Apple iMac DV Indigo 15 in. (M7639LL/A) Mac Desktop
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- Form Factor: All-in-one
- Operating System: Apple MacOS 9
- HDD Size: 10 GB
- Installed Memory: 64 MB (SDRAM)
- Display: 15 in.
- Processor: PowerPC G3 400 MHz
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Evolutionary, Not Revolutionary
Pros
Generous Amount of RAM, Lots more HD space, faster, CD-RW, good software package, OS X
Cons
Aging form factor, relatively small screen, aging video chipset, lack of DVD-ROM
Recommended it?
Yes
The Bottom Line:
Though the design hasn't changed in years, it remains a good value and finally gives enough hard disk space for iMovies. CD-RW is useful. Still great for new users.
The iMac is a revolutionary, award winning computer design that is easy to set up and easy on the eyes as well? at least it was 2 years ago when the exact same egg-shaped design was introduced! When Steve Jobs introduced the "new" iMac in the middle of July 2001, it felt like deja vu over again (and again). Just 6 months ago he introduced the same shaped machines with funky colors. And just 6 months before that, he introduced the same shaped machines with the same colors as they are now. And just 9 months before that he introduced the same shaped machines in candy colors. What's going on here? Are these machines really "new?"
The fact is that the new revision of iMac is almost exactly the same as the previous revision of iMac and has exactly the same case as the 4 revisions of iMac. The new ones have faster processors, more hard disk space, new prices, and new (old) colors, but that's about it. A little bit depressing, isn't it? A lot of people were expecting a radical new iMac with a flat panel LCD display this July, but it just didn't happen. So we're stuck with this old machine right? Despite its old design, however, the iMac is a good value. Though it is not as hot and sexy as it was the FIRST time we laid eyes on it, the new iMac is still a good machine that you can settle down with happily.
The Specs
I'll get the boring stuff out of the way right away. So what's been updated in this iMac?
*prices: $999, $1299, and $1499 respectively
*Faster Processor - the iMacs now sport 500, 600, and the brand new 700 mhz G3 processors. Though these new iMacs won't deliver supercomputer class performance like any of the G4 computers, a 700 Mhz G3 is still plenty zippy for everyday use.
*More RAM - The new iMacs have loads of RAM compared to what they shipped with just last year. The low end ships with 128 MB of RAM. The mid and high end iMacs ship with 256 MB of RAM. RAM makes it possible to run more than one program at the same time efficiently, and the extra RAM on the high-end models will be especially appreciated in OS X, which is a real RAM guzzler.
*Bigger Hard drives - The new iMac starts with 20 GB in the low end. 40 in the mid range, and 60 in the high end. This is a very comfortable amount of space to store your files and especially those huge iMovies that we're all making now.
*Video card - Instead of the 8MB ATI Rage 128 Pro that came in all models of iMacs last year, all these 2001 models come with 16 MB ATI Rage 128 Ultras. The chipset is basically the same, and there is only a marginal increase in performance. Performance is fair to decent. Games like Quake III run okay, but don't expect performance like you'd get out of a high end G4 with a Geforce 3 card.
*CD-RW. All of these iMacs have built in slot loading CD-RW drives for burning data and audio CDs. More on that later. However, the ability to watch DVD movies is lost.
And the nitty-gritty:
Same 15" screen. It looked pretty good 2 years ago, but its getting a little sad
2 Firewire ports standard for connecting to external hard drives and camcorders
2 USB ports standard for connecting to peripherals
56K modem standard for dialing up to the internet
10/100 Base T Ethernet port standard, for connecting to high speed Cable, DSL, or network internet lines.
VGA port that allows the same image on the iMac screen to be mirrored to any external monitor.
Airport wireless antennas- just like before, all the new iMacs are Airport (802.11) ready with a simple card that you slip in. Easy to surf the web without stringing cables across your house to your study.
