DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Tailgate Forum Any iMac Owners Here?

So I'm thinking about getting one this week. I'm reading reviews, and it almost seems like the reviews are 'planted' as they are all 5 stars and nothing but praise. Can a product be that good?

Does anyone here have one? And what are your thoughts?

Thanks.

If you have the money and looking for an easy to learn alternative to Windows than a Mac is the way to go. I don't own any of the new ones but I have some old Macs and iBook from the 90s and their still going strong. Not to mention a Mac is a very reliable machine.

Down side of them is their price but the money you spend is worth it.

If I was to rate one it would be 5 stars.

I just bought a Macbook this week. The new white Unibody one (got a great deal from Microcenter, $200 rebate so it was $799).

Words can't describe how awesome this thing is. I love it.

I'd get a notebook if it were me but those new iMacs are awesome. I played around with one this week. Screen is big and very bright and colorful.

I don't have extended time with an iMac but the Macbook IS that good. I wrote a review of it but thanks to the "rules of the pound" I can't post it. I'd get the iMac if you want it.

I'm sure it's his blog. Just copy and paste it... I mean, you wrote it.

I have a 24" iMac, from two generations ago. It's a great computer. The new ones are even better. Better screen, more RAM support, you can get it with an i5 or i7 processor, and they come with the new "Magic Mouse" which is a million times better than the older Apple mice.

For years I've talked about switching to a Mac, and in all honesty I should have two years ago when my loud, hot, monstrosity of an HP desktop decided to generally go haywire. Instead I went the HP laptop route because I was lured in by the extra power for the price, not realizing the absolute disaster that was Windows Vista.

Not anymore, my friends. After the HP decided to call it quits, I decided this would be the last time I'd deal with the frustration of a Windows PC. So, using Microcenter's $200 mail-in rebate on the Macbook, I decided I could not wait any longer and I went out and bought myself a shiny new Macbook. I'll sum up my review in three short words: I love it.

I was originally torn on the newly redesigned white Macbook or spend the same amount on a refurbished 13" Macbook Pro. As much as I love the aluminum design of the Pro, the $200 rebate pushed the white Macbook over the top since there was no rebate for a refurbished Pro. This Macbook has been completely redesigned to use the same unibody construction as its aluminum Pro siblings, but in white polycarbonate plastic form. I had played with both the old-design Macbook and the new Unibody Macbook, and I found the new Macbook to be light years ahead of the old design in terms of sturdiness and build quality. The old Macbook felt "cheap" and flimsy when I held it compared to this new design.

There are some gripes about this machine from other reviews I've read: The plastic is so glossy it's supposedly "sticky" on the palm rests, the lack of Firewire port, lack of SD slot and lack of removable battery. My only gripe out of those complaints is the lack of an SD slot because that was my preferred way to upload photos onto my old laptop. However, SD to USB converters come cheap so that is not much of an issue. The palm rests are not sticky to me and I don't use Firewire for anything. The battery is rated at 7-hours and according to other reviews it gets a "real-world" time of 5-hours. That is PLENTY of battery and it lasts up to 1000 charges, or an average of 5 years. Basically: When the battery is dead, you'll want a shiny new Mac by then anyway.

Here's what I love about the machine: The multitouch trackpad is very intuitive and fun to use. The LED screen is so bright and vibrant that my LCD HDTV looks dim in comparison. Yes, the screen is glossy but unlike the Macbook Pro, there is no glass in front of the screen so it does not reflect nearly as much as the Pro. The Macbook has the same processor as its 13" Pro sibling and has a 250 GB hard drive, which is larger than the Pro. The computer is FAST, and much of that goes to the reason why people use Macs in the first place: Mac OS X. Mac OS X Snow Leopard is FAST. Having used both Windows 7 and Snow Leopard, Snow Leopard smokes Windows 7...I won't even get into how it leaves Vista in its dust. I had limited experience with Macs (as in I only used them at Alden Library for web surfing) before using this machine. I have had zero complications in learning how to use a Mac. When they say it...just...works, they mean it. It's more stable and virus free, to top it all off.

