My Mac "Experience" So Far

Update: Now that I've had more time to use this device, I'm even more impressed. I'll also talk about features available on the new iMac

The first point I'd like to make is this. Why would I, an IT professional, of the "PC" generation buy a Mac? Good question, and if someone told me even a month ago I would own a Mac I'd have laughed and dismissed them.

So what happend? I bought an iPod in Sept 2005, my first Apple purchase ever, you can read my review if you'd like. But suffice to say, I was shocked at its practical and simple design, and it's ease of use.

Our PC of 5 years started to have various HW failures, I decided it was time for a new PC. But, instead of buying by brand loyalty or price, I sat back and decided what my family really need a computer for in the first place.

Well we need a home computer to do email, photos, music, and internet. And if I'm honest we done a few things with Quicken, and some video editing. Then I thought about all the things my wife asks me to do because she doesn't know how to do that function. Getting photo's off the camera and uploading them to our Yahoo photo account is a big one.

I went to the Apple retail store near us, buying an accessory for my iPod, while there, I looked at the iMac. First the look was amazing, designed for looks as well as function. When the sales person asked me if I needed any information, I said no, not really. Then I asked him. "Who would buy a Mac in this PC World?" I said "there isn't a lot of Software for the Mac." He disagreed with my assessment about the software, but conceded the point for sake of argument. He asked me of all the software that I knew didn't run on Mac, how much was on the PC I currently used. (Answer: None) He asked me how much of that software did I plan to use in the future? (Answer: None) So trying to get around my biases, I thought long and hard and decided I'd give it a chance. There is a 14 day trial window (minus a hefty 10% restocking fee) but I took my chances.

I bought the iMac G5 17" with SuperDrive and a bluetooth mouse and keyboard. I was shocked that there was only one box, and it had a "Suitcase Handle" for carrying. So with one hand I brought it to my car. When I got it home I noted the time. I cut the seal on the box, pluged in just the POWER cable and turned it on. 5 MINUTES laster I was surfing the web and getting email ONE PLUG!!! (note I have a wireless router in my home). I'm still in shock about it's simplicity. Everything is simple to use, intuitive and rock solid.

UPDATED:

Out of the box, the iMac all you will need to get started. First is the iLife software suite. iLife is a group of application that do the things that will all do on our home computers or wish we could.
iLife includes, iPhoto, iMovie HD, iDVD and the awesome iTunes. There is NO additional cost for this suite. I'll explain each below.
iPhoto: This is basically you photo album on you Mac. All photo are loaded into the iPhoto library. Once there, you can sort them by date, size, name etc. There are also tools that will allow you to group them by month, called calendar view. But if you want to get even more from iPhoto, SMART FOLDERS are a key. For example if I wanted to group all the photos from my sons birthday, I could created a folder that included all photos taken on 7/23 and call it "Birthday Party" for example. The other key thing is that these "folders" are just ways to look at the iPhoto library, they are not actually MOVED to these folders, which means that you can always view the entire library if you wanted to do so. Also within each view whether it be a "folder" or the main library there are buttons that are very self explainitory, such as "Rotate Photo", "Slideshow" (this will create a slide show of the photos you selected and give you the option of adding music, sound effects and cool slide transitions). Also at the bottom is EDIT which allows you to fix red-eye, crop photos or enhance the color, or choose B & W and Cepia effects. The other two features within each view on iPhoto is Homepage, and Order Prints. Homepage will create a web page from the selected photos and allow you to choose from nearly a dozen template (looks), and if you have a .Mac account you can actually publish to your very own website. .Mac is an annual subscription of $100, you get $30 off your first year if you buy a Mac., but you have to purchase both together to get the discount. I highly recommend it. When you click on purchase photos it brings you into an application that allows you to order photos from Kodak at industry standard prices. Oh, one more thing I forgot about iPhoto, the email button. After selecting photos, simply press the EMAIL button, and it will ask you whether you want full-size or various reductions in size from the original to keep the email smaller, the lauches iMail with the photos already attached. Simple address and send. No more attaching photos while struggling to remember which folder you put them in.

iMovie is a great application for those with a digital camcorder. Digital camcorders have a Mini-DV or DV8 format check your tapes to see if your camera is compatible, most are now. Simply connect the fireware cable that came with your camera to the integrated Firewire card in the back of your iMac. You then start iMovie. It will ask whether you want to use a existing movie, or a NEW MOVIE, or Make a Magic Movie. Magic Movie will import you movie, break it into scenes, add titles and transitons all by itself. If you want to have more control you can do it manually. Adding fancy transitions, titles, music, sound effects, etc. You can even separate the video and the audio tracks. I had footage that was visually useless but the audio was great, I stripped off the audio, and inserted a slideshow of photos into the iMovie and used the audio to accompany the slideshow. Once finished you can SHARE you iMovie in Quicktime format in email, or publish it to you .Mac homepage. You can also send the finished iMovie to iDVD.

iDVD will allow you to add fancy menu's (lots to choose from or create them from scratch) as well as music to your menues, and burn to a DVD to send to friends and family. I did this just once and people thought we had it done professionally. Very good apps. each to use. You can even add slide shows from iPhoto to the menu choices too.

iTunes: This is included but not exclusive to the iMac or even the Mac in runs on PC's too, but it is a cool music manager. It's part music library, part website. Both parts work well. On the library side, it searches your hardrive for music, and creates a consolidated library (with or without actually moving the music files from their original location, your choice). You can then create smart folders simililar to iPhoto. You can create playlists too. Then you enter the Music Store, this is more like a website where you can browse the entire iTunes library, and either BUY or GIFT (new in ver. 6). There is also a section with suggestions on music you may like. Also new to version 6 is Video.

When I bought the my iMac I knew a newer version was coming but got a discount on the older model. All of this review is relevent to the new iMac too. However, the new iMac has an integrated web cam called iSight, and a few cool applications, one is called Photobooth which allows you to take pictures of your self and add effects. The other is called Front Row which turns your iMac into an entertainment center, controled by a simple 6-button remote. This entertainment center, is for Photos, DVDs, iMovies, and iTunes music, plus a few other features. Very cool enhancements, in a slightly thinner form factor.

I've been a pc user since before window, and I've used Window 3.1 thru XP as well as DOS, OS/2 and LINUX. This Mac is now my favorite and I'm telling my parents and inlaws to go buy one when they're ready to replace their PC. I show them that I could organize my photos and put them on the web with a few clicks (really nearly 5). They tell me "we don't do that kind of stuff on our computer" I said you WOULD if you had the iMac!!

I can sum up Mac's compatibility in one phrase. "It's compatibly with my life". Great product, I'll not likely buy a PC for personal use again.