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Apple MA456LL/A 24 Inch iMac - With a huge 24" widescreen LCD monitor, this iMac is the biggest yet from Apple. Compared to the previous 20" model, the 24" LCD is 40% brighter and provides 30% more screen real estate. Powering this iMac is an Intel Core 2 Duo Processor, which gives you up to 50% faster performance over the previous 20" model. You also get Apple iLife. A suite of Apple designed applications that has everything for, well, your life - your digital life that is. Seamlessly integrated with the Mac OS X v10.4 Tiger operating system, it lets you easily edit, share, and store your digital photos; play, edit, and create both audio and video, including your own DVD movies. 250GB SATA 7200 RPM Hard Drive Slot-Loading SuperDrive - (write speeds) up to 2.4x DL DVD+R, 8x DVD-R, 8x DVD+R, 4x DVD-RW, 4x DVD+RW, 24x CD-R, & 16x CD-RW Slot-Loading SuperDrive - (read speeds) up to 8x DVD-ROM & 24x CD-ROM 24 Widescreen LCD Native Resolution - 1920 x 1200 Built-in iSight Built-in 802.11g Wi-Fi Wireless Network Adapter Built-in Bluetooth 2.0+EDR (Enhanced Data Rate) module NVIDIA GeForce 7300GT with 128MB of GDDR3 of SDRAM Port - 10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet, 3 USB 2.0, 2 USB 1.1 (on keyboard), 1 FireWire 800, 1 FireWire 400, Optical Digital Audio/Headphone Out, Optical Digital Audio In/Audio Line-In, Mini-DVI Out with support for DVI, VGA, S-Video, & Composite Video via optional adapter Built-in Stereo Speakers Built-in Microphone Built-in IR Receiver Unit Weight - 25 lbs.
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 To those reading the JAEWOOK KIM review |
| Review Date: September 21, 2006 |
| Reviewer: H. Huddleston, Houston, Tx |
First and foremost, I was a lifetime WINTEL user (engineering industry) and switched to OSX in 2001 while attending graduate professional school. After recognizing a few initial differences, I adjusted (and embraced) them and now work 2 or 3 times faster using my Macs than I ever did using a Windows machine.
Next, in response to JAEWOO's comments: He claims that the OS-X "Crashes" frequently. Is he talking about OS-X crashing frequently OR is he talking about applications crashing? With OS-X, applications can crash... it's ordinary... These things happen. HOWEVER, in sharp contrast to Windows, these crashes are limited to the applications, and the operating system and (most importantly) OTHER applications are not affected. In windows you can get the blue screen of death when an application fails. Under OSX, you can continue using other unaffected programs. This is a BIG distinction. If my MP3 player crashes in Windows XP, I may lose some work that I'm doing in MS Word. however, in OSX, if my MP3 player crashes, I don't lose anything.
It would be impossible for Apple (or any developer) to promise that no application would crash on their OS.
Regarding memory, the iMacs are limited to 3GB because of a limitation of the Intel chipset. Windows machines running the same chipsets are also limited. From what I've heard, you can stick 4 GB in there, but only 3 will be recognized. Again, this is clearly listed in the specifications, so if you need more RAM, get a "professional" machine not a consumer machine. Who needs more than 3GB or RAM for a consumer machine?
Ripping on the apple keyboard because the cord is only 18 inches long is retarded. If you want to sit across the room with the KB on your lap, get an extension cable (or the bluetooth KB and mouse). The Apple keyboards are some of the finest keyboards made. Their tactile response and feel is second to none. Even their Laptop keyboards are fantastic. I'll admit that their mice are strange, but when was the last time you bought a PC and were happy with the mouse? I've always been a big fan of Logitech optical cordless mice anyway
Gaming... if you buy a mac for hard core gaming... you're a fool. If you want to game, buy a console or a windows box.
Drivers for peripherals? The funny thing is, if the peripheral is supported by OSX, the drivers are (95% of the time) included and built in. however, many manufacturers insist on only supporting Windows. That's just the way it is... do some proper shopping and get compatible stuff. Since Macs have long dominated the desktop publishing and graphical industries, there are more than enough printers available. Don't go with a newcomer like samsung. Brother, HP, EPSON, and CANON all make excellent printers that work immediately upon plug-in. For example, my Brother printer (a 5070 with an ethernet connection, i believe) is immediately recognized and no setup was necessary... just plug it in, turn it on, and boom, print away.
Speakers on a all in one computer are weak? Say it ain't so? This one falls under "duh!" Of course they're weak... it's an all in one computer that's only one and a half inches thick. How much bass you think they're going to be able to pump out of a pizza box full of computer equipment? How happy would you be with those small crappy speakers they frequently attach to flat panel LCD screens? Probably not happy at all.
Finally... my favorite... "Apple's are more expensive" More expensive than what, $300 generic boxes with minimal features. Yeah, they're more expensive. however, when you make a legitimate 1 to 1 comparison with all features included, the price gap narrows significantly. Also, you must consider this, Apples retain value and windows boxes do not. I bought a flat-panel i-Mac in 2002 and paid $1900 for it. I sold it two and a half years later for $1375 on eBay. Go buy any XP box out there, use it for two and a half years, and see if you can sell it for 70% of what you paid for it. If you think this is an isolated point, i also just sold a two year old Powermac G5 for $1500 that I only paid $1999 for.
Furthermore, these new macs allow you to run windows natively on them. I just set up a 17" iMac for my wife's new law practice and using a program called Parallels Desktop, she runs the few law-specific Windows programs she needs without any problems. Many programs actually run faster in Parallels on a new iMac than they do on comparable non core duo XP machines. Very nice indeed.
