Apple iMac summer 2010 user reviews (Intel Core i5 2.8GHz, 27 in)

Pros Quad-Core CPU, fantastic 27" display, sleek design, keyboard same as notebooks, Magic Mouse combines mouse with trackpad gestures, quiet, OS X, available but expensive SSD.

Cons Expensive, short warranty, can't be expanded beyond added RAM, needs more ports -- second FW800, ESATA, USB3.

Summary Nice speed bump with higher speed CPU and new graphics card keeps this and the optional i7 version a speed demon for heavy production (video and still image). Elegant design minimizes distractions and maximizes productivity. A true media authoring tool, but certainly not the best choice for gamers, media consumers, and the browser/email crowd who will be better served (at much less cost) by a Windows PC or a much less expensive Apple (Mac mini or perhaps iPad).

For those using a MacBook for portability and an iMac in the office (I'm one of those) having the say keyboard layout is a real plus. The new Magic Trackpad even gives the same trackpad actions to the iMac although the Magic Mouse can come close when combined with BetterTouchTool.

The enormous display packs lots of pixels which is great for photo editing or any program which has lots of panels (such as any Adobe product). I've gone so far as to attach a second display for even more room. The new iMac has no problems I've discovered running with the 64-bit OS X kernel, and when combined with Parallels will run a WIndows 7 virtual machine in one monitor with full animation while running OS X apps in the other. I often run engineering CAD tools (Windows only) in the virtual machine while using iShowU HD for video capturing the CAD session on the OS X side. The quad-core processor handles all of this with ease.

My traditional advice holds -- try one out for an hour in a store and decide for yourself. If you are into photography or video, take a USB thumb drive with some of your files into the store and see what they are like with iPhoto/Aperture/iMovie/FinalCutExpress which Apple has on all their showroom systems.

Pros Fabulous screen, screaming performance, quiet as a tomb.

Cons CD drive is a bit noisy but I don't use it a lot.

Summary I upgraded to this machine from a 2007 Mac Pro, the performance is higher at a fraction of the cost.

The machine is also a lot quieter.

Updated on Sep 11, 2010

Addressing your bad points...

1) Keyboard....you can order one with a numeric pad when you buy the iMac at no extra cost,
2) Mouse...again don't like the Apple one? Get one you like, nothing to do with the iMac.

No technical advantage? I have both Windows and Macs in my office and there are obvious ones that I run into as an IT professional every day:

1) PCs don't have a backup solution like Time Machine, nothing exists yet, and yes hard drives fail and whenever someone calls me to recover their data I say "get a Mac", you get this out of the box,
2) Accessing files and programs is way easier than anything in Windows using Spotlight,
3) Macs run Windows but PCs don't run Mac OS, as a developer that's an obvious plus,
4) Running Windows through Parallels makes this a better PC than a PC.

Yes people always "save" money when they buy a PC then they give that money to me to fix their PC within the first year of purchase, so go ahead and keep buying PCs and "save" your money.

Pros High pixel density
Fast processor
Large Hard Drive
Fast DVD/CD drive
Beautiful Appearance
Wonderful for creative projects (Video editing, photography, game design, etc.)
iLife

Cons Um... Price?

Summary I use this iMac for all of my work. I work with Adobe CS5 for special effects, photography, and game design and it gets all of the work done fast and without headache. I would recommend this to anyone that uses a computer. Seriously, THE BEST COMPUTER I HAVE EVER USED. Go buy one, like, right now.

Pros Gargantuan Screen
Pretty thin for such a big computer
Glossy-ness (depends on your preference)
FAST
Minimalistic Design (i like)

Cons Crap mouse

Summary Overall, my iMac has a fast processor (got the i7), 8 gigs of ram, an ssd/hardrive combo, and a minimalistic design. No less, no more than needed. What more can a guy who just wants a simple computer ask for? On my first day, it was kinda slow on the internet, but thats just cache building up. After that, everything ran just the way I wanted. Went on the internet, did some iwork, some aperture, and final cut without a problem. Everything just ran for me. For the display, its an "oh my god," why is it so f-ing huge! But that becomes sorta part of the experience. Minimalistic, yet a full experience. I never ran out of desktop space because of it. The keyboard way okay, i got the wired one instead (can't live without a numerical keyboard. And for the mouse--crap. Its an ergonomically challenged, shiny plastic, piece of no-how mouse.

In all, if you want a computer that just works, works both ways (bootcamp), has nothing short of perfect, and is minimalistic, this is definitely for you. Other than the mouse problem, everything else just works.