iMac20 Review

7/2007

Preface
In the middle of editing some text, my computer crashed. Restarting the machine was useless and narrowing-down the possibilities, it became apparent that either the power supply went or something else. As it turned-out, the motherboard was bad and I was in for a new board or a new computer. Considering the age of the machine, I decide it was time to replace that old slow horse for a dual processor capable of running the best of software.

Vista had made its appearance a few months earlier and I was surprised to see that all new machines on display anywhere had this new operating system factory installed. XP was available on special order only for and a service fee.. The second surprise was that Vista was not backward compatible and it would make most of my software library obsolete. Replacing it would amount to a very substantial investment. To replace my MS Office alone would take about $400.00 for an updated version. Thank you Microsoft for being so greedy!

So, any new machine to be acquired had to have XP installed on it to maintain use of my software and again I was faced with doing it myself or a store surcharge was applicable. Next, I ran into the iMac when I visited an Apple/Mac store in Tampa and a well mannered floor representative explained the capabilities of an iMac "all-in-one" on display. This machine can have two operating systems he mentioned casually. Microsoft XP, I asked just as casual? Oh yes, and he switched from Mac OS Tiger to MS XP Home by just rebooting the system. I was impressed! Next he went on to explain that Apple was about to launch a new operating system called "Leopard" replacing the "Tiger" 10.4.10 OS but maintaining backward compatibility. I was getting more impressed. Is Jobs smarter then Gates I wondered?

Well, it did not matter who was smarter. The die was cast. Microsoft had mad its decision leaving many PC owners not to upgrade or face the consequences. I, decided that the iMac20 was going to be my new machine.

The iMac Experience
Before putting my money on the counter, I had a number of questions for the salesman. In particular I wanted to know how I would transfer my current DSL and its related software. Just plug-it-in he explained. How about all my peripherals? Just plug-it-in he repeated. I got that strange feeling that he wanted to get rid of me. Just plug everything it in? No configurations? How about cross-platform access and he explained;

Boot Camp is down-loaded from the Apple web site program (www.apple.com/macosx/bootcamp/) that facilitates the installation of the Windows system on a dedicated partition on the hard disk. If you format for Fat 32, you can read/write across both platforms however, if formatted for NTFS then you can read either platform only. This problem can be solved with MaxDrive 7. What's that? This went on a while before I was convinced that this was the way to go. And so I did and hereby entering a new and surprising experience.

The box was on the floor about three feet away from my office chair and I sat there looking at this well designed container with a suitcase handle on top. I have seen cosmetic and fashion related boxes with handles like that but never a PC! PC packaging usually is brown recycled cardboard, so I took in the moment and thought, I could have had two PC's but not packaged like this!

Here it is
Removing the computer from the box was simple, one piece of Styrofoam and it was on top of my desk. Only three pieces, the computer a keyboard and a mouse all three color coordinated in gleaming white plastic. And what plastic! The 20 inch x 16 inch computer casing that hold "all" is molded in two pieces in a highly polished injection mold with out any imperfections what-so-ever! The tooling must have cost a fortune and I began to understand why the Macs cost more money. This product is well done and a sight to behold. Let's see if it the rest is "as well-done."

Since my objective was to be able to run my software under Windows XP I had another "put-down" by Microsoft regarding the XP Professional disk I had in the house. This disk was purchased as an update to replace Windows98 for $200.00 in the second year the operating system was introduced. I also have an SP update disk obtained for free from Microsoft however, the Mac "Boot Camp" install program required an XP disk with the SP update on it.

I called Microsoft Customer Service and explained the problem asking them if they could send me a new XP OS disk with SP in exchange for my two disk or, if there was any way if they could accommodate me. After all I had paid the purchase price (rental price) for the system a few years ago and was using their operating systems since DOS. The request was denied and I had no choice to "repurchase" the XP system just to install it on the iMac. Another $200.00 for a new original XP Home disk. I shuttered but was in this thing to deep to get angry. I had good reasons though! First Vista was making most of my software obsolete and now my operating system was also obsolete because they (Microsoft) launched a XP operating system to replace Windows 98, full of holes and "piece-meal-ed" fixes available on their web site or on a supplement disk. I my opinion, they should have accommodated me and others on a "Recall" program of some sorts.

