In the last topic I can't decide which computer to get.  So I figured the best way to decide is to try them both, and with the help of Dell and Apple, I manage to have both a 27” iMac i7 Quad and a Dell 8100 i5 Duo with a 27” monitor delivered to my home-office.

Apple notifies me that my iMac has been shipped, and using the tracking number, I watch the iMac travel from its birth-factory in China to the west Coast and then by truck to New York City.  It arrives, and as I open the box my first reaction is, “Wow, it’s big!” 

I remove the nicely fitted Styrofoam packing to reveal an all-in-one 25.5” by 15.5” shiny black glass monolith seamlessly attached to 2.5” brushed aluminum bottom supported by a flat, non-swivel brushed aluminum foot.  A built in camera capable of 1280 x 1024 pixels looks out at me, and I imagine we can communicate through it’s built in microphone and stereo speakers.  I insert the white power cord plug like an umbilical cord that connects neatly to a huge belly button -- only in the rear.   I am thinking 2001 Space Odyssey; I am ready to see an image of a human embryo when I turn it on!

But before powering up, I have promised myself to clean my very messy desk in order to carve out a space for the iMac.  My old Dell is surrounded by piles of bills, magazines, and who-knows-what combined with a tangle of wires snaking up from another tangle of wires underneath my work area.  I manage to tame the paper monster and now move the iMac to its new home, facing away from the window to minimize the glare on its glossy screen. 

I turn it on and am not greeted by an alien, but by the familiar Apple chime and an Aurora desktop waiting be configured.

Keyboard and Mouse

If I had gone with the default small wireless keyboard, I could continue the perfect uncluttered look.  However, I opted to substitute it with a full size keyboard with a number keypad and two USB ports.  The keyboard is aluminum with white keys and is quite thin, perfectly rectangle with a white wired USB connection plugging into the back of the iMac.  I'm thinking. 'why doesn’t apple have full size remote keyboard?'  Then it occurs to me, maybe wireless wouldn't work with the two extra USB ports, and they are really handy because you don't have to reach behind the iMac to plug in a USB accessory.

The wireless Bluetooth Magic Mouse is, well, cute.  A white glass top and aluminum bottom is sleek.  There are no wheels or buttons to click – click the whole mouse. On the bottom of the mouse are two hard plastic sliders, and a little heft is the result of 2 AA batteries.  It is very sensuous and sleek.  It function like this:

My initial experience with the Magic Mouse is mixed.  My point of comparison is a Logitech MX with many buttons and wheels, and what might be called an ergonomic design.  Here’s a side by side comparison.   A good comparison between the two on YouTube is found here: Magic Mouse vs. Logitech MX.

At first the Magic Mouse’s control of the curser is a little sluggish, but this cured when I change the settings.  Scrolling by moving your finger up and down over the white glass mouse feels nice, but it is less precise than a wheel.  Settings and sensitivity are easy to change.

Apple was probably inspired by its Macbook’s touchpads in creating this mouse.  But the finger touching features on the mouse are limited and do not include my favorite controls where you pinch your figure to increase resolution and make content smaller and pull them apart to decrease resolution and make content bigger.  It turns out there is a fee download to allow the magic mouse respond to pinches and other touchpad like things (http://magicprefs.com).  Unfortunately the software that manages features like tapping, swipes and pinching take some practice to master and seem to activate when you don’t want them to.

At first blush my feeling is that that Apple has sacrificed function for form.  I can see great potential for the Magic Mouse like that offered in MagicPref, but for me, it is a little too erratic right now.  Overall, I love the look, but if I were buying the computer today, I think I would choose the new Magic Trackpad.

Ports

Probably to maintain the sleek uncluttered look, the other ports, nicely labeled, are at the back bottom right (looking through the screen), or bottom left looking at the back.  For PC users the Ethernet, four 2.0 USB ports, headphone and audio out are familiar.  Then there is the Mini DisplayPort and Firewire 800 port. 

The Mini DisplayPort is a miniaturized version of the DisplayPort – unique to previous Macs.  It drives resolutions up to 2560 x 1600 that is often used with big displays.  There are adopters for VGA, DVI, and HDMI interfaces.  However adopters tend to be costly and there are reported problems.  There is a good discussion about the Mini DisplayPort at Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mini_displayport).

The Firewire 800, is Apple's name for IEEE 1394 High Speed Serial Bus, which is also known as the i-Link that may be on your Sony video camera.  It transfers data faster that USB 2.0 but not as fast USB 3.0 or the eSata -- like the one found on the Dell 8100. 

DVD and Card Reader

On the right side of the iMac are two slots a SuperDrive for CDs and DVDs and one for SD (secure digital) Card. 

Cards that conform to the SD 1.x and 2.x standards should work.  The SD card slot can use cards that are Standard SD (Secure Digital) 4 MB to 4 GB and Secure Digital High Capacity 4 GB to 32 GB.  MMC can also be used in this slot.  MiniSD, MicroSD, and higher density formats like MiniSDHC and MicroSDHC can also work with the use of "passive" adapters.

The SuperDrive can read CD-ROM, photo CD, audio, and DVD discs. It can write to CD-R, CD-RW, DVD±R, DVD±RW, and DVD±R Double-Layer (DL) discs.  The one design flaw is that the aluminum edges to the SuperDrive are sharp and you have to be very cautious when inserting and moving CDs and DVDs to avoid scratching them.  It would be nice if Apple had a plastic coating on those edges!

OS-X - Finder

I turn The computer came with OS 10.6.  My first impression is that I like Finder.  It is more intuitive than the interface for finding folders and files on XP.  The search feature soars.   I am not a great fan of the icon view, but the little slider on the bottom of the screen makes it usable for pictures and some pdf.  The list view has a number of options for different file attributes.  The column view is great – the only disadvantage is the sort order, but that can be modified.

Next I want to set up my email.  But already the day is taking shape.

Daily Grind

I need to make breakfast for the family, get my son off to school and check and on the location of a  Lego kit I ordered which, he says, must be here for his overnight birthday party.  The iMac did immediately connect to the web so finding the tracking number and confirm it was delivered to the doorman.  Only it was not here.  My 10 year old is throwing a fit, and when check back with the doorman and tell him it was delivered he finds it in the delivery bin of another Cohen in the building.  We can pick it up -- disaster averted!

I’m back from dropping my son at school and ready to get my email working and network connected.  Then my partner calls, he lost his subway card.  Ok, I’ll go out and retrace his route to see if I can find it. 

Now I’m late for going to my mother-in-laws to fix a printing problem.  So it looks like I’ll be back to set up the iMac tomorrow.

My first hands-on iMac impression is that I have a stylish and sleek machine.  The keyboard and mouse while sleek and modern, sacrificed some function for form

Next - Configuring Daily Functions.