A Word on the Colors
The "new" colors are really just three recycled colors from the iMac's past. Graphite, which has been around since the very beginning, is available on the mid-range and high-end models. Indigo, probably everyone's favorite color, is available on the low-end iMac. Snow, which had a short hiatus, is now back in every model of iMac.
Apple did a bit of experimentation early this year with the colors Blue Dalmatian and Flower Power. They had very mixed reaction and a lot of people asked what was Apple taking when they thought up those two colors. Those two funky colors are gone in favor of the more conservative and popular colors, Indigo, Graphite, and Snow. Kinda boring, but at least people won't be bashing the strange hippie-colors of the iMac.
Burn, Baby, Burn!
All three models come with CD-RW built in. This enables the new iMac to make custom audio CDs with the included iTunes software along with using CD-Rs and CD-RWs as data storage.
**LISTEN UP!** I'd better not hear ANY more complaining that the Macintosh doesn't have a floppy drive! Floppies are LONG dead. Forget floppy drives. These Macs can burn CDs.
CD-R has become a fast, economical, and universal way to transport big or small files. Nearly EVERY computer can read them, and we've come to a point where the average 650 MB CD-R disc costs less than a 1.44 MB 3.5inch Floppy Disk at less than $0.20 for a 650 MB disc. You can store thousands of small text files, hundreds of images, and even videos and sound files on a CD, stuff you couldn't put on a floppy disk. All of the Mac desktops and most of the Mac laptops now have integrated CD-RWs, making it possible to write up to 700 MB of data on a CD-R once, or rewrite just like a regular hard disk, up to 1000 times on CD-RW discs.
In addition, Apple introduced a new utility called Disc Burner that is included with every iMac. All you need to do to burn your own data CD in the Finder is put the disc in your drive. Disc Burner will prompt you whether or not you want to prepare the disc, and it will put an icon of the disc on your desktop just like a regular disc. Then all you do is drag and drop your files right onto that folder like it was another hard disc, and select Burn from the Special menu. That's it.
With Apple's Disc Burner, its easier than using floppy discs, much faster, and gives you room to put thousands of text documents, images, videos, and sound files. So no more complaining about floppy disks!
"i" Applications
The iMac has always been known for its wonderful bundled iMovie 2 software for video editing. Now Apple has included iTunes, their wonderul software for managing your music.
iMovie runs better than ever on these new machines because they have a good amount of RAM. Also, the new 60 GB hard drives in the iMac is very good for iMovie enthusiasts out there who find themselves running out of room on their disk to put their movies. Just to give you an idea of how much video you can put on the new iMac, 1 hour of unedited video is approximately 13 GB. With the 60 GB hard drive, up to 5 hours of raw footage can be put on the iMac.
iTunes comes with the iMac and the simple music application is, in the Apple tradition, easy to use yet powerful. It integrates nicely with the CD-RW in each Mac, letting you Rip, Mix, and Burn your own custom audio CDs. With iTunes, you can manage, search through every MP3 on your hard drive, manage your portable MP3 player, and listen to internet radio on your iMac. Wonderful.
Other Software
The iMacs come with the latest version of Mac OS 9 as well as Mac OS X installed on its hard drive. It defaults to OS 9 right out of the box, but you can switch it to OS X easily through System Disk control panel. It comes with OS 9 and OS X compatible versions of iTunes and iMovie, as well as Appleworks 6. Internet Explorer for web, Outlook Express for email. Etc. For children and for kids-at-heart, the iMacs come with three games from Pangea software: Bugdom, Nanosaur, and the new Cro-Mag Rally. Fun Fun!
No Revolution, but who cares?
