The Intel iMac – Still Want One?

In case you’ve been hiding under a rock for the past month or so, you most certainly know about the launch of Apple’s new Macs with Intel Core Duo processors in them. So far, the iMac desktop is available with both 17″ and 20″ LCD screens. The MacBook Pro notebook is due out this month. If you’ve been considering getting one of these new iMacs or perhaps the MacBook Pro, you may want to reconsider or at least wait for a few months. Why? Well, Apple essentially had to re-write applications to perform natively on the Intel iMac. Those that have not been re-written as of yet need to go through a software translator called Rosetta. This slows things down, especially for resource intensive applications (ex: Photoshop). And 3rd-party software vendors are still playing catch up to get their apps optimized for the new iMacs. There is a minor bit of controversy in Apple claiming that the new Intel iMacs are 2-3 times faster than an iMac G5, and while it’s not a complete lie, MacWorld made sure to get into raw performance numbers and show how things really pan out.

It’s funny how an Apple machine has really become a PC in a slick Apple-logo’ed box running MacOS. Think about it – Intel CPU, PCI, SATA drives, VGA… I’m not necessarily saying this is a bad thing. In fact, consumer demand for standards is what has propelled manufacturers to have common interfaces and hardware that interoperates well. But it is ironic that Apple users who prided themselves on having machines so distinct from PCs now only have the software to help them make that distinction. Don’t even get me started on the similarities between MacOS and Windows. 😉

If you’re still interested in what the reviewers had to say, you can see detailed reviews from ARS Technica, CNET, PC Magazine, and Mac in Touch. Walter Mossberg at the Wall Street Journal talks about what it’s like using a new iMac with much of the software on his iMac G5. And if you’d like a more basic gut initial reaction without a lot of numbers and graphs, here are 10 initial thoughts on the new iMac. Finally, if you’re still convinced, and want to buy one, by all means, go for it!

Scroll to Top