14 DAY TRIAL // Last week Paul Thurrott received his new Intel iMac, and he wrote his first impressions on it, which were quite positive. This week, after spending some time with his new toy, Thurrott writes a more detailed report on his impressions and opinions for Connected Home Media.
"I've been using a new Intel-based Apple iMac since last week. I had been curious to see how the machine would compare to its predecessors, and I'm happy to say that the news is mostly quite good. Encased in the same case as its predecessor, the 20" widescreen iMac looks almost identical to the iMac G5 it replaces, albeit with one new exterior addition: a mini-DVI-out port, which, when combined with an external display, lets you extend the Mac desktop to two screens. Inside, of course, the iMac is all new, with an Intel Core Duo processor, and Intel-based versions of Mac OS X 10.4.4, Front Row, and iLife '06. In day-to-day use, the iMac is virtually indistinguishable from its predecessor: The performance is snappy, especially in the Finder, the bundled applications, and iLife."
Of the problems Thurrott warns potential buyers of, everything begins and ends with the transition. Firstly, the new Intel machines will no longer run Classic applications, and this is not going to change. No big news there, Apple was quite clear on the matter. However, the Classic has been discontinued for some time now, and ever since OS X was introduced, more than half a decade ago, it has been slowly falling into oblivion, so this should not be a problem to anyone except maybe a handful of people.
The second issue raised is that of native applications and Universal Binaries. Many of the high-end applications are not yet available in native versions, some of them not even running under emulation. While this is indeed an issue of sorts, it is important to remember that the iMac is an entry level computer, and is intended for the home user. High-end applications would require the high end hardware, the Intel based equivalent of the PowerMac G5, which has not yet been released. Sure, you can use the software on just about any machine, but in order to actually be productive with it, you need some serious heavy lifting. The iMac was not designed for that.
The third issue is that of gaming. Namely, the games are slow when running emulated. A big 'no duh' there, of course they are, however, as Thurrott points out, the developers are working on patches that will allow for native performance, which will yield a significant boost over the native performance on the old versions of the hardware.
All things taken into consideration, Paul Thurrott thinks quite highly of the new iMac: "Like its predecessor, the new iMac is available in 17" and 21" variants, at prices of $1299 and $1699, respectively. Those prices might seem a bit high compared to similar PCs, but remember that they include the roomy displays and a number of features that most PCs don't include, such as FireWire, an 8X dual-layer DVD burner, an integrated VGA-quality Web camera, a remote control, and, of course, iLife '06. A fully equipped iMac can set you back north of $2000, but don't be misled: This is a high-quality machine with legs for the future. I highly recommend it, especially if you don't mind living on the edge for the next few months."