My iMac Core Duo has arrived, as the replacement for the original transition kit unit. It came as a complete surprise – I should have had an order confirmation and notification of shipping, but this unit just appeared out of the blue at 8:30am.
I’m not complaining!
First impressions:
- Fast – even with the standard 512MB of RAM I have no problem having a number of applications open simultaneously and switching between them. Even Rosetta applications are impressively quick, although I haven’t had the chance to investigate that more fully.
- The screen is impressively bright – I’ve had to turn it down to about 80% just to get it to a level that doesn’t hurt my eyes. I’m sure the brightness and clarity will be good when I start watching video, but for general use it seems a bit high. Of course, that could be because I’m comparing the output to the NEC 20″ (which I already have set at 50% brightness) and the old PB 17″.
- The screen feels large and capacious, even though I know it’s only the same physical size and resolution as the PB 17″. Sometimes the rez seemed restrictive on the PowerBook (compared to the 1600×1200 20″ panel I use), but I don’t get the same feeling on the iMac.
I’ve had to re-organize the desk slightly to accommodate the unit; at the moment, it’s on the left side of the NEC, but this blocks the DVD entry point, so I may have to switch sides, but I don’t see that as a huge issue. It is a shame though that the entry point isn’t on the top, which would be less likely to interfere. I know that’s true of the older G5 iMac too.
My only complaint is the use of the Mini-DVI port on a machine that is otherwise so large. I know they are trying to make the back look nice (but who looks at the back that often!?), but an extra £15 is a lot just to hook up the second monitor. My PB 17″ has a full size DVI/VGA port, but an iMac with twice the potential port space requires yet another cable…
More when I’ve had the chance to use it more.
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