The Sunday Post #66

And today, I have a new Mac.

Yes, there is a new Mac on my desk

Yes, I bought a new iMac, the upper end 20″, and it’s a fine machine.

I know I have been complaining about Macs, mine in particular. But I have a feeling that those issues are because it’s a first gen MacBook and it is terribly underpowered for what I’ve been trying to do with it. I also think it might have a few port issues.

I even went so far as to price out a Dell system. Turns out the costs was about the same as this (granted for more machine), but I would have been stuck with Vista until Windows 7 comes out sometime in ’10 (or so I’m hearing). And I have software for the mac that I own. Quite a bit too. I really didn’t feel like going through all of that again on the windows side.

If you haven’t had the chance to see a new iMac up close, it is really nice. The screen is very bright and crisp. While not HD, watching a DVD movie on it is completely acceptable. Even the sound from the built-in speakers isn’t horrible, on par with television speakers, maybe a little better.

I’m almost completely moved in and have already done a few things on it to break it in. So far, I can’t really tell how much faster than the MacBook it is, but I do know it feels faster.

Here are some thoughts.

Pro

• The screen is outstanding
• The config right out of the box is usable (2GB RAM, 320GB hard drive)
• I got an upgrade coupon for iLife ’09 so it will only cost me $10 when it comes out.
• Whisper quiet. No, it’s quieter than that. Makes almost no noise
• New Apple Keyboard in the box
• It has 3 USB ports. Nice to have the extra.
• It drives my 20″ display no sweat

Con

• The screen is very shiny and refects pretty much everything. Worse than the gloss screen on the MacBook. It’s slightly distracting.
• New Mighty Mouse in the Box. I actually tried to use it. What a horrible little device that is.
• It seems to run pretty hot. I’ve read about this and it doesn’t cause any problems that I am aware of
• It only has 3 USB Ports. In the day where PC’s have as many as 10 on board USB ports (plus a card reader), this is really unacceptable.

I probably won’t do a full review, but I will say that even with those minor issues, it’s a great machine and I’m glad I bought it.

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• The Sunday Post #3
• The Sunday Post 52
• I have decided
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