APPLE IMAC ALL-IN-ONE DESKTOP – 2.66GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i5 , 4GB DDR3 SDRAM, 1 TB SATA HD, ATI Radeon HD 4850 512MB, 8x double-layer SuperDrive, One FireWire 800 port; 7 watts, Four USB 2.0 ports ,SD card slot, Extreme 802.11n Wi-Fi wireless networking,Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR (Enhanced Data Rate) iSight camera wireless keyboard and mouse, 27-inch (viewable) LED-backlit glossy widescreen TFT active-matrix liquid crystal display with IPS technology 2560 by 1440 pixels , Mac OS X v10.6 Snow Leopard, iLife (includes iPhoto, iMovie, iDVD, iWeb, GarageBand)
iMac 27 Inch Review Team
It has been a while for me since I used a desktop, but I needed to take better back care and needed a bigger screen, so back to a desktop in years, this machine is amazing!!!!! The looks, the speed, I have some Irish in me, I am RARELY “speechless” ask my wife! But this this blows my mind! ANYONE considering this machine, jump in! I see no negatives! THANK YOU APPLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I was very happy to receive my 27″ Imac Quad Core. Tons os space and power, but I found my office to be extremely hot after a day of use, and mostly running a browser (Safari) only. This machine runs super hot and you can’t put it in another room because the processor is in the monitor. I went back to the Mac store and complained about the fact they had not told me about the heat issue. The young salesman told me they’ve fried eggs on this machine!! his advice was buy an extension monitor and put the Imac in another room, which makes your nice 27″ monitor useless.
So if you want your usual nice cool room, don’t buy this dragon with a heat-sink on its back, and if you do buy this machine you can bake some cookies on it too.
Unsurpassed in style and power, this new Apple with Intel’s Quad-core technology finds the top of the consumer desktop category. The screen is almost overwhelming with its 27 inches of real estate, but truly enables you to have multiple windows open at once without getting lost. The display problems that plagued some of the first models is now gone thanks to a firmware update (I never experienced any problems even before the update). The LED technology is a significant upgrade, and if you want to display HD TV programming, you will be blown away by the quality of the picture. I do wish Apple had included a Blu-ray player as at least an option instead of the 8x Superdrive, but that is a minor complaint. The Quad-core processor enables this machine to reach speeds that were only available before on high-end professional work stations.
Unsure at first about the new wheel-less mouse, I have come to appreciate the ease of finger swiping, as well as the Bluetooth wireless technology for both the mouse and keyboard. I still miss the numeric keypad on the keyboard, but not having to deal with a wire tether more than makes up for it, and another advantage is that you don’t have to use a USB slot.
If you want to run Windows, Bootcamp provides that option along with Parallels. Although not officially approved, you can install Windows 7 with some minor adjustments. I will not go into a comparison of Snow Leopard and Windows 7, but in my mind once you get used to Apple’s Snow Leopard, you will not want to go back to Windows. If you are considering an IMAC purchase, my recommendation is to go for the best. You will not be disappointed. The speed, beauty, and screen size of this IMAC makes the choice easy.
I have wanted the Apple Cinema monitor for over a decade, and now I have this because it is a very affordable way to get to a big, beautiful screen. But for one thing. Even in the literature that came with this, Apple includes a drawing showing that the top of the screen should be roughly the height of your eyes. And yet, there is no vertical adjustment possible on the display stand. I submit that anyone who puts this monitor on a desk will be looking at it from an uncomfortable position. I get a neck ache after just an hour or two. Today or tomorrow I will get out a saw and cut a hole in my desk so the base of the monitor can rest three inches lower. I wish Apple had not gone for form over function on this–they could easily have had both.
One more small complaint: I am running Windows XP Pro using Parallel (sometimes, to have access to software unavailable to Mac), and Windows is very slow. This could be Parallel perhaps. Also, I am using Time Machine and that also slows things down noticeably, even though I have the 2.66 GHz Core i5 with 8 GB of Ram. I would have thought this would have enough power to do two things at once.
Other than that, I would say my experience with this machine has been better than any I’ve ever used. It is incredibly useful to have all this screen real estate, whether using Photoshop, Bridge, Accounting programs, CAD programs, or just Safari. And of course, everything simply looks beautiful.
A final complaint: please Apple, let us watch Blu Ray.
Why do you have this price listed on the quad core??? [...] has it for less than [...]. Only an idiot would fall for this.
I’ve always wanted a Mac. But Apple has two versions of the 27″ and both are under $2000.
At the time of the first review I did not have my iMac because it was in Layaway at eLayaway, which I recommend if you cannot afford the $2000 up front. Now that I have my new iMAC 27″ Quad I love it! The massive screen, speed, and installed programs are all I need right now. Later I will use it for Audio/Video editing for but for now it is for online training and HULU. Man that mouse and keyboard are the bomb! Bluetooth…NO wires! And they are small and light. The keyboard does not have a numerical keypad but I don’t care about that for what I do. It also has every connection port you could need on back. Oh yeah, it uses WiFi. No CAT5/6 like regular desktops. The convenience of that is worth half the cost.