As I previously mentioned a few days ago, we received a few rather large packages. Though I was initially disappointed that the contents weren’t edible I began to drool anyway as the giant, plain brown boxes turned out to each contain a brand new iMac. Not a bad Monday post-lunch-coma surprise. So despite our massive workloads and looming deadlines we grabbed the scissors and got unpackin’!

Casey (pictured) and Katy were the quickest to toss everything off their desks an get their new iMacs up and running. Not that unwrapping and plugging in the one power supply cable, keyboard and mouse and hitting the switch takes more than 45 seconds. We all gathered around to watch the way-too-over-the-top Apple welcome video and then remembered that there were five of us (Molly was out of town country) and there were five iMacs. So we all started moving.

What then followed was eerie silence punctuated by occasional mouse clicking and quick, short gasps. Katy was already zooming around, waiting for us on iChat and Casey had the spinning-pinwheel of death while trying to migrate his old Mac’s data (I’m sure there will be another post on this drama later). I plopped the 24″ beast on a spare table in our cave and waited. Patiently. Here’s essentially what I had in front of me (too busy to document things at this point):

Yeah, okay, it looks nice, and it is shiny, bright, smooth, whatever… but the 24″ model is gigantic. I wasn’t even unsatisfied with my previous non-widescreen 15″ glossy monitor, but I realized that I could never go back.

Then Katy video chats me. And I no longer have an excuse to get up and go see anyone in the office. Maybe. But even though this technology has been around for several generations of Macs now, it’s new to us, and we love it.

Of course shortly after startup I’m prompted with about 20 software update requests which I grudgingly proceed with, only to have to reboot, which I learn is fine because it takes all of 30 seconds. Wow.

After that everything is kind of a blur. I do remember occasionally blinking and nearly missing my bus home.

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So skip ahead a few days (to today). I’ve been using the iMac for a full business-week now on projects ranging from interactive Flash construction to logo and web design. And some important Photo Booth sessions (all project related). Let me start with the gripes:

I still can’t get over the size and clarity of the display. After 5 days of use though I did notice a few smudges and fingerprints so I decided to try out the cleaning cloth that came in the box. Or at least I thought it was a cleaning cloth. Had I seen this video first I might have gone about things differently, but I thought “hmm, a nice smooth black cloth, perhaps I can simply wipe down my screen.” I pulled my hand back in terror as half of the fabric seemed to be left on the screen. And yet I wiped again to get rid of it, only to leave more particles on the screen. Not cool. So of course I resort to blowing on every inch of the screen until it is once again spotless. Ugh.

This next one is more of a love/hate sensation: the keyboard. I was more than a little exciteed to use this modern marvel only to become more than a little disappointed in the on-keyboard USB hubs. That initial “nifty” feature is now the one major annoyance of my new iMac life. The picture here is deceiving as it appears the USB jack is flush up against the side of the keyboard, but in fact it is set in about half an inch or so. This might look prettier, but it 1) is a pain to quickly plug something in without fumbling around (which I might hopefully improve at with time) and 2) flash/jump drives with even a little bulk either have to bend in order to fit or simply don’t fit at all. Not cool.

The remote. I’ve never used front row, and after trying it (and accidentally connecting with my Boss’s MacBook Pro in addition to the new iMac) I’m not impressed. There seems to be a bit of a lag time on the button press to screen response, and even after I synched-up the remote up with my machine I can’t really get into it. Maybe it’ll come in handy during all of those Keynote presentations I’ll be creating.

The last gripe is a small one, but again, is has to do with input jacks. I’m all for the sleek, unblemished design but does not seem practical to have all inputs on the back of the machine. This has always been a mac problem, but for someone like me who is dependent on the firewire and audio-in plugs it is another thing to fumble around with. But it gets weirder. Because the screen is SO big, I like to put more room between my eyes and the display. I’ve pulled my keyboard/mouse back as far as I can on the pull-out drawer, and it still feels close. This then requires some serious stretching of all cables to the back across my already limited space. Clearly, not a bad complaint to have, so this more of an annoyance than anything else.

Now on to the praise (that’s it, really, only a few minor complaints, most of which are related to my own obsessive compulsive tendencies rather than anything else):

I’ve never seen such great image quality on a Mac. Never. This has redefined my way of looking at a computer all day and even allowed for another level of detail in my design. Though we made the mistake of downloading and sitting through the HD trailer for Beowulf on my machine, it was a beautiful waste of time.

This puppy is fast. Maybe it’s all that Intel stuff that I’m won’t pretend to understand, but it seems quick. The quicksilver G4 that I had been using was pretty tricked out, and now I can hardly imagine going back to it. Going home to use my 12″ powerbook is almost laughable now (w00t 12 minutes of fully-charged battery action!). Everything just feels faster, and so of course I feel more productive. But those minutes in Photo Booth have been adding up fast!

The Mighty-Mouse! I had been using a previous generation that was slightly heavier and less sensitive. The new pure-white mouse is still something I can’t imagine other people living without. Though I’ve accidentally activated Exposé on a number of occasions, sideways scrolling and custom button programming rules. ‘Nuff said.

* * *

I’m sure both of these lists will grow as time goes on, but if anything, they will mostly be relative to my own preferences and quirks. Check back for part 2 which will likely cover some more completely subjective opinions!

Thank you.