Beautiful, Brawny, Blissful Computing Experience
simple is good, demanding, tech geek, heavy Adobe app user, pc user, appreciate quality construction, creative professional, father of 3 young kids
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OCT
9
2007
A year ago I started using a Apple MacBook Pro at work and had bid Microsoft Windows adieu. This seemed like the perfect moment to switch over to a Mac at home. I considered the Apple Mac Mini since I did have the screen, keyboard and mouse from the Dell, but evaluating what hardware (processor, video card, web cam, speakers, hard drive, RAM, etc.) you got with the iMac, I decided that it was actually a better deal to go with the iMac instead of the Mac Mini. In addition, the iMac is an all-in-one computer (screen, speakers, web cam, CPU, power supply, DVD drive, USB and Firewire ports all contained in the screen's housing) which made it more attractive than all of the cables associated with regular desktop computers (Mac Mini included in that company).
I also explored the Apple MacBook laptop computer as an option, but again the iMac's hardware specs won the day.
20" or 24" iMac?
The only remaining choice was whether to go with the 20” or 24” iMac. At first I was leaning toward the 20” iMac, but after doing some research on the web, I came across numerous complaints with the 20” iMac's LCD screen. People were writing about the lack of color depth and washed out displays. This was a big concern for me as I am a graphics professional, so color fidelity ranks highly on my list of must haves. It was clear just from looking at the LCD specs on Apple's web site that the LCD panels were different in the 20” (160 degree horz. & vertical typical viewing angle) vs. the 24” (178 degree horz. & vertical typical viewing angle). To make a final determination, I took a trip to the local Apple store and did a side by side comparison of the two machines. The good thing about the set up of the demo machines in an Apple store is that they all contain the same catalog of photos in iPhoto. Thus running through a wide range of photos with a 20” iMac sitting next to a 24” iMac I could clearly see where the differences in the LCDs showed up (and yes I did try different color space settings along with brightness settings and viewing angles on both machines - by the end of my testing I had tried 6 different 20” & 24” iMacs in the store with the same set of photos). The results were unequivocal and consistent - the 20” iMac screen was washing out details in highlighted areas of photographs - especially noticeable in the yellows and blues. I didn't expect to find such a big difference between the two. In fact I'm surprised that Apple would release a product with such shortcomings. So I had my answer - the 24 inch iMac was the way to go. One other bonus with the 24 incher is that you can view 1080p HDTV at native resolution (without any down scaling - see my review of the Elgato eyeTV Hybrid if you're interested in watching HDTV on your Mac).
What to Order?
The options I chose when I ordered the Apple 24 inch iMac were the wired keyboard (there are two open USB ports on the wired keyboard along with a number keypad) and a wireless mouse (if you haven't tried a wireless mouse you owe it to yourself to do so!). Apple charges way too much for RAM upgrades and they are very easy to do on the iMac, so I suggest going with third party RAM suppliers such as those sold by www.otherworldcomputing.com. Max out the iMac with 4GB of RAM if you can - it's the best way to get the best performance out of any computer.
Since the only thing that can easily be serviced by the user is the RAM in an iMac, consider purchasing AppleCare to extend your warranty coverage to 3 years.
Getting it up and Running
Once the iMac arrived, it was a sight to behold. Big - yet very slim. Only two wires connected to it - one for the power cord and the other the keyboard's USB cable. The out of box experience on a Mac is phenomenal. There are no color coded maps or charts instructing you how to assemble your new computer. Simply put it on your desk top and plug it in. Once you turn on the power you get a welcome animation on the screen, after the keyboard was plugged into a USB port on the back of the iMac, I was shown a graphic on the screen of how to insert batteries into my wireless mouse and turn it on. The mouse immediately connected. After that the iMac found my wireless network and asked for the password to connect to it. Once connected, it asked if I had an iTunes account - I did and it immediately retrieved all of my personal info from Apple and filled in the online registration form for my new iMac. I doesn't get much simpler than that.
One other feature that makes upgrading a Mac very easy is the Migration Assistant utility. It will find other Macs on your network or connected directly to your new Mac via Firewire cable and transfer all of the applications and user data to your new Mac.
Using the 24 inch iMac
Well the screen is huge on the 24 inch Apple iMac as you can imagine. Being a creative professional, I use programs with many toolbars and palettes, so having the extra screen real estate certainly doesn't hurt - in fact it makes my workflow more efficient. For your average home user the screen can be intimidating, but you soon get used to using your favorite word processor with the complete page you're working on displayed at actual size, or viewing your growing digital photo collection and seeing all of those details your 8 mega pixel camera is capturing.
The 24 inch Apple iMac's screen is glass which makes it glossy. This is great for viewing photos as the perceived contrast is increased which makes the photos pop (most people like this punchiness). Also, since I am a father of three young kids, cleaning fingerprints off of a glass surface is better than a softer matte plastic screen found on most LCDs. My biggest concern with a glass screen were reflections. It turns out that that it is not really a problem at all. I have yet to find myself fighting my reflection to see what's being displayed on screen. That said, if I had a choice, I would still prefer a matte screen for the subtleness of colors displayed when doing graphics work.
Speed wise, the iMac handles everything you throw at it with aplomb. The 2.4 GHz processor is very capable and as I mentioned earlier on, maxing out the RAM will help any computer operate at its peak capacity. The wired keyboard is newly redesigned with an extremely slim profile (see attached photo). At first, I didn't know if my wife, who's average typing speed is between 70-80 words per minute, would like the slimmer profile keys, but she has been raving about the new keyboard. According to her this is the best keyboard she's ever used. I like the keyboard as well, though I am far from a speed demon touch typist.
In spite of the fact that the internal hardware of the iMac has evolved from Apple's laptop line, the hard drive is a 3.5” SATA 7200 RPM drive, so you can expect fast read write speeds and none of the lag that you may experience on a laptop which usually has a 5400 RPM drive.
Overall
The Apple 24 inch iMac is a great family computer. It doesn't take up a lot of space, there are almost no wires to be seen (see attached photo comparison with a Dell desktop) and it runs the best available operating system - Apple's OSX. Add to that the iLife suite of applications that include: iTunes, iMovie, iPhoto etc. and you have a everything to manage your media. Throw in built in speakers and a built in web cam and you end up with an unbeatable bundle for the price. Top it off with the great aesthetics and quality build of the iMac and you have a computing experience that is beautiful, brawny and blissful. Get an iMac for your family - you won't regret it.
Last edited on Feb 13, 2008
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