Sexy new Computers from Apple

[Rexxy]

From a design that mimics the iPod.

The CPU is built into the monitor.

Great idea. Practical and elegant. i give it 6 months and IBM et al will do the same

http://www.apple.com/imac/

 

[MILLWALL]

Looks too plain

 

[SpaceMonkey]

Great idea. Practical and elegant. i give it 6 months and IBM et al will do the same

IBM are largely irrelevant in the PC market these days.
The new iMac is a great design and will be popular I'm sure, but it's not simply a matter of PC maufacturers needing to copy Apple's design. It's one thing copying the basic concept (which isn't all that revolutionary) it's another doing it well; the amount of engineering required to get a design such as the new iMac to run quietly without overheating is pretty significant. It wouldn't be too easy to do the same thing with the current Pentium 4 or Athlon64 chips.
There is also the fact that not everybody wants a computer with the monitor built into it, as if you buy a good monitor it will still be perfectly good by the time the rest of your system is ready for an upgrade. There is speculation that Apple have another new "headless" design in the pipeline targetted at precisely that market.

 

[Misanthrope]

If they weren't so damn expensive, I'd go back to Mac. I had one from 1992 until earlier this year, when I found a decent PC for $450. To get a decent Mac it's closer to $3000.

 

[fat_mike]

i hate mac's. got an imac at the moment and am looking to get rid of it. great looking designs but i hate using them.

 

[half]

macs are the ultimate computers for net browsing and the like

i want one sooo much

 

[SpaceMonkey]

If they weren't so damn expensive, I'd go back to Mac. I had one from 1992 until earlier this year, when I found a decent PC for $450. To get a decent Mac it's closer to $3000.

A decent PC for $450? You mind get a cheap-ass PC with no monitor and operating system for that but no way you'll get a decent machine. Apple could conceivably build macs that were a lot cheaper but they'd end up with the same shitty quality hardware as budget PCs if they did. I guess there are arguments for doing it (increased sales at the low end of the market) but their image would suffer big time.

 

[astrogirl]

The Apples really are sexy!

My sis got a laptop in that style and it's the sexiest laptop I've ever seen! Pity I prefer PCs...

 

[xwizit]

macs suck. theyre designs are ok.

 

[Alex28]

i will never, ever go back to having a windows based computer at home. i have no choice at work unfortunately.

i got my 14" iBook G4 for $2K. you would struggle to find a decent windows equivalent for that.

it also has the added bonus that you dont have to put up with windows

 

[astrogirl]

Is there anything that a PC can do that a Mac can't?

What are the pros and cons of each? I have no idea, as I am technologically inept. But I am kind of considering getting a laptop.

Don't worry, I would bring a knowledgable friend with me if I decided to get one!!!

 

[sunny]

Macs are pathetic. Whatever faults you may see with PCs, I find Macs horribly user unfriendly and too artsy fartsy. Apple have just completely gone off the deep end, their computers are just an extended footnote of the computer industry to me these days.

 

[half]

sunny, if you went from using a mac for years to using a pc, you may find it just as confusing

 

[SpaceMonkey]

Is there anything that a PC can do that a Mac can't?

What are the pros and cons of each? I have no idea, as I am technologically inept. But I am kind of considering getting a laptop.

Don't worry, I would bring a knowledgable friend with me if I decided to get one!!!

As a general rule you can do much the same stuff on either Macs or Windows PCs as most of the major peices of software people use have versions for both.
Mac are generally more stable and suffer less problems with software crashing or not being compatible with the hardware, this is because Apple make both the operating system and the hardware so the two are designed to work perfectly together. PCs on the other hand can use a wide variety of different components and require different drivers to get the various bits of hardware to work with Windows which can create problems although it's not much of an issue if they are set up properly.
Windows also suffers from far more security problems with viruses and malicious code.
However because PCs are manufactured by a huge variety ofdiferent companies as opposed to one (Apple) with Macs, PCs are significantly cheaper, and there are more different upgrades available for them.

 

[Alex28]

Well...both run Office which is big for me work wise. OS X is an awful lot more stable than Windows - also updates of OS X dont screw up the use of every other program on your computer (like the recent XP update). The G4 unit in my iBook runs quicker than the P4 in my work computer.

Safari has it all over IE - it has some brilliantly simple ideas that I am amazed Microsoft couldn't come up with. Mail is a heap better than OE as well. iTunes is a brilliant music player - burn CD's by pressing 2 buttons! The whole iLife package is amazing. You can still get Windows Media Player for mac.

The only things I have had difficulty with is Messenger for Mac has sucked to use up to the last update, and now it is much more stable (I blame Microsoft, not Apple for that), and I was not able to use etax for my tax this year.

How has Apple lost the plot? They make much better computers than any of the windows operators, They have made two of the best computer inventions over the last few years in the iPod (will change the way people listen to music forever) and the Airport (particularly now Airport Express), and now with the G5 iMac, will change the way a desktop computer looks forever (if the others can figure out how they can do what Apple has with their gear).

Anybody who doesn't like Apples, are either biased, or haven't used one since the Apple II at school.

 

[Martli]

Where's the keyboard and mouse?

 

[half]

ta da

 

[astrogirl]

Thanks guys

Now, does anyone have a pro-PC argument?

 

[SpaceMonkey]

Where's the keyboard and mouse?

you connect them up as normal via the usb ports on the back of the iMac (you can plug the mouse either into the keyboard or straight into the Mac) or you put a bluetooth card in the iMac and run the omouse/keyboard wirelessly. If there is one criticism I'd level at this new machine is that bluetooth and wi-fi should have been standard features on all except the entry level machines.

 

[SpaceMonkey]

Thanks guys

Now, does anyone have a pro-PC argument?

PCs are quite a bit cheaper, and if you're into tinkering around and adding stuff to your computer much more customisable. And they're better for games simply because there are a lot more games available for the PC than the Mac, although most of the biggest titles come out for the Mac too these days.