After testing the iMac for a week, my son and I are fans. The “i” in iMac stands for Internet, and getting online was quick and easy. This is an excellent machine for people who want a computer primarily for e-mail and exploring the Web. My son tested two of his favorite Mac games–WarCraft II and Duke Nukem 3-D. His verdict: “Much faster, much better graphics, much less complicated to use” than his two-year-old Performa. I fell for the curvy, translucent aqua case that lets you peer at the innards–a standout in a world of depressingly uniform taupe boxes.
I also like Apple’s decision to return to the all-in-one case that worked so well in the old Macs. This is more than just a design issue. The compact package has a small footprint, good for crowded desks. It also makes setup a snap, even for novices. There’s no agonizing over the merits of various monitors and no struggle to connect monitor to CPU. The downside is that the iMac is the equivalent of a “no substitutions” menu; if you want a larger or flashier monitor, you’re out of luck. I found the 15-inch screen (13.8-inch viewable area) big enough for most uses, including reading Web pages.
The iMac isn’t perfect. It was a mistake to leave out a floppy drive. The company’s rationale is that floppies are obsolete because of their limited storage capacity. That may be true when it comes to intensive graphics and backing up a hard drive, but many people still find floppies a convenient way to transfer data between home and office. Several manufacturers are offering external floppy drives for the iMac, so add another $150 or so to the price if you need one. Apple has also abandoned conventional printer ports for the Universal Serial Bus (USB). That means that many old Mac printers are incompatible, although some manufacturers sell connection kits.
In a recent survey at ComputerWare, a Mac-only retail chain in Northern California, one of six iMac buyers was a novice computer user, and 12 percent said they were replacing or adding to a Windows-based system. The iMac is pushing Apple in the right direction; all the company needs now is about a million more true believers.
