difference in speed is only notable in certain applications such as games and advanced 3D apps.

This iMac is beautiful visually. The "skin" really suits the system well. The black Apple logo in front and on the back make it look more stylish than it is. The iSight camera is barely visible (which is a good thing for some folks). The computer is packaged in virtually the same box as previous iMacs except with different picture on the box.

The new keyboard I do not use.. I prefer my Logitech diNovo Edge(tm) which fits beautifully with this iMac. The mighty mouse is great, I have the wireless version and it tracks very smoothly. I don't have any cons with that.

The screen.. wow, 24 inches! It's big, probably bigger than many people need but.. boy.. is this a work of art! Watching a movie on this amazing display is an experience I haven't had before. The only con I found here is that you wouldn't want to put this in a very bright place or near a window. It is a glossy screen and while it adds style to the Mac it will turn the computer into a mirror if the environment you are working in is too bright.
Apple remote and Front Row are all the same. Very simple, elegant and just work. I don't use Front Row but for Front Row lovers this iMac is heaven! This IS the place where you'll want to watch your movies and photo slideshows on.

As I mentioned above, all iMacs are DUO. This version (Core 2 Duo 2.4GHz) is FAST. Add an extra gig of RAM and you'll be flying in your iLife. Very good processor, I recommend Core 2 Extreme for advanced users. Don't get me wrong, 1GB is perfectly fine if all you're planning to do is work with iLife and Internet. However for the other applications such as Photoshop you'll need more RAM. Let's remember that the resolution on this thing is 1920x1200 and to run certain applications in full screen you'll need the horsepower.

Just like before an iMac is NOT a gaming machine. The graphics on this computer while are not bad, (256MB Radeon 2600 HD Pro), are still not good enough for "hardcore" gamers, even with Core 2 Extreme processor. There are good news, however! If you install Bootcamp on this Mac and put Vista on it you'll have full DirectX 10 support. Still.. if you're looking for hardcore gaming look somewhere else. For casual gamers like myself this will be more than enough.

Speaking of Bootcamp.. I don't think that the current drivers support the new iMacs as of yet. There will be a coming update for the beta and hopefully the new drivers will be included.

Another problem with Bootcamp is that you cannot install any 64-bit Windows versions, which is a disappointment since Core 2 architecture is 64-bit. Maybe they will fix it later? I don't know. I certainly hope so because when you pay for 4GB of RAM you want to be able to use all of it, not just 3GB.

iLife '08.. Great pack of applications which come with this Mac for free. Honestly.. there are some problems with the suite (minor issues) but I am sure they will be fixed with a future update from Apple. I do, however, believe that this suite was designed for this Mac.. everything is extremely fast.

Overall, I strongly believe that this is an amazing deal. You get a better computer for $200 less than the previous model. If you would like a more advanced iMac with more HD space and faster processor then head over to Apple and pick one there.

P/S. This goes to the reviewer who is not happy with the new design. The reason Apple chose aluminum design is because they want their computers to match the operating system visually. For example, the white finder bar and blue Aqua wallpaper in versions of Mac OS X Jaguar, Panther and Tiger look great on the white iMac.

Mac OS X Leopard will be coming out in October and will not have the same desktop. A transparent finder bar, reflective dock and a green leaves wallpaper by default make it look more appealing on the aluminum version of this computer. Let's not forget that the entire Leopard OS looks as if it's made out of aluminum. The new Finder, the new looks of Control Panel applications and others make it look as a metal design. Maybe this is THE reason why Apple has the aluminum theme on their website? ;)

Personally, I like the new metal look. It makes everything look very stylish and when Leopard comes out, the "desktop experience" will certainly be phenomenal.

(3 out of 5)

More downsides than previous (G5) iMac

This must be my eighth desktop Mac since 1991, my fourth iMac since 1998, and it's definitely my first new Mac in a good two and a half years. And although I'm certainly not sorry I shelled out the money for this beauty, I'm not as blown away by its performance as I'd imagined I would be.