The iMac wasn't changed much, but the changes that did happen represent the evolution of the iMac. Just a year ago, the iMac shipped with a measly 64 MB of RAM and a small 10 GB hard drive. Now the iMac comes with 128 MB standard up to 256 on high-end, and up to 60 GB of hard disk space. iMovie is now a wonder on this machine with plenty of hard disk space, and memory is no longer skimpy. The CD-RW included in every model reflect Apple's new Digital Hub strategy where the computer becomes the center of your digital lifestyle? it can connect to and enhance many digital devices around you, from CD players, to MP3 players, to video camcorders, to the Internet. Sure the iMac is getting really old in its shell and things like the video card and the monitor are in desperate need of an upgrade (I really hope they get the flat panel LCD iMac in next time the upgrade it as well as a faster video card, the GeForce 2 MX). That still doesn't take away from the fact that the iMac is still one of the easiest ways to get on the internet, make movies, and now make your own audio CDs. For that, the iMac is still a workhorse.
The fact is that the new revision of iMac is almost exactly the same as the previous revision of iMac and has exactly the same case as the 4 revisions of iMac. The new ones have faster processors, more hard disk space, new prices, and new (old) colors, but that's about it. A little bit depressing, isn't it? A lot of people were expecting a radical new iMac with a flat panel LCD display this July, but it just didn't happen. So we're stuck with this old machine right? Despite its old design, however, the iMac is a good value. Though it is not as hot and sexy as it was the FIRST time we laid eyes on it, the new iMac is still a good machine that you can settle down with happily.
The Specs
I'll get the boring stuff out of the way right away. So what's been updated in this iMac?
*prices: $999, $1299, and $1499 respectively
*Faster Processor - the iMacs now sport 500, 600, and the brand new 700 mhz G3 processors. Though these new iMacs won't deliver supercomputer class performance like any of the G4 computers, a 700 Mhz G3 is still plenty zippy for everyday use.
*More RAM - The new iMacs have loads of RAM compared to what they shipped with just last year. The low end ships with 128 MB of RAM. The mid and high end iMacs ship with 256 MB of RAM. RAM makes it possible to run more than one program at the same time efficiently, and the extra RAM on the high-end models will be especially appreciated in OS X, which is a real RAM guzzler.
*Bigger Hard drives - The new iMac starts with 20 GB in the low end. 40 in the mid range, and 60 in the high end. This is a very comfortable amount of space to store your files and especially those huge iMovies that we're all making now.
*Video card - Instead of the 8MB ATI Rage 128 Pro that came in all models of iMacs last year, all these 2001 models come with 16 MB ATI Rage 128 Ultras. The chipset is basically the same, and there is only a marginal increase in performance. Performance is fair to decent. Games like Quake III run okay, but don't expect performance like you'd get out of a high end G4 with a Geforce 3 card.
*CD-RW. All of these iMacs have built in slot loading CD-RW drives for burning data and audio CDs. More on that later. However, the ability to watch DVD movies is lost.
And the nitty-gritty:
Same 15" screen. It looked pretty good 2 years ago, but its getting a little sad
2 Firewire ports standard for connecting to external hard drives and camcorders
2 USB ports standard for connecting to peripherals
56K modem standard for dialing up to the internet
10/100 Base T Ethernet port standard, for connecting to high speed Cable, DSL, or network internet lines.
VGA port that allows the same image on the iMac screen to be mirrored to any external monitor.
Airport wireless antennas- just like before, all the new iMacs are Airport (802.11) ready with a simple card that you slip in. Easy to surf the web without stringing cables across your house to your study.
A Word on the Colors
The "new" colors are really just three recycled colors from the iMac's past. Graphite, which has been around since the very beginning, is available on the mid-range and high-end models. Indigo, probably everyone's favorite color, is available on the low-end iMac. Snow, which had a short hiatus, is now back in every model of iMac.
Apple did a bit of experimentation early this year with the colors Blue Dalmatian and Flower Power. They had very mixed reaction and a lot of people asked what was Apple taking when they thought up those two colors. Those two funky colors are gone in favor of the more conservative and popular colors, Indigo, Graphite, and Snow. Kinda boring, but at least people won't be bashing the strange hippie-colors of the iMac.
Burn, Baby, Burn!
