Apple iMac 24in - 2009 Edition

<Fyad> When I bought siemens cellphone, siemens sold its cellular section. When I bought yakumo screen, yakumo got bunkrupt. When I bought fujitsu-siemens laptop, siemens sold its share.
<Fyad> Just curious what to buy next...
<r_heart> apple
<hoobsta> Apple
<sailo> apple

;)

Carl Abudephane: It *is* the exchange rate. In the US, $1,499 used to buy you an entry-level 20-inch iMac. Now, the same $1,499 gets you an entry-level 24-inch iMac. That's definitely better value (especially given that it also upgrades the monitor from a TN panel to an H-IPS panel). It's only outside the US that prices have gone up quite sharply. What else can that be if not the exchange rate?

Speaking from experience.
I'm a mac user and a pro one at that, I've been making money and paying the bills for over 15 years using firstly Apple Macintosh and now 'mac' computers and I've enjoyed 99% of it.

I have a new 24" iMac with the 3.06ghz C2D, 1tb HD and the now infamous Radeon HD4850 graphics chip and aside from the Radeon issue which kept me from using it until the EFI patch was released I have to say it is stunning.

Design
From simply an industrial design POV the build has no competition in the current market. NONE, nothing from Sony's Vaio range or HP's TouchSmart comes even close, infact the closest rival from a built POV is something by VOODOO but that's to be expected for the £££'s they want for their kit. So in short, if you want a good looking PC this is it. Period.

Glossy Screen
OK, some people choose to bang on about this but look, I'm a graphics pro and I use this machine every day in a well lit room and I can't really see a problem. Yes it reflects more than a normal matt screen but because it is a very bright panel this kind of cancels it out to a degree. So, unless you are watching dark films or playing dark games on it in a bright room it shouldn't pose any problems really. Dissagree with this and you're either being pedantic or you use your shiny screen PC under a light and deserve everything you get. Apply common sense to where you use your PC and you'll be fine.

Price
OK, the apple crowd already know this and accept it. The PC crowd know this and don't. YOU WILL ALWAYS PAY A PREMIUM FOR SOMETHING THAT HAS BEEN DESIGNED. Simple as that. I'm a designer and I charge money to design stuff, when I visit new clients that have had work done by people who like to think of themselves as designers but have no real experience and do it on the cheap the end result is always a worse, less effective design. Want something that looks good? then you have to pay for it.

Spec
People always bang on about this as well but really, when you take a close look at an apple machine and make a direct comparison between it and a Wintel box that offers the same spec (DDR3, a good FSB etc etc etc) they are either close or the apple is actually better value. I know this though personal experience as I have owned (and do own) both Macs and PCs. Also, you get a lot with the iMac (iLife) and for a similar suite of quality software for the PC you would be paying £100 up. But remember you can ALWAYS build something cheaper and more powerful, take a Westfield car, thrashes Ferraris and eats Porsches and no doubt they are awesome cars but I would rather drive a Porsche day in day out than a Westfield as you will spend more time on the road and less time tinkering in the garage.

Service & Support
Something that people tend not to factor into the price of any machine is how will you and it be looked after once you have it at home and something goes wrong. With a PC it's like getting blood out of a stone. With a Mac (and it's only happened once in the last 15 odd years!) it's actually quite a refreshing experience. The Radeon card on this machine didn't work till the EFI fix, I download it and it now works perfectly but I chose to complain to their Customer Relations dept. 1 phone call to a person who spoke perfectly understandable english, who had a nice manner about them and who at no time palmed the blame off onto me. Understood the issue, accepted that Apple had made a mistake and apologised and offered in way of compensation either vouchers or a new Shuffle to say sorry. Now THAT is customer relations. And to top it off an email afterwards asking me to tell them how the phone call wnet and if I was happy with the outcome. HOW MUCH IS THAT WORTH?

So, in short, the new iMac is a stunner. It takes a small step forward from the last gen and improves graphics, storage, speed and memory specs. the screen is beautiful for a mainstream non-pro screen (and I am colour conscious and hard to please). It's design is head and shoulders above it's nearest competition and the footprint is tiny. On top of this the machine is SILENT (or as near as pos) and when you tie this all up with OSX it's a wonder why people choose anything else.