My previous Mac, now semi-retired to a bedroom, was a 20-inch G5, 1.8 Ghz, 2 Mb of RAM. That one was a huge step up from its predecessor. Somehow, I don't feel that way this time around.

Even though my new 24'' 2.4 Ghz Intel Mac is outfitted with the maximum 4GB of RAM, speed and productivity gains seem incremental. Not that it's a snail. It's just...not that impressive, as upgrades go. At best, I notice relatively hefty speed improvements where I don't care that much -- importing CDs into iTunes is easily 40, 50% quicker -- and very little difference where it actually matters to me, Photoshop performance included.

Migrating my data from the old Mac to the new one via a Firewire cable was painfully slow this time around -- something like 27 hours(!). After that, I had lots of problems with passwords not getting stored properly in Keychain Access, necessitating multiple calls to Apple's help line. Oh, and I actually lost all the data in ecto, my blog program. 1,400-plus posts mysteriously vanished. I have a backup, but still...

Compounding the problems was the fact that I upgraded to Photoshop CS3 (from CS2) the same weekend I started using my new Mac. I'm sorry to report a string of Photoshop crashes -- and whenever Photoshop goes down, in my case, it takes all the other applications with it. At that point, the entire computer, right down to the Finder, becomes unusable: the cursor vanishes for 15 or 20 seconds, then resurfaces, but no amount of clicking or force-quitting (option-command-esc) produces any results whatsoever. Hard restarts are required. I have a suspicion this is Photoshop's (Adobe's) fault, not Apple's. Regardless, it's a serious annoyance. The issue seems less lethal and less frequent since I upgraded from 1Gb to 4Gb of RAM. We'll see.

The new iMac somehow also screwed up my Airport Extreme network a bit -- one of my other Macs (an oldie from 1999 or 2000) suddenly no longer sees the network and has been stubbornly offline since the day I began using its bigger, brasher brother. I guess that's another call to Apple.

The screen of the new computer, though beautiful, is a mixed bag. As before, it's way too bright at night, even when you turn the brightness level all the way down. You'll need some freeware like DarkAdapted X or Shades to tame it. The screen size is impressive (lots of real estate for Photoshop's arsenal of floating palettes), the sharpness is awesome, the colors are vibrant if a little oversaturated, and the super-glossy finish that others have complained about doesn't bother me much (although there are times when I'm aware of reflections and I have to remind myself to see 'past' or 'through' them). Fingerprints are much more visible than before and, despite Apple's thoughtful inclusion of a soft cloth, difficult to wipe off. Best keep a bottle of Windex handy! The discreetly built-in iSight camera is nice though, and I'm finally iChatting and Skyping all over the place.

The remote, alas, is white -- not an eyesore, but it doesn't go with the aluminum-finish look of the computer (and neither does the otherwise excellent snow white Mighty Mouse). Also, there apparently is no longer a place to stick the remote to the computer case magnetically, inviting clutter (very un-Apple-like).

I don't have to look at the back of the machine much, but whenever I do, I wonder what Apple was thinking. Matte black is an asinine color for a panel that contains vital USB, Firewire, video, and other ports. Even during the day I fumble; at night, I need a little flashlight to let me see what I'm doing. With the white back, I had no such problems. Also, on the previous iMac, the ports were in a more logical place, right around the right edge of the screen, where they were more easily accessible.

I do appreciate the new i-apps, especially iPhoto, which has seriously bested previous versions with great new (and long-overdue) features. For instance, the program now shows you thumbnails of the photos on your memory card BEFORE you import them.

I'm perhaps most pleased with how quiet this machine is. Even in the dead of night, with almost no ambient sounds anywhere, I can barely hear the internal fan. It's easily drowned out by the soft ticking of the clock on my wall. Fantastic. My old(er) iMac was considerably noisier from the get-go and more so as the months and years went by.

