I recently bought a brand new 24″ 3.06Ghz iMac.    In almost 20 years of working with technology, this is the first new computer that I have ever owned for myself.   I’ve owned more than my share of other computers, from a variety of Apple laptops to a stack of Sun workstations and servers.    They all serve their purpose, and they’ve all been worth the time put into them.   They were, however, all previously owned.    Spending money on a new iMac was a big deal, and more money than I’ve ever spent on a computer, new or used.   A variety of circumstances led to it though, and I decided to take the plunge.

That said, I bought one.    So far, I love it.   Why?   Glad you asked!  Here are a few reasons off the top of my head:

1. 4GB of memory.   Sure, I could get this on other boxes, but this is my first computer with this much memory.   It totally makes the difference.
2. Nice, crisp screen.   It’s very bright and nice to look at.
3. Speed is just not an issue.   Between 4GB of ram and lots of CPU, this box has yet to be slow.
4. Nicely made.   It all just fits together in ways that I like.
5. Rates nicely on power usage.   I’ll give it a reading on my kill-a-watt the next time I reboot.

As for things I don’t like:

1. Leopard.   Most of it is very nice.  Spaces often does the wrong thing, enough so that I’ve considered loading Tiger onto it.
2. Only 4GB of memory!  Clearly this goes both ways. 
3. The keyboard.   I gave up on it.   I’m using a white keyboard from an old G4 tower.   Much nicer, and more what I prefer.

After several months of using it, the iMac has yet to disappoint in any major way.   It’s been rock solid, and can do everything I like.   So far, I’m impressed, and I’ve evangelized to friends about it.

PR: wait… I: wait… L: wait… LD: wait… I: wait… wait… C: wait… SD: wait…

Tags: apple, imac