PC Makers Learning Ease of Use Lessons

Some PC makers are learning lessons from Apple again. The basic lesson to be learned from the success of the iMac is that easier is better. A South Korean manufacturer, Trigem, is saying it will have iMac look alikes in retailers before long. The key differences... these will run Windows and will sell for under five hundred dollars. Acer America isn't copying the iMac look with a new line of computers, but it is following Apple's philosophy to make them easier to use. The new Aspire 2100 series includes a less than one thousand dollar desktop model...that is easy enough for even your most computer-phobic relative or neighbor to set-up without help. Acer's Mike Culver...

"The target market that we're aiming towards is the first time family buyer. And while there's been a lot written about the cost of computers coming down, the number one issue that we've seen is that computers are too complicated for today's home buyers."

Not this one. Like the iMac, it uses USB ports for the keyboard and mouse, so they can't be plugged in wrong even if you try. It comes with 64f megabytes of memory, the speakers are built in and there's a volume control knob on the keyboard. Another button connects you to the Internet. And if something goes wrong, Time Machine software can restore the settings to when it was last working properly. The desktop model uses USB only for expansion, there are no slots. Again, a lot like the iMac.