I switched to OSX back in 2001 (version 10.0 beta) and haven't looked back since. |
24-inch iMac is fabulous
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| Review Date: September 22, 2006 |
| Reviewer: Dave Barnes, Denver, CO United States |
We took delivery of our new iMac (24-inch, 2.16 GHz, 2GB memory, 500 GB disk, GeForce 7600 video) on Monday.
1. Migrating from our "old" iMac (20-inch, 2.0 GHz G5) was trivial thanks to Migration Assistant. I think this feature of Macintoshes is so under appreciated. I have moved from one Windows machine to another on 3 occassions. The pain (re-installing all the applications) and time (8+ hours) involved is not a fond rememberence.
2. The size of screen is awesome. I have a 23-inch ACD connected to my Power Mac. Now, my business partner (and wife) has a bigger, brighter (much brighter) gorgeous screen.
3. It runs 15° C cooler than the older iMac. we have yet to hear the fan. This baby is quiet.
4. We installed Parallels to run SwishMax (for making Flash movies) under Windows 2000 and it works perfectly. The performance is equal to or faster than our 1.8 GHz Athlon machine. We have also installed WebTrends (for creating webserver activity reports) and it is 10+% faster on the iMac.
5. $2500 USD is a bargain for this machine. Big screen and fast processor.
6. Photoshop is slower (1/2 the speed compared with the G5 iMac), but we don't work on really large files so it is not that bothersome.
7. Word is slower, but you can't really tell unless you run an extensive test.
This is a 5-star machine.
,dave
P.S. It prints to our Samsung CLP-500N color laser printer perfectly. All the extra features of the Samsung printer (e.g., duplex) are available. |
Fast, Quiet and Beautiful
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| Review Date: December 18, 2006 |
| Reviewer: Mossberg500, Southern Appalachia |
This is my 12th Mac in 22 years of owning Macintosh computers, and it has to be the most beautiful design so far. This 24" iMac replaced a hot and noisy 2.3Ghz G5 MP Tower and older style ADC 23" monitor. I don't think I will ever go back to a tower model again. The core2duo also runs very cool.
The iMac screen is much brighter, the whites are truely white, and the system runs totally silent. It's also faster in the benchmarks that I have run compared to the 2.3GHz MP G5 tower. 24" is slightly larger than 23", so you get 92 dpi instead of 96 dpi, making text slightly larger and easier to read. Monitor resolution is 1920x1200.
Photoshop CS3 (beta) flys on this system. Load times are 10 seconds compared to 23 seconds on the G5. About 95% of my software is already Universal Binary, so this has been a very move from PPC to Intel software.
This computer is excellent for watching DVD's on, and with M-Audio's USB-Fiber Optic adapter, you can pull Digital Dolby 5.1 sound off the movies to your stereo, or connect a fiber optic cable directly to the iMac.
The new Mighty Mouse took a few days to get used to, but after a while, I found myself looking for the little scroll wheel on my other mouse.
I have 2 Gigs of RAM (recommended for power users) and the faster 7600GT video card (optional).
The 24" model adds pro features like Firewire 800 (super fast), 24W stereo amp with larger speakers, and an external monitor plug (just in case 24" isn't big enough).
Make sure you have a solid desk for this model, as it is fairly heavy, and will bounce around if you put it on a lightweight desk.
I would highly recommend this system to anyone with an older tower model. |
all I can say is WOW
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| Review Date: December 13, 2006 |
| Reviewer: C. leary, the Real World |
I have been a dyed in the wool PC modder/user for years. I have built and maintained my own high-performance PCs since my dad gave me a 486/66 back in the early nineties. My last PC was a tricked out P4 with ALL the best mods. dual SLI, water-cooled, etc..the works.
But it still was: unreliable, noisy, inconsistent, tedious to tweak and repair.
I went to an apple store recently and played with a 24" iMac w/ the dual core 2 duo chip.
I was totally hooked by the elegant styling, amazing OS, and sheer performance of this beast. It's silent, fast, efficient, powerful...
PC go bye bye. This is the computer for computer people. AND non computer people.
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Almost perfect.
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| Review Date: March 14, 2007 |
| Reviewer: Maine Writer, Maine, USA |
Extremely fast, quiet (virtually silent), plenty of connection options (including FireWire 400, FireWire 800, and USB 2.0), elegantly designed. Overall, an absolute pleasure to use, and probably the best execution of the "all-in-one" concept, bar none. It's like a piece of art from starship Enterprise. Couple that with OS X, which does everything Windows does, but with greater ease and elegance. (Need proof of OS X's excellence? Try out Vista. Imitation, after all, is the sincerest form of flattery, right?)
Now, there are some problems.
First, there's a RAM limitation: only two slots. And the motherboard makes it so that the most RAM it will recognize is 3 GB -- even if you install two 2 GB sticks. How big a problem is that? It depends. I've never used a Mac with more than 3 GB of memory. OS X loves memory -- it makes for much peppier performance -- but I'm convinced that, after 2 GB, the returns diminish sharply. However, there are some applications that need lots of RAM -- particularly high end photo processing applications (Photoshop and Aperture, among others). If that's your bread and butter, you may want to think about a MacPro (a much more expensive beast).
Second, while the CPU and hard drive are replaceable, it requires major surgery to do so. The graphics card is apparently replaceable on the 24" iMac only. However, getting a replacement that fits the proprietary MMX slot is expected to be very difficult (as in close to impossible). Apple won't sell them separately.
Finally, this iMac is likely to be replaced fairly soon. The replacement is likely to lift the RAM limitation, and maybe sport a better, standard graphics card. (It'll be a while before a flash-based hard drive and touch screen enter the picture -- maybe 2008!)
One more thing ...
This screen is huge, and simply stunning. It's sharp and bright ... maybe too bright. You should really look at one in person since, for most human beings, the 20" iMac should be plenty big. |
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