So to anyone who wants to switch to a Mac, I say do it! Now until December 6th is the right time to use that rebate (or if you can use your student ID for a student discount plus a free iPod over summer...or if you're a former student use your old student ID, not that I recommend fraud or anything). I literally can not say enough good things about this machine. My only gripe is that I didn't switch sooner.

Wow, guess I am the only non apple fan boy here. Not a fan myself. I am not a fan of the OS. Not to mention you're paying DOUBLE for the brand name.

I've been using Mac for years now. Currently using an iMac 24" running Snow Leopard. I usually just leave it running, it's been four months since I booted the machine, just clicks right along.

Actually, your not paying double for the brand name, your paying extra for the very good construction of the mac itself and the testing the mac and the OS goes through before getting in your hands. Not to mention a mac will outlast a PC. Like I said in my previous post I have several old macs but I do have a 6 year old DELL inspiron which is literally falling apart and I've changed the AC adapter 4-5 times and am due to replace it again while the mac has shown no signs of falling apart and the AC adapter has never needed replacing.

You don't have to get a mac new, you can get it refurbished, works just has good has a new one. My sister has a refurbished one and has had no issues with it.

http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/specialdeals/mac

Not to mention the service and support that Apple provides for its products. Take care of your products and Apple will take care of you.

I'll add that in the 3.5 years that I've been using my Macbook, I've had two issues. One was a known battery issue which was replaced for free. The other was caused by Microsoft software from my Office install running in the background, using about 90% of my system's resources and causing my CPU temperature and fan speed to spike all the time.

In that time I've upgraded the RAM and hard drive, and put in a wireless card that I got for free and which supports wireless-n. No issues at all.

I'm not knocking Apple for this in any way, but for them to make a quality product is 1000X easier than it is to do so on a PC because they control the hardware. There are not thousands of options of video cards, sound cards, etc that they have to be compatible with. There is one - their own and all software must be compatible with this. That makes it VERY simple to design software for it.

The initial problems of Vista were almost exclusively driver compatibility issues. With Windows 7, which is incredible IMO, the hardware vendors have caught up and are writing stable driver sets.

I like Apple, especially the iPhone/iTouch technology, but for the price a PC is still the way to go IMO. I just wish AT&T wasn't the only choice for their phone as I would buy one in a second. AT&T coverage sucks.

Even with proper maintenance, Macs seems to last a lot longer. My roommate in undergrad purchased a higher end Dell laptop at the exact same time that I purchased my Powerbook. We were both in the same field and did identical work on our laptops. We both also had separate PC's that we did our other work on, we both used our laptops only for work without loading extra things like music onto them.

Within a year, he had to reformat his hard drive. Within three years, his laptop died and needed to be replaced. Seven/eight years later, I still own that Powerbook and run up-to-date CADD software (Vectorworks 2010) doing 2-D plans and advanced 3-D renderings as well as the Adobe Master Suite CS4 and it still runs fine. I also recently purchased a 17" Macbook Pro that outperforms my beefed up, overclocked custom built PC.

With that being said, does the old Powerbook run those programs smoothly? No, not really comparatively. A 3-D render that usually takes about 3 hours takes about 4 on that machine. Everything is a touch slower than it should be. However, the fact that a laptop that old can still handle advanced modern programs is remarkable. It sure is nice that I can open up all three machines at the same time to do three renders at once, even if the one takes a bit longer.

I agree. My point wasn't that they will both last the same time when maintained.

It was that they both require maintenance, and the Mac is better suited to last longer without regular maintenance, I would suspect because of it's proprietory nature. But both can become bloated and slow without proper maintenance.

Something I have noticed over the last couple years with the explosion of broadband internet, is the amount of garbage people fill up their systems with. The number of trial programs, and lame games that come with so much adware and crap is amazing. Then these people come to me wondering why their system is so slow.

I've gotten to the point I say "Don't bring it to me, put in your restore disc and start fresh. And don't forget to backup your important files." which they never do remember.