Another Polished Apple
PCs that run the Windows operating system may be more commonplace, but when it comes to aesthetics and sheer class, the Apple Macintosh is the winner.
That was true back in 1984 when Apple first released the Mac, it was reiterated in 1998 when the company came out with the iMac, and it's truer than ever now that we have the new flat-screen iMac.
The first thing that strikes you about the machine is its revolutionary design. Instead of a beige box on the floor and a monitor on the desk, you get an all-in-one unit with a flat-panel screen that can swivel to almost any position. Even if you have no interest in using a Mac, you should definitely take a look at this machine, but don't just look. Grab the screen and move it to the left, to the right and then up and down. You won't break it. The 15-inch flat screen is attached to the iMac via a stainless steel arm that allows you to effortlessly move the screen to any viewing position.
The screen is perched atop a 10.6-inch diameter base that contains the guts of the computer, including the connectors, the hard drive and either the CD or DVD drive, depending on which model you choose.
The iMac hardly even looks like a personal computer. If anything, it's reminiscent of a desk lamp similar to the one used as the logo for Pixar Animation Studios (a company that, like Apple, is also headed by Steve Jobs).
The hardest thing about setting up the new iMac is getting it out of the box. It took me less than five minutes to set up. Once you place it on a table or desk, the only thing left to do is to plug in the mouse and keyboard, power cord and either a phone line or an Ethernet cord if you're hooking it up to a network or a broadband connection such as a cable modem or DSL line. We have a DSL line at our house so, as soon as the iMac started up, it was connected to the Internet. There was nothing to configure. It just worked. To be fair, setting up some Windows PCs is also quite easy, though most models have an external screen that adds one more thing to plug in. In most cases, Windows XP systems will also connect directly to the Internet with little or no effort, other than to keep declining Microsoft's offers to sign you up with one of its company-sponsored services. To its credit, Apple passes on the opportunity to try to sell you services when you first boot your new iMac.
No question about it, the hardware is very cool, especially if you get the high-end ($1,899) model with the "SuperDrive" that both reads and writes CDs and DVDs. That model also comes with an 800 megahertz PowerPC G4 processor, 256 megabytes of memory, a 60 gigabyte hard drive and a pair of external speakers. For $1,599, you get a machine with 256 MB of memory but with a slightly slower 700 MHz processor, a 40 gigabyte hard drive and a CD reader/writer that can read but not record DVDs. The $1,399 entry-level model has a 700 MHz processor, 128 MB of RAM, a 40 GB hard drive and a CD-RW drive.
But, as cute as the hardware looks, there isn't anything truly revolutionary about the way it works. There are lots of similarly equipped PCs on the market, including some that have far higher capacity hard drives. I went to Dell's Web site (http://www.dell.com) and configured a Dimension 4400 with an even more advanced DVD drive (called DVD R+W) that can also re-write DVDs. I added an 80 gigabyte hard drive and a $350 optional flat-panel display, which jacked the Dimension's price to $1,926 -- $27 more than Apple's high-end iMac.
While we're talking about hardware, let me take a swipe at Apple's mouse. Like the newest mice from Microsoft and Logitech, the Apple Pro Mouse has an optical sensor, instead of a ball, to track movements. While some people like the simplicity of the Apple mouse, I'm bothered that it has only one button and no scroll wheel. I like the fact that mice that come with most Windows machines let you move up and down a page by scrolling a wheel with your fingers. The good news about the Apple mouse is that it is connected via a USB port, which means you can discard it and buy a better one from Microsoft and just about any other PC mouse company.
Aside from the mouse, my only other complaint is that the iMac's default Web browser, Microsoft Internet Explorer, is noticeably slower than in the Windows version, even when connected to the same DSL line.
The iMac has five USB ports and a FireWire port for connecting a video camera or high-speed external hard drive. Unlike many desktop PCs, it is not designed to be easily taken apart. Most users won't be able to upgrade their own hard drive, video card or any other internal hardware, but most users don't do that anyway, even with PCs that come apart easily.
Enough about hardware. The real value of a machine is what it does once you turn it on and, on that score, Apple is again a leader. The new iMacs come with both OS/9, Apple's older operating system, and Apple's new Unix-based OS X. It also comes with Apple Works, a useful starter application that includes word processing, spreadsheet, database, drawing, painting and presentation features.
But the crown jewels of the bundled software are the multimedia applications: iTunes for listening to and organizing music; iPhoto for editing and storing photos; iMovie for editing home videos; and -- in the case of the high-end iMac -- iDVD for burning DVDs. Yes, you can get similar applications on Windows machines, but unlike similar Windows programs, these programs are yet another manifestation of Apple's knack for making things that are elegant, simple and pleasant to use, especially for those of us who tend to skip reading manuals.
After setting up and using the new machine, it comes as no surprise that Apple is enjoying brisk sales for its new iMac. The company clearly has a winner on its hands.
A syndicated technology columnist for nearly two decades, Larry Magid serves as on air Technology Analyst for CBS Radio News. His technology reports can be heard several times a week on the CBS Radio Network. Magid is the author of several books including "The Little PC Book."
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