Is this a great new iMac? Yup. A good value? Affirmative. Is it perfection? Not by any stretch. Guess I'll try again in early 2010. ;-)

UPDATE, Sept. 23: Things have gotten beter. The upgrade to 4Gb of RM has made Photoshop CS3 a lot more stable, it seems, and I'm seeing much faster performance now too. The photo-batch-processing program I use, DxO Optics Pro, now takes just 2.5 to 3 hours to power through 500-plus 10-megapixel images, as opposed to roughly seven hours on my old Mac. iPhoto, with a 4,000-image library, launches and is ready to go in five seconds flat, roughly four of five times as fast as before. On the other hand, I've had five or six instances where the colors on the screen randomly went haywire systemwide, taking on positively pyschedelic hues and appearing as if you're viewing them through some kind of sheer fabric. This seems to require a restart. Still troubleshooting that one.

While I'm happy overall, this iMac has given me the most reasons to scratch my head (and call Apple) of any Macintosh I've owned in the last ten years.

(5 out of 5)

Very easy to ajust to an imac!

This is my second imac since Jan of 2007. No my first did not break down,it's still going strong. I bought this one for myself and let my lady friend have my first one. We were both so impressed with the iMac that I wanted her to have one also.
At first I wasn't sure about the switch from my pc,but the more I use the imac the more I like it. I still have a few things to learn about it. imacs just are more stable than any pc I have had.
I have switched to a wireless Logitech keyboard and mouse,just can't get the hang of the mac mouse.
The only problem i've had so far is finding as much software as pc's have.How ever if you want to install windows on your imac it can run both operating systems. The programs that came installed on my imac work excellent and are very well advanced for photography(which is my main hobby) It is so nice to not have all those wires hanging all over the desk and I think it is the best looking monitor on the market.
If you are in doubt about switching to a Mac from a pc,take my word for it very easy. If I did it almost any one can. I am retired and have very little computer knowledge.

(1 out of 5)

Warning for color sensitive artists and pros

I never thought there would be a day when I was anything but a Mac Evangelist and I'm sad to say that day has come. I've owned and praised macs since the 80's with my first little Mac Classic. This is the first time I would ever suggest not buying an Apple product.

If you are a photographer, illustrator, graphic designer or other visual professional you do NOT want this computer.

Why not? It's looks pretty, the screen is a great size for the value and it has apple's rock solid software - granted on all accounts. There is one FATAL flaw: the monitor can't be calibrated properly and Apple can't and won't help. You may have read that the monitor is super bright, well it's actually too bright. you can't get a neutral starting point and therefore you can't calibrate the monitor (using external hardware tools). I've got my brightness set all the way down and I get a reading of 187 with my Colorvision Spyder - I need 150. It's so far off that I can't get reliable color correction done and therefore I can't know that my monitor will produce accurate prints or accurate files for my clients. When your business is images you must be able to KNOW that the images you produce are correctly set.

Apple's solution for my problem was to purchase and use an external monitor that "is better suited to adjusting and calibration"...rendering the giant 24" monitor on the iMac Useless. not an economical or reasonable solution.

If you MUST have accurate color and you know what monitor profiling is all about, don't buy this computer. You simply can't do what you need. It's very sad to see Apple moving away from the group that has always been their biggest support/market, but designers, photographers and visual artists should find another solution.

(5 out of 5)

We love our new iMAC! Perfect for homeschoolers!

We are recent Mac converts and are upgrading our home computers to Apples. My wife has a MacBook Pro that she loves, and now our homeschooled kids (1st and 3rd graders)just received this new, updated iMAC. What a great computer for the home! It has an amazingly small form factor, a very bright, clear screen, but most of all is easy to use. My kids and I are no longer struggling through Windows issues; they are able to put their creativity to use without bumping up against the typical Windows hardware and software snafus. They are already creating vidoes using the new iMovie (which is incredible) and uploading the vidoes to .MAC for grandma and grandpa to see. They have also started playing with the new Magic Garage Band to exlpore music. We also bought iWork '08 for their reports. Kudos to Apple for making a great computer for the home. It's a fantastic product from a company that actually seems to care about the true usability of the products they make.