by Derek—2005.02.19 @ 1002
Well, its been about a week now since we purchased our new computer, an Apple iMac G5. Before coming to Virginia we gave away our G4 desktop and monitor and opted for this all-in-one computer with a 20" flat-screen monitor. I am really happy with the performance and the screen resolution. The computer has such a small footprint it is surprising I have a computer on my desk at all!
We knew we wanted a flat screen anyway, to reduce the electronic emissions. By purchasing the iMac with 20" screen, you're really getting a great deal since a 20" flat screen alone is worth the same price. The flat screen is beautifully crisp and clear and viewable at any angle. The screen is so bright at the "normal" setting, I actually turned down the brightness to zero and it is still very bright. One of these days I'll have to try the video mirroring feature to show movies and slideshows on the TV. The iMac has a video output port for component video or s-video capabilities (Apple VGA video adapter). I might as well get an iPod Photo if I was really serious about digital/portable slideshows. While the iMac G5 is small and thin, it still isn't as portable as a laptop or iPod.
iLife '05 is great. The enhancments in iPhoto alone are worth the upgrade price (if you pay for it) -- luckily I got iLife '05 with the iMac. iPhoto has such great speed improvements. Now, scrolling 3,000 photos is smooth and quick, and I can have them all viewable at once. The upgraded albums are amazing. We're currently building yearbooks for 2003 and 2004, using some of the new book templates.
I can't wait to start making movies and DVD's with the new iMovie and iDVD programs. But what I would really like to try for the first time is GarageBand. It is actually a very powerful program. Unfortunately, I'm not much of a musician, so I can't justify spending a lot of extra time using it right now. Maybe I'll get a creative itch and make a new composition.
Our Apple order was shipped in three seperate shipments; the first to come was actually the iSight and AppleCare products. After getting all the equipment together, I was anxious to see iSight perform, since hearing such rave reviews from industry experts.
Out of the box and on top of its magnetic iMac perch, the iSight performed dismally. The iSight was so out-of-focus it was unbelievable. For some reason, it tried to auto-focus for several seconds and occilated between 1cm and 1in of focus. If I put my hand directly in front of the lense it would focus crisp and clear on my nail, but my face was horribly out of range. I couldn't find any help documents online. I found an application called iGlasses which allows you to do all kinds of cool stuff with iSight, including adjusting the focus by hand. This worked beautifully, but iGlasses is not free and the trial period ended yesterday.
A phone call into Apple Tech Support drummed up little help and we ended up scheduling an exchange. It's been a week, so hopefully I'll get my new working iSight soon.
More to come!