Apple's New iMacs--Stunning Products

I've been franklynkly critical of Apple in my blog over the last year. Before Apple began shipping Intel-based iMacs and MacBooks, I thought that Apple had been consumed by iPod madness. Also, I'm not a fan of the MacBook Pro (specifically, its one of the hottest notebooks I've ever used and I believe its WiFi implementation isn't least par with the three or four other notebooks I keep on hand as reference systems).

Accordingly, I panned the MacBook Pro and promptly got flamed. It’s not the first time this has happened to me and for damn sure it’s not going to be the last.

So here's my secret: I’m a died-in-the-wool proponent of technology that makes computing more productive and much easier. So you see, I want Apple to succeed. In the words of Zepplin I want this to happen “Way Down Inside”

I actually have a whole lot of love for Apple. And at times I’ve staked my career on it. So have several of my best friends (including Jeffrey S. Young, author of two unauthorized biographies of Steve Jobs, Apple’s co-founder.).

It takes a lot to knock me off my feet, especially when if its something that comes from Apple Computer. Truth is, they’ve set the expectations bar so high that I look closely at the fine joints and points in all their technologies.

Guess what? Apple’s new 24, 20 and 17-inch-inch Intel Core Duo2 powered iMacs are great. And the 24-inch iMac knocks me out. It’s perhaps the finest Macintosh implementation I’ve ever seen. I love the all-in-one concept. I thought Osborne, Compaq and even Kay Pro were on to a great form factor more than 20 years ago and I recognized that Apple hit a bases-loaded grand slam when it launched the original and subsequent Macintoshes (the 512K and the Mac Plus). Back in the “day.” I thought all-in-one would rule but that Apple wasn’t doing a good job in hardware innovation. Recently, I had started feeling that way again.

I don’t feel that way today. The 24-inch iMac has more than enough performance, native functionality and sheer panache to unlock the creativity of a new generation of Steven Spielbergs, Fritz Langs and John Houstons and several dozen Georgia O’Keefes.

And know what? This, and the other new iMacs can do precisely that right out of the box. There’s nothing that even comes close to what Apple is delivering now in it’s new Imacs. This is a sad, damning, statement about PC makers stuck with traditional” designs.

Here’s a Christmas idea for those of you with film school students at NYU, UCLA, Figueroa Tech (otherwise known as USC) or elsewhere. Go to Apple.com and place an order right now for the iMac 24. Do it today. Your children may even forgive you for being their parents as soon as the box arrives in their apartment, dorm room, or next to their pallet at the solar- powered Ashram.

If it seems I’ve gone gaga over Apple’s iMac 24 cut me some slack. I’ve lived and covered technology long enough to recognize the birth of a landmark platform when I see it. iMac 24 is that and more. Also, I suspect it’s smaller 20-inch sibling has the same potential. At a buck less than $2,000 and $1,500, I’m pretty sure I know what I want for Christmas and my birthday. And I don’t have to buy new software for it. Furthermore, Apple also cut prices on its first generation Intel Core Duo iMacs.

I think I can throw away my bifocals now. Wait, maybe I can donate them to someone at Dell, Compaq, or HP. They’re gonna need them to look closely at their market share reports, now that Apple is back in desktop hardware with fiery vengeance. Or so it looks to me —Jim Forbes, from rural northern San Diego County, writing on what could be my last desktop from one of the traditional suppliers. (09/11/2006)