Key conditions
Switching the iMac on, the huge screen comes to life and it is quite extraordinary in quality. Big, bright, contrasty and with a very wide viewing angle, the built-in display is likely to make any third-party external displays that you attach look dismal in comparison.
Oh, and the wireless keyboard lacks any USB ports, of course
It was a shame, then, to find that the Apple wireless keyboard in the box suffered from poor manufacture, its wonky construction causing it to wobble and rattle on my desktop as I typed. This did seem a bit of a one-off though as I've used identical keyboard with no issues. Indeed, Apple’s keyboards are normally a joy to use, so if I had bought this, I would have insisted on an immediate replacement.
The wonderful/infuriating Magic Mouse: insert your Marmite cliché here
I won’t dwell on the pros and cons of the bundled operating system, Mac OS X 10.6.7: it’s one of those love-it-or-hate-it things. I could say the same for Apple’s multi-touch Magic Mouse. Personally, I think they’re brilliant but many people have trouble with them because of their sensitivity: the slightest accidental brush of a stray finger can cause your work to scroll off-screen.
Next page: Benchmark Tests
COMMENTS
"although the company still insists on including a Firewire 800 port. What is it for?"
for FW800 devices, as simple as that. there are plenty of external harddrives with FW800 interface, yes it's much faster than usb
Need something to match the curtains - buy a Mac
Unfortunately my curtains are made of beige plastic.
wrong demographic
Its a WORKSTATION, not generic PC, and comes with an $800-1K 1440v IPS panel. You're paying a $4-500 premium for a screen with high resolution, not just extra inches. Add a similar screen to any generic $1100 SB PC equivalent and it costs more than this iMac. You can barely build this machine from parts on NewEgg and save more than $200 off the retail price, and sacrifice TB and a slew of options in the process.
I don't own one. I'm a Windows and Unix systems analyst by trade, and have custom built my own rigs for 20 years. Still, this machine interests me greatly. For the price point, it has everything i want and more (including that screen). If all you want is 1080p content and web browsing, then you want a $600 PC and generic 24-27" screen, not this machine, so don;t buy this machine. I'm looking for something with 16GB RAM (that won't cost $1K extra to get to using 8GB chips, this has 4 RAM slots), with SSD and HDD internally and a slew of high speed external drive ports. I have eyes on a new storage chassis to replace an aging eSATA Multitap chassis, and TB fits that bill, and still lets me add my 2 existing 24" displays to the side of that 27" monster. I can not buy a tower from any major retailer, plus that 27" or similar screen, for less. Factor in that the iMac 27's from 2 years ago still clear $1K easy on ebay, some $1500, means I could replace this iMac every 2 years with a newer better one for less than I average spending overhauling out-of-warranty custom towers, and without all the hassle. Plus, it will run OS X, Windows 7, and Linux (and all at the same time if I want) which can not be done on any generic PC at all.
Slight technical flaw with that
Your link is for a MONITOR only, you still need a system unit to go with that. Going to the Dell site and matching as close as I can to the iMac (XPS 8300, i5 @3.1GHz, Radion 6870 graphics, 6GB of RAM, 1.5TB HDD, wireless keyboard and mouse, WiFi & Bluetooth adaptors, Windows 7 ultimate) I get a bill of £1084, plus your £677 monitor that takes you to about £1760.
What was that about the PC being cheaper? How were you going to hide the system box and all the cables (and reduce the noise)?
