As a mac user, I have to say:

- Grey & black? *shrug*

- That video card is dire. 256mb is woeful, 128mb an insult and the GPU is distinctly pedestrian. If the game developers were on the fence about developing for mac, I think Apple just made the decision for them. *frown*

- the new and distinctly 'fisher price' keyboards aren't doing it for me either. *yawn*.

All in all...*meh*.

It's the first time I've been more interested in the new Apple apps than the hardware...

2400XT??? 2600Pro?? What the hell are Apple thinking? Those cards are so low end it's possible you'd be better off with the built-in X3100 graphics on the Intel chipset!!!

Really. In a machine of that calibre touted at that market those graphics are shameful. Bad move Apple.

Had a look at these in the Apple store at lunchtime. They're very attractive bits of kit... although the keyboard is, errr, a bit crappy.. what were they thinking?

Apple announced a whole range of things including new iLife and iWorks suite... but no word on it here yet, or the new Mac Mini, and so on.

Also even though the iMac has been mentioned it did not mention it's FW800 or all its configuration options either!

You used to be able to upgrade the graphics card...

I don't see what all the fuss is about the graphics cards.

It's an iMac, to be used on reception desks in ad-agencies and for use in home office. Browsing the web ( as long as not on Safari ), using open office, iLife etc are perfect uses for this machine, if you fancy a bit of kit with WOW factor.

Games should be played on High spec PC's or games consoles and if you need a Mac with a bit of umph!, buy a proper one, with a fancy graphics card and shed loads of uber fast RAM.

People buy these machines because they look great and because they like their iPod and will continue to buy them in droves. They will never be utilised as advanced computational clusters for 3d rendering.

Bemoaning the speed of the graphics card is moaning for the sake of it. Mr. Jobs and Co. know who their target customers are, and we should leave them alone with their shiny new toys.

Personally, I'd buy one if it had a decent graphics card in it !!

You guys don't know what you're talking about. Apple rocks and Steve Jobs is Jesus Christ resurrected.

</phan boi troll>

Or at least that was the case when they used the PPC.

If you need a good keyboard, check out Matias.ca: they make the Tactile Pro which uses the good old mechanical switches instead of rubber contacts. It makes the sound of a 20-year old IBM keyboard but for heavy-typing it's the cat's meow, if a tad expensive.

A.

The thing looks like a great big iPhone. Now *that* is branding. :-|

"No, Glossy" Mac fanboy says

"No, it's shiny!" Says I

"No, it's glossy! Steve Jobs did his homework and found out this is what people want. If you were anywhere near my intellectual equal you would understand his devotion, dedication, and sheer innovation to realize what appeals to people in a harmonious and meaningful way. It's sheer appearance is enough to make me more productive!" Says the Mac fanboy

"So Shiny is for PC's and Glossy is for Macs?" I ask

"Exactly!"

Obviously Apple didn't want these (relatively) cheap machines to draw sales off of the (preposterously) expensive Mac Pro. Lower end video cards, one hdd bay, fewer memory slots, etc all ensure that nobody will buy this thing to do high end rendering.

No Apple fan boys so far, just a couple of dicks pretending that they exist...

Yawn...

typical Apple. Typical small-step upgrade with several big disadvantages.

any Apple fan-boy has better upgrade their kit to keep up with the times.

everyone else would be better off buying the OEM component parts and running OSX on that instead. twice the power for the same cost.

What the HELL is up with Apple and their peripherals?

When the iMac came out, the original, the keyboard was a good design and matched the system. Then we got the Pro keyboard, which matched the G4 and the displays for that system.

Then something went wrong. For the iMac G4/G5, we got these AWFUL white food-trays with slightly narrow spacing. They don't match the Power Mac G5, and I longed for an aluminium, full size keyboard to match my £4,000 computer in 2003.

4+ years later. What do we get...

A lovely aluminium keyboard. With keys that would shame a Sinclair QL, and despite the iMac AND Mac Pro now having no white features, WHITE keys to boot. Not grey. Not even black. Cheap looking white plastic.

To cap it all, now the slimline keyboard matches the metal stuff... the Mighty Mouse looks incredibly silly.

New iMac = useful upgrade over old one but not so much better than the one I bought in June (when I needed one). So I'm happy. It looks nice. The spec is tolerable and I expect still measures up to genuinely comparable PC packages cost-wise (in fact most AIO PCs are really nowhere near this clever).

But Apple have lost their marbles releasing that as their full-size keyboard. I'll inevitably have a look at one anyway, but I expect to dislike it.

The bluetooth one I'm quite interested in for my T-Mobile Ameo and UMPC devices, though. It looks quite handy and small, and nicer to type on than the folding types.

