Both systems have an integrated iSight VGA-resolution Web cam cleverly built into the bezels above their displays, so they’re
always pointed right at your face and ready for an A/V conference. Their light sensitivity is lower than average and their
focus is fixed, so the built-in iSight is outclassed by Apple’s add-on iSight, but the integration is a major plus. The slim
six-button infrared Apple Remote, included to drive Front Row, is a nice consumer grace note that third-party developers have
already adapted for use with presentations.
iMac, reborn
I haven’t much to say about iMac; it’s peerless. iMac surpasses PC desktops’ best of breed by establishing a much nobler breed.
It’s a fast, power efficient, silent, one-piece desktop computer that requires only seven square inches of clear desk space
and virtually vanishes as soon as the display lights up.
Intel’s Core Duo and ATI’s Radeon X1600 graphics make iMac Apple’s fastest-ever Mac for the money. In my experience, while
running 32-bit, CPU-native apps, it’s outperformed only by dual-CPU or quad-core 64-bit Power Mac G5 and Xserve.
iMac looks like a kiosk -- no buttons, trays, or protrusions. The motherboard, peripherals, power supply, display and speakers
are cocooned in an indestructible polycarbonate enclosure. Cables plug in at the rear and vanish. If you use a Bluetooth keyboard
and mouse, only the power cord remains, and even that shares the overall sleek design. This machine is front office material
when viewed from any angle.
The Intel-based iMac is impossibly energy- and space-efficient, giving far more than it takes in both regards. Pushed to the
performance red line and with the monitor cranked to full brightness, iMac never consumed more than 95 watts of power -- one-third
to half what a comparable desktop with a high-quality 20-inch LCD panel would use.
The notebook-sized energy appetite does not subject users to notebook limitations, however. No notebook has anywhere near
the display size and brightness, the disk capacity and speed, and the consistently high CPU performance of iMac. Most professional
PC desktop users would consider iMac an upgrade in all regards.
iMac’s display is stunning, the finest I’ve seen and the rival or equal of Apple’s Cinema Displays. The bright backlight is
impossibly even, with no falloff in the corners or at the edges. Even at maximum brightness, colors do not wash out, blacks
don’t turn gray, and text is never anything but tack-sharp down to small point sizes. In a commercial setting, iMac banishes
eye fatigue and never needs its resolution dialed down. In a machine loaded with best features, iMac’s display is the best
of all.
iMac’s $1,299 and $1,699 (17- and 20-inch displays, respectively) retail price invites criticism, but when a PC is built out
to match iMac’s specifications -- the 20-inch display alone finds its equal only at $700 and above -- iMac’s price is competitive.
The overall design shows the box-and-monitor desktop to be the uninspired throwback to the 70s that it is. Knock-offs will
abound before long, and will come to outnumber the tired two-piece standard, but I’m confident that Apple will keep iMac in
front.
MacBook Pro: room to grow
I was originally set to lambaste MacBook Pro for its flaws. The release of a new cut of OS X, however, along with a firmware
update received just a week before this review filed, seem to have addressed the showstopper stability issues I encountered.
The machine that frustrated the hell out of me for five weeks became a welcome, albeit flawed, companion in the final week.
E-mail
Printer Friendly
Reprints
(InfoWorld) - In the litigious world we live in, deploying a unified communications platform in your enterprise could...
