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30 out of 33 people found this review helpful
4.5 stars
"AWESOME!!!"
Pros: Speed, clutter-free, ease of use - EVERYTHING
Cons: I could not control access to Movie Trailers that are not suitable for my kids.
Summary: I bought a 17" iMac for my daughter (9yr old) for the holidays. Within a week of this the Intel-Duo Core was announced. Luckily I could return this and placed an order for the NEW 20" iMac with "Intel-inside".
I had been a BIG Mac user back in college (some 11 years back) given that Mr. Jobs had a strong connection with my Ala Mater. Since getting out of college i got sucked in to the world of the "windoze" machines. I needed to get my kids (9 yr old and a 4 year old) a machine that they could play and "work" on. The 17" iMac was an eye opener about where the MAC was compared to my PC (Higher Clock GHz and RAM) running XP as a MEDIA machine. Now with the 20" iMac I am alarmed at the alacrity that has been infused in to this machine.
The out-of-the-box ease of the product was alarming. I took time to set it up, but I am sure even my 9 yr old could have set this machine up. The ease with which we made our first calendar using the iPhoto was really amazing. The software suite included is really fabulous and adds a comfort feeling for managing/editing digital content whether it be creating DVD, making Picture CDs etc. The Front Row is Alarming. However, the only problem was that I just could not restrict what Movie trailers could be played on the machine - I certainly do not want my kids to be watching "R" rated movie trailers.
What was even more alarming is that I could even use ssh from the UNIX Terminal to my work without requiring any additional setup or 3rd party software. I can compile, code as well as get all my work e-mail on my UNIX machine at work. With my copy of the Microsoft Office 2004 (for Mac) I can even do my more mundane work (I was initially worried that the Office suite (for Mac X) would not work on the Intel machine, but it works fine).
Overall from the ordering of the machine on Apple Store to receiving it and setting up, I am extremely happy. Mr. Jobs you have not only made me happy with how the stock did last year, but now with this new iMac - a BIG Thank you.
To any one reading this to make a decision - get this machine without a second thought if you want to spend close to $1700. If not, a comparable PC with the same computing speed, software but wihtout the "WOW-Factor" will be at least $500 more just in hardware, keep another $500-1000 for the software.