Please!!!! Its big. Its small. It has not got .... So I hate it if its not perfect!!! WWWaaaaa!

I bought a G5 iMac (before the built in camera). I added a usb wireless keyboard and mouse. NO problem. Works fine. I added an ecamm camera and I am off and running. NO hardware issues, No software issues. Bing. off and running.

NOW, if you are a techno geek, I say build your own system, write your own codecs, and drivers and have fun doing it. Apple builds and designs computers for us non-geek users. And I think that they do a pretty good job of it.

Sorry, just MHO.

en

"You used to be able to upgrade the graphics card..."

Well, the previous 24" iMac model was upgradeable via MXM PCI Express - whether you could find a card to buy was another thing. Other that, you could upgrade the VRAM of the origin iMac from 2MB to 6GB, but I think that's it.

I would be exceedingly surprised if many iMac users have done any of the above.

On an different note, the FSB in these new machines is 800MHz as opposed to the 667MHz of the previous models.

that wireless keyboard is great. is as thin as the ibook's keyboard. it is (almost) perfect for me. Too bad I just got yesterday a new keyboard...

Now, if someone could make that thin keyboard in a split model, that would be heaven.

signed:ergo-freak

Obviously have such angst issues that they have to justify their own choice of platform by dismissing others choices, because somehow, others not doing the same as what they are makes them feel invalidated, so they have to strike those nasty people down who choose something -different-.

And after all, Windows and Microsoft is such a benchmark of perfection and integrity, they wouldn't produce hype or products which aren't fully up to scratch now would they! And Intel or any other PC hardware manafacturer has never done such blasphemy either. To say as such would be an outrage!!

I really find it amusing, I'm killing myself laughing. All these Mac snobs creeping out of the woodwork telling anyone with knowledge about computers that imacs are not designed for gaming, but for the casual user and receptionists. READ the Apple home pages, Steve Jobbs and his team disagree with you. They describe their new machine as the best thing since sliced bread with amazing gaming and graphic potential. Watch the special event where Steve Jobbs presents these new machines, he actually says the graphic card has been upgraded with a better one. (If he can blatently lie about that, what other features is he able to lie aboutt?)

He actually says that professional mac users see this machine as something that looks like a professional machine, even with its cheaper, non-professional GLOSSY sceen. (Bling and chav come to mind)

Personally I think anybody in a well lit office who will have to spend their entire day staring into this screen, even if it's working with documents is going to suffer from some serious migrains. Glossy is not good for the part-time or student graphic desingers, photographers etc either.

I am sure that many companies will be splashing top dollar so their receptionists and other non-professional staff will be able to make the most of them. Just as I'm certain many of the in-crowd will feel pretty pleased with themselves knowing that one of the new imacs is sitting on their designer desk at home, even if they don't know how to use it properly.

I cannot knock OS X or the new ILife, it does look sensational, and if you want to really get your money's worth from what Mac can really offer, then save yourself a shedload and buy a Mac mini.

Oh and you Mac snobs, you know who you are, smell the coffee, the way Macs is increasing its share of the home computer market, you're cause is starting to sound like those people who want the internet to go back to the way it was 15 years ago.

These week's event and their new imac just made the once elite AppleMac and their users, even more ordinary. What next? an IKEA Mac?

Enjoy

...now is probably a good time to get one of the old iMacs, either as a refurb or as a clearance item. What you get then is a solid graphics card which can handle Linux (for your multi-booting needs) and better-looking peripherals.

First, not every PC user is obsessed with 3-D gaming and how many FPS they can get with their system. In fact, world-wide, the majority of PC users could care less. So, don't assume that because the majority of your PC time is spent on the latest First Person Shooter or MMORPG game that everyone else must be the same. You're knowledge and purchase of the latest 3D hardware technology impresses no one. You're a minority sector of the market, so deal with it.

Second, this system is targeted for people who simply want to web surf, use office productivity software, and so forth. For that purpose it's perfect. Honestly, who buys an iMac for gaming??? LMAO!!! If you want to game on an Apple system, then buy a Mac Pro.

If you want to buy a Mac for games you're a fool. If you like doing other things but also enjoy some of the better known gaming titles you can play quite adeptly these titles on a sufficiently specced mac, but if you want a gaming platform buy a console or use Windows (on your intel mac or a pc).

Incidently glossy screens are pathetic. They cause eye strain and I wish the damn things would just shrivel up and die. Yes I really hate them ;)

The bite out of the Apple logo always makes me snigger; looks like it has had a quick and dirty frontal lobotomy...

my coffee maker won't cook toast. can anyone recommend a toaster that can make coffee?