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For six years, the Internet Nexus served as my technology blog, but I've since started blogging at the SuperSite Blog instead. If you're looking for the blog, please head there. --Paul

Tuesday, September 07, 2004

Apple launches new iMac - customers display mixed feelings

Cool Tech Zone: "Many Apple users are having mixed feelings about the new [iMac] models. [The] majority of those reports discuss the high prices with limited functionality."

Uh. Let's be fair here. I'm not all that excited about the new iMacs, but the price is right: Unlike the overly-expensive 2G iMac, the 3G iMac compares favorably with similarly-equipped PCs, assuming you're just talking money and not after-purchase effectiveness (i.e. PCs have a much wider and more easily accessible software selection). Price to price, the new iMac compares very well to the best Dell has to offer. I've checked it, and if you don't believe it, you should look it up too.

"Due to its compact design with limited space, many users are having concerns that relate to memory upgrades, hard drive size, and Apple's Airport Extreme wireless standard."

I have no idea what this means either. The new iMac is fully user servicable, making it easy to add RAM and AirPort Express wireless features (I added both RAM and Airport Express to my 2G iMac as well, for whatever that's worth). However, like the 2G iMac, the base hard drive sizes this time around not reasonable. An 80 GB hard drive is a joke, but you can upgrade to 250 GB when you order online, and they are SATA drives, which is interesting.

"Many users feel that 256MB system memory is not enough for their regular computing tasks."

And it's not. Apple should have made 512 MB the base amount of RAM.

"However, there is one thing that everyone adores about the new iMac regardless the upgradibility and price factors - its extravagent looks."

Again, I disagree. The new iMac is unexciting from a design perspective, and resembles what everyone said the 2G iMac would look like before it shipped. Apple surprised us with what it came up with then. This time around, it's uninspiring. Ah well.

[ Posted at 9:20 AM | Permalink ]