Excellent computer
Great computer, I’m a long time PC user and bought this for my wife to use. The first thing that struck me was the simplicity in everything Apple does. The system just works, the hardware is elegant and plenty fast for now. I upgraded the RAM to 3mb and installed Windows Vista via Parallels. The system has enough horsepower to run both OS’s at the same time without breaking a sweat.
As many have said before - the monitor is stunning! I have three high end Samsung LCD’s on my PC setup and they don’t look anywhere near as good as the monitor on the Apple.
My only concern is that the system is not upgradable - common for an iMac. Other than adding RAM what you buy now is what you will have for the rest of this machine’s life. I bought the 320Gb drive but within the first two months had to add extra capacity via USB drives to hold all of the pictures and videos.
Highly recommended!
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The best computer I’ve ever seen BAR NONE!
I wasn’t sure how easy or difficult the switch from PC to Mac would be but I saw this computer (20″ imac, 120GB HDD, 1 GB RAM) at the store and had to have it! And when I saw the price that amazon was offering ($500 less than stores and no tax AND free shipping!), the decision was easy to make.
First of all, despite what anyone says, iMacs are superior computers. Programs are easier to load, viruses are so far non-existent on my system, downloading is even easier, the resolution is perfection, designing and creating is fun and simple, and best of all NO TOWER! Everything being built right in, including a DVD burning drive, gives my desk more room for organization, camera docks, printers, etc. and get this: no whining motor. This baby is quiet as a mouse (though burning has a relatively quiet running sound as can be expected). I have a 500GB external drive (though I really haven’t needed the extra space, though I’ve had this computer for over two months) and I upgraded the RAM to 4GB (for only $40!), an effortless installation, btw. This computer is FAST and runs smoothly. The learning curve is actually extremely fun and things work exactly as they should. If you like running several projects at once you can even create several desktops and with a click of the special mouse buttons, you can switch just like that! The voice command program is also fun to mess with and definitely something I like to show off to everyone. The built in camera/video iSight camera works crisply and cleanly and the microphone picks up voices just beautifully! The prepacked programs are also worth every penny I put into this! The only things I would advise getting extra is iVCD (for burning projects), BitTorrent (for fast downloading), iWork (yeah, this system doesn’t come with an office program but that’s the only downside and I could look it over…), and your choice of Antivirus software (I chose iAntivirus). Oh, and the little remote for movies and music is a great little add-on! The screen wipe and the apple stickers were a cute addition as well.
Lastly, the internet hook-up. This is just beautiful! All I did was click on the Safari icon (Mac’s internet interface) and BAM! I was in. My previous hook-up for my old PC was still hooked up ( a wireless G router) and iMac’s airport integrated wireless recognized it effortlessly. No internet set-up, no installation screens, nothing. Apple, I love you for this! It took me two hours to get the same router to be recognized on a regular PC.
Overall, this computer not only makes me feel like I’ve arrived in technological heaven, but surpassed it, straight to the VIP room! I have never been more pleased with a purchase and I have to recommend that if there is anything worth saving for, this is it! This computer has something for everyone and is fully customizable. GO APPLE! I’m your biggest fan!
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A big step up
I bought this Mac Pro to replace a PowerMac that was over seven years old, and which had fallen inadequate to handle my increasingly demanding digital image processing, and which was all but worthless at running Microsoft Windows.
This Mac Pro is probably 8x faster than the PowerMac at most tasks, and its case design is lovely. The way PCI cards snap into and out of place without screws, the easy accessibility of the DIMM slots on a pull-out card, and the ability to add and remove drives without cables, all reflect Apple’s obsession with details.
Despite having at least one massive fan in the case, it is much quieter than the PowerMac. In another advantage over the older machine, it has ports on both the front and back. As with previous Mac Pros and PowerMacs, RAM, disk, connectivity, and optical drives are all very expandable.
The Mac Pro runs Windows Vista faster than any dedicated Windows box I’ve ever used, and with VMware Fusion, I can even run Windows applications within the Mac environment. The Mac Pro comes with all sorts of Apple software, though I use mostly third party alternatives (my first three installations were Microsoft Office, Adobe CS4, and Mathematica). The latter two run much better on this than they, or their predecessors, had ever run on the PowerMac. I’m keeping the old box around only to run some much older software, which by virtue of needing Mac OS9 or some other quirk, won’t run on the new box. In general, software compatibility is excellent. I had no trouble with drivers for my tablet or printer or any of my scanners (Nikon, Canon, and Fujitsu).
