Very reliable, all in one design . Good looking . OS X superb . Display and sound excellent
Disadvantages:
Lack of expansion, can't replace graphics/ sound card . Small initial memory (256mb)
Recommend to potential buyers:
yes
Full review
I've been using this computer for 18 months now and whilst you can't buy this particular model new (there are faster versions with bigger screens etc available) you may be tempted by a second hand model. First let me say that the design is beautiful. When I demonstrate the machine to PC users they are astonished by how different the machine looks compared to a PC tower. This is an all-in-one design. The machine is a white hemisphere which contains everything except keyboard, speakers and mouse. The screen is attached by a metal fully adjustable arm. The machine comes with a pair or Apple pro speakers which give a very good, clear sound. The LCD screen is very clear with no dead/ hot pixels and is very adjustable. The keyboard and mouse are very comfortable to use. The dvd-rw/cd-rw is at the front of the machine with the eject buttons on the keyboard. The drive burns dvd's and c.d.'s perfectly. At the back are 3 usb 1 ports one of which is taken by the keyboard, 2 firewire ports, 1 ethernet port, power supply port and headphone and speaker ports. There is another free usb port on the keyboard. The only other expansion is via the base which is unscrewed and 1 memory module can be inserted to bring memory up to a max of 768 mb. More memory can be added ( to go up to 1gb) but the machine must be taken apart. An airport card can be installed here also to bring wireless networking to the imac. I have installed both memory and airport card and it is a very simple and quick process. I have also used a usb card reader and a LaCie firewire hard disk with this computer without any trouble. No review would be complete without mentioning the Apple OS X operating system, it is just great. I have had no freeze ups, crashes etc. I am currently using 10.3 (panther). If an application does crash (usually a shareware program I am trying) the machine just carries on as if nothing happened. The dock which holds your most used applications and documents is very useful. The iapps (which come free with the computer), itunes, iphoto, idvd, imovie, ichat and safari are all excellent, the greatest of course is itunes which stores, burns and if you are in the USA downloads all your music. iphoto stores and prints all your digital pictures. With idvd you can make your own dvd's that you have edited with imovie. Safari is a very fast browser and with ichatAV you can talk and see your friends (using an isight firewire web camera). To round up the imac and Os X are a great combination and make computing a joy instead of a chore.
More details
Reliability
Excellent
Memory / capacity
Excellent
Range of Extra Features
Good
Instruction manual
Satisfactory
Evaluate this review
How helpful would this review be to someone making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
