If you’re a ‘switcher’, a long-time Macintosh user, or completely new to computers there’s a lot of options out there to consider when choosing an Apple computer for your next purchase. Like buying a car, you’ll want to choose something that gives you the most bang for your buck, something that’s fast and loaded with features; that will stay reliable and useful for as long as possible. Oh yeah, lets not forget that money doesn’t grow on trees, so you'll want to pick a computer that’s reasonably priced and won’t leave you feeling backed into a corner.
My choice for a great all around computer for work or play is the Apple iMac and here’s why.
A basic iMac configuration costs about $1199.00 direct from Apple’s online store, which should have enough horsepower to satisfy your web surfing, word processing, budgeting, and casual gaming. All iMac models available at the time of this writing come with a dual-layer DVD burner for home videos or data/backups, enough video RAM for most personal graphics needs, a large internal hard drive to store more of important data, and expandable system memory.
Your computer needs to be able to grow with you. What configurations and features are available on the iMac? Let’s take a look:
A built in glossy LCD display at 20” or 24”
Built in video camera
128Mb VRAM standard, up to 512Mb and your choice of three video card configurations +
External display support
250Gb hard drive standard, up to 1Tb of internal storage
An Intel Core 2 Duo processor with your choice of 2.4GHz, 2.66GHz, 2.8GHz, or 3.06GHz speeds
Built in Airport Exreme (802.11n)
Built in Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR
Built in IR receiver and remote control
Built in ethernet 10/100/1000
8x double-layer SuperDrive
3 USB 2.0 ports on the computer and 2 more on the keyboard
1 Firewire 400 port
1 Firewire 800 port
1 mini DVI video output with support for 1920x1200 digital or 2048x1536 analog
and Optical digital audio out/headphone & Optical digital audio in/audio line in.
Apple bundles with each iMac a copy of their iLife software to help you compose music, manage your photos, edit your home videos and burn them to a DVD with a professional looking polish, and use iWeb to quickly and easily get your work posted to your own .Mac and soon to be .Me web site. Not enough value for you? The hidden miracle in Apple’s newest computers are their Intel processors. Not only are they blazingly fast but they also offer another benefit -- the ability to run Windows XP or Windows Vista and all of the applications available to them. You not only have the option to start your computer in Mac OS X or the Windows OS version of your choice, but you can also leverage the virtualization capabilities of the Intel chip to run both operating systems at the same time! Okay, breathe..
If Apple’s hardware and software capabilities and sleek good looks didn’t convince you that the iMac a great deal, consider that you also get a speedy XP or Vista-capable computer. You can run Microsoft Office 2007 with ease or in your downtime fire up your favorite PC-only game without a loss in performance. The iMac is really two computers in one.