What’s not to love? Some will complain about the price, but I’m not going to bother; if you want a cheaper machine, iMacs and Mac Minis are available. The absence of Firewire 400 was a disappointment for me, though adapter cables and PCI cards are readily available. I bought a Sonnet card that adds two firewire 400 ports for about $50. This box is PCI-Express only, so you won’t be able to use standard PCI or PCI-x cards. Some may grouse about Apple’s standard keyboard and/or mouse, but I use third party solutions there too.
I got 7+ years out of my last computer, and I would not be surprised to get the same out of this one.
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Mac Mini as home theater PC
I’ve had my Mac Mini for two months now. I bought it to be used as a home theater PC (HTPC). I’ve hooked it up to my Sony Bravia TV (1366×768 screen resolution) via the VGA input using a Mini-DVI to VGA Female Adapter Cable. The display is fantastic and it just worked. I didn’t have to do any configuration. I’m using it to watch streaming video from NetFlix. I’m getting less than perfect performance, but I think that’s entirely due to my slow DSL (testing at 1.4 Mbps download speed) which I’m trying to get fixed with the ISP. DVDs look great. Streaming audio via iTunes can’t be greater than 64 kbps to avoid rebuffering, but again I’m sure that’s due to my DSL and not the Mac. Leopard has been performing well.
I bought the minimally configured version and ordered 4GB of memory from Crucial. I’d read around that it was possible, but not easy, to upgrade yourself. I found various tear-down explanations–the one that seemed most relevant was here: [...]. I managed to get the case open with a combination of metal and plastic putty knives. The metal knife scratches, but the plastic one wasn’t strong enough to get the tabs loose on the outer cover. I could not figure out how to remove the bluetooth antennas–none of the instructions I found explained that part, including the ifixit instructions (they just said “carefully remove” them, but there seemed to be no easy way to release them from their holders). So I decided to try operating with the antennas attached. That was a mistake, because in the process I inadvertently popped the tiny connector loose from the circuit board for the front bluetooth antenna. I managed to get the memory installed OK. When trying to reconnect the bluetooth connector, I mangled and eventually broke it loose from the wire. I ended up having to take it into the Apple store to get the antenna replaced. Of course, they charged me for that, but believe it or not, it was still cheaper than buying it with the memory pre-installed (mainly because any vendor that pre-installs memory charges me sales tax). If I had to do it again, I’d buy the Mac with the memory pre-installed.
I also bought the Apple wireless keyboard (bluetooth) and a Logitech bluetooth mouse. They both work well, but sometimes the Mac Mini has a hard time connecting to them. Apple support had me do the PRAM reset and I’m not sure that helped.
I’m using a wireless connection (Airport). I don’t broadcast the SSID for my wireless network, so Airport doesn’t detect it on its own. Therefore, I had to set it up as a preferred network. The Mac Mini finds it most of the time, but occasionally fails to find it. The only way I’ve found to get it to find my network in this case, is to turn off Airport, then turn it back on again, at which point it tries the preferred network list.
Overall, I’m very happy with the Mac Mini and it’s serving its purpose well as a home theater PC.
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Superior in every way.
About me: Long time windows user. vista beta tester and I use an xbox/windows pc to have a home network/entertainment center. I bought an iphone and absolutely love it. I read that there is better integration between a mac and an iphone and I had had it with my laptop. Startup times and virus scans killed any convenience the laptop offered when I wanted to check a movie review or peruse an online news paper. I bought this with the 3.06 processor and 4GB of ram since 8gb ram configurations are really pricey.
This machine is costly compared to a pc desktop, however; everything just works. Startup is fast and pages load while I am doing anything. Though I have never used video editing software, I was able to make a comprehensive video of my daughter in a half an hour. There are tons of free creative softwares which are fun (paint, music, editing) and premium ones to buy. I have friends with the modern vista and it is last year’s prom dress compared to this machine. I have a three year old and there are loads of entertaining and educational add-on’s for this.
I would recommend without reservation.
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