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Reviewed by: Bigeye
09-25-07
Duration of ownership:
2
Days
Strengths: Question Below
Weaknesses:Question Below
Overall Evaluation: To any professional editors.
I'm a young editing professional, but I know nothing about apple-- I want to start editing documentaries and I'm wondering if this system will do. I'm going to buy the Final Cut Express to go with it is this a good choice.
Thanks in Advance.
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Reviewed by: dyoakum
07-07-06
Duration of ownership:
30
Days
Strengths: Mac OS X, self-contained unit reduces desk clutter, large widescreen monitor, included software package.
Weaknesses:Graphics card not the best for gamers.
Overall Evaluation: Overall, this is an excellent purchase for anyone looking for a desktop computer. The thing just looks good on your desk (you'll get plenty of complements about the look of the unit). Beyond its looks, the dual core processor has more than enough processing power to run all your programs without lag. One caution to consider is that the included Radeon X1600 graphics card is not the best for graphics intensive games. You will need to turn the settings down on games like FEAR, Half-Life 2, etc. in order to get decent framerates (if they run at all). If your looking for a gaming machine, this is not for you. However, the computer excels at everything else. The included software package is very robust, although appleworks is no longer included. As usual, OS X rocks. If you are in need of a new desktop computer for your everyday computing needs, this computer will not disappoint you. For all you longtime PC users, now you can make the switch to a Mac and still be able to run windows using the free download of Boot Camp. It's like having your cake and eating it too!! Go ahead, make the switch!
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Reviewed by: d_esmond
06-30-06
Duration of ownership:
3
Months
Strengths: MacOS X, Integrated web cam, Beautiful wide LCD screen, Industrial yet gorgeous cohesive design
Weaknesses:Price, lack of Universal binaries, Wireless mouse
Overall Evaluation: I started out on Macs back in the days before System 6 (Mac Plus, SE, and the uber-cool color Mac II), moved on to Windows due to software availability, and have come full circle back to the iMac Core Duo. The beauty of Boot Camp is that you can now have the best of both worlds, being able to run both MacOS and Windows on the same machine.Not having used MacOS since System 7, I had over 15 years worth of catching up to do on the OS. In some ways it's just like the old days, but in other ways MacOS is drastically different (obviously under the hood are where you'd find the truly revolutionary changes). But I quickly got back up to speed. Networking the imac with the rest of my equipment was refreshingly easy. My ethernet-based printers were detected automatically, and I had no problems file sharing between other Windows PCs and the iMac. As for software, I haven't done a ton of exploring with the ILife suite, but it does look like a great bundle and certainly opens up many avenues for the amateur artist, filmmaker, musician, or podcaster. I was dissapointed to find that most software titles aren't yet available in the Universal Binary format (which will run at full-speed on the Intel-based Macs). In particular, Microsoft's Office suite is still at the 2004 version, which relies on a piece of Apple middleware (Rosetta Stone) in order to run on the Intel iMac. It works fine... just a bit slower than I know the machine is capable of.I recommend going for the Gig of RAM for the machine, especially if you will be relying on Rosetta Stone for commonly-used apps like Office.I love how Apple is going for the "wireless" brass ring, in that you can configure the iMac such that there is only one cable used in the entire setup--the power cable. With the optional bluetooth keyboard and mouse, using WiFi for your network and either wireless or network printers, you can attain this nirvana. To have such a capable machine packed into a deceptively simple package is what Apple does best.The Apple wireless kb and mouse work great except for that the mouse is still the old 1-button design (that Apple FINALLY dumped for its new corded mouse). I've used Windows so long I have really gotten used to not only multiple buttons, but also some kind of scrolling mechanism (whether it be wheel, button, or whatever). How Apple could sell its flagship mouse without a scroll feature is bewildering. You're left to either purchase a 3rd party mouse (which inevitably doesn't match the Apple design of everything else), deal with another cable and use the Apple corded mouse, or suck it up and live without advanced mouse functionality (I chose the second option until Apple gets a decent wireless mouse released).Other than those nitpicks, I have no other complaints about this computer. I'm glad Apple hung in there through the 90s, because they are back in a big way and getting bigger all the time. They've done many things right over the years and the 20" iMac Duo is one of 'em.
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Reviewed by: jayger
06-23-06
Duration of ownership:
1
Months
Strengths: Awesome design, beautiful HUGE screen, Tiger, Intel duo core, BootCamp!
Weaknesses:Mid-range video card. Amount of RAM. No user upgradeable parts except for the RAM. Non-universal apps (not Apple's fault, really) ;)
Overall Evaluation: I've been using a Mac since middle school and have gone through several generations of Macs from the 80's to today. This iMac has to be the best one I've ever owned! I usually NEVER buy first gen systems, but I was aching for a new one. I'm glad I took the plunge! I use PCs too and had no issues installing WinXP under BootCamp. Other than the video card, WinXP runs just as fast as my 3GHz P4 desktop system! This is a great way to have the best of both worlds in one desktop to reclaim space in the office. The Universal apps, such as iLife '06, which Apple supplies simply scream on this machine. The implementation of Rosetta is very decent, but I can't wait for more and more software to come out as Universal binary. Go Apple!!
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Reviewed by: merlin6
05-15-06
Duration of ownership:
Strengths: widgets, boots really fast, rarely stalls no matter how many windows are open
Weaknesses:2 month life span
Overall Evaluation: I took the plunge and bought a 20" intel iMac 2 months ago. My experiences range from the really good, to the really bad. The really good. The iMac is fast to set up right out of the box. It boots really quickly. The monitor is brilliant! The widgets are the coolest, especially the bouncing ball. The compatability issues between Macs and PC's are over-blown. In short, it's a tight little package. Now the bad. I came to my Mac a week ago to find that it had a Kernal panic, or to the results oriented, it didn't boot. Long story short, the hard drive took a dive. To top it off hopefully the Apple kids would be able to pull my memories from the hard drive and if they could not, I didn't have the option of taking the hard drive to a data recovery service as it would then be Apple's defective property, a point I went round and round with to an indefferent Genius. When I picked up the computer and asked what was wrong with it and was told it was only the hard drive, and I replied that they were only my memories the Apple employee said he'd look in the back to see if I had the iMac from which they couldn't recover the data. Apparently there was an 'exact same' computer in the same boat. Well, if the Intel iMacs have only been on the market for about 3 months, then are there defective hard drives in them? Maybe just a coincidence, but even though I would recommend an iMac, save the smug indie kid routine, and yes, iMacs die too.
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