All three models come with CD-RW built in. This enables the new iMac to make custom audio CDs with the included iTunes software along with using CD-Rs and CD-RWs as data storage.
**LISTEN UP!** I'd better not hear ANY more complaining that the Macintosh doesn't have a floppy drive! Floppies are LONG dead. Forget floppy drives. These Macs can burn CDs.
CD-R has become a fast, economical, and universal way to transport big or small files. Nearly EVERY computer can read them, and we've come to a point where the average 650 MB CD-R disc costs less than a 1.44 MB 3.5inch Floppy Disk at less than $0.20 for a 650 MB disc. You can store thousands of small text files, hundreds of images, and even videos and sound files on a CD, stuff you couldn't put on a floppy disk. All of the Mac desktops and most of the Mac laptops now have integrated CD-RWs, making it possible to write up to 700 MB of data on a CD-R once, or rewrite just like a regular hard disk, up to 1000 times on CD-RW discs.
In addition, Apple introduced a new utility called Disc Burner that is included with every iMac. All you need to do to burn your own data CD in the Finder is put the disc in your drive. Disc Burner will prompt you whether or not you want to prepare the disc, and it will put an icon of the disc on your desktop just like a regular disc. Then all you do is drag and drop your files right onto that folder like it was another hard disc, and select Burn from the Special menu. That's it.
With Apple's Disc Burner, its easier than using floppy discs, much faster, and gives you room to put thousands of text documents, images, videos, and sound files. So no more complaining about floppy disks!
"i" Applications
The iMac has always been known for its wonderful bundled iMovie 2 software for video editing. Now Apple has included iTunes, their wonderul software for managing your music.
iMovie runs better than ever on these new machines because they have a good amount of RAM. Also, the new 60 GB hard drives in the iMac is very good for iMovie enthusiasts out there who find themselves running out of room on their disk to put their movies. Just to give you an idea of how much video you can put on the new iMac, 1 hour of unedited video is approximately 13 GB. With the 60 GB hard drive, up to 5 hours of raw footage can be put on the iMac.
iTunes comes with the iMac and the simple music application is, in the Apple tradition, easy to use yet powerful. It integrates nicely with the CD-RW in each Mac, letting you Rip, Mix, and Burn your own custom audio CDs. With iTunes, you can manage, search through every MP3 on your hard drive, manage your portable MP3 player, and listen to internet radio on your iMac. Wonderful.
Other Software
The iMacs come with the latest version of Mac OS 9 as well as Mac OS X installed on its hard drive. It defaults to OS 9 right out of the box, but you can switch it to OS X easily through System Disk control panel. It comes with OS 9 and OS X compatible versions of iTunes and iMovie, as well as Appleworks 6. Internet Explorer for web, Outlook Express for email. Etc. For children and for kids-at-heart, the iMacs come with three games from Pangea software: Bugdom, Nanosaur, and the new Cro-Mag Rally. Fun Fun!
No Revolution, but who cares?
The iMac wasn't changed much, but the changes that did happen represent the evolution of the iMac. Just a year ago, the iMac shipped with a measly 64 MB of RAM and a small 10 GB hard drive. Now the iMac comes with 128 MB standard up to 256 on high-end, and up to 60 GB of hard disk space. iMovie is now a wonder on this machine with plenty of hard disk space, and memory is no longer skimpy. The CD-RW included in every model reflect Apple's new Digital Hub strategy where the computer becomes the center of your digital lifestyle? it can connect to and enhance many digital devices around you, from CD players, to MP3 players, to video camcorders, to the Internet. Sure the iMac is getting really old in its shell and things like the video card and the monitor are in desperate need of an upgrade (I really hope they get the flat panel LCD iMac in next time the upgrade it as well as a faster video card, the GeForce 2 MX). That still doesn't take away from the fact that the iMac is still one of the easiest ways to get on the internet, make movies, and now make your own audio CDs. For that, the iMac is still a workhorse.
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