I downloaded the Boot Camp program from the Mac website and started the installation following the kind of straight-to-the-point instructions. I decide to devote 75 GB to the Windows partition and the balance of the 250 GB hard disk to the Mac OS system. Next, I found myself formatting the 75 GB created partition for a NTFS data system and shortly thereafter installing Windows XP. Some forty minutes later I began to install my Microsoft PC software. It all was a picnic or as they say " piece of cake." I never had such a trouble-free installation.

Next, I installed all my peripherals and... he was right, it all ran, printers and all and without installing any software or drivers! If the drivers for all peripherals are within the operating system well, Apple had done a terrific job!

When starting the machine it starts in the Mac OS however, it appears it will boot in the OS used most frequently or, as set in the Mac OS Preference (Start-up Disk) or the Windows Control panel. The booting preference can also be selected by holding down the "Option/Alt" key on the Mac/Windows keyboard. In the beginning of the dual operating system ability, Windows is used more often because more use-intensive software is on that platform and consequently the system will start in Windows. When software use is more Mac intensive, the machine appears to have learned this and the system starts in the Mac OS system.

After several days of installing my Windows software, it was a pleasure to experience no irregularities whatsoever. An additional surprise was, that I was to be able to get to my email being in the Mac OS by loading my MSN browser in Safari. Once being in my browser I was in familiar territory and my email was available to me as usual. This is an enormous convenience because I do not have to change to the Windows platform to get my email. One item I do not like about the Mac OS. Being to only operator of the computer there is no need for passwords. It appears the Mac OS is password happy and is required for most major changes.

Not all peaches and....
After opening the box. the first thing I looked for was an operation manual. Outside of a miniature booklet describing the computer and the installed software very briefly, there was none. This was somewhat of a surprise and I remembered the reply to my question, "Is the OS installed?, everything is installed and configured just plug it in." A manual would have been nice. Looking at all these new icons, my mind was screaming "where is this, where is that." referring subconsciously to the Window's XP screen. It seems that Apple feels the operating system is so fluent it speaks for it self not needing a manual. Apple is very stingy with technical support. They refer you to tons of online bulletins (for which you need a password) and they make you spend hours reading in the hope you come across your problem. There is no email help ability and phone support is free for three months after it will cost you. Apple expects and most likely will sell more iMac's because of "Boot Camp" and Microsoft's free virtual Mac7 translator and a dedicated help area would have been justified.

Switching from Windows to a Mac environment is not simple and in many instances confusing. A manual would have been helpful. Apple has a manual on their website and the online help system is about the same, not very helpful when migrating from the windows world to the mac world. Looking for help to reduce my frustration, I found on the Amazon site and purchased "Switching to the Mac" by David Pogue. This book, (The Missing Manual Series,) has an enormous amount of good information and compares Windows functions to Mac OS and visa versa as it explains how to make the switch from a PC to a Mac and getting your files there. Most interesting are the reference sections in the appendix like "Where'd it Go? This appendix compares Window to Apple/Mac phraseology. Learning Mac OS X "Tiger" is another "must have" book. This book probable will do a better job explaining the file hierarchy and what one can do and should not do.

The iMac series are beautiful designed machines and anyone can be proud to have one on his desk however, it would have been nice to have a small hard disk "tell/tale" indicator light on the front panel. This machine is so silent that there are moments (when the machine is doing long disk functions) one wonders if the machine has "hung" or what. If you need to send a fax, you are out of luck because Apple did away with internal modem. I found this strange because there are communication needs that can not be addressed by any are means than a fax like your local sending a prescription to your local pharmacy or a document to your doctor or broker or, document transfer to a hospital service. These institutions still make extensive use of the fax. It would have also "very" nice if Apple would have included a phone jack for a standard old fashioned (internal) modem to accommodate faxing documents. Apple may have been the first one to do away with the floppy drive but to have done away with the internal modem connection is a stupid thing to do! No mention of it anywhere! A call to tech support (who had me waiting while she ask her boss) confirmed this nasty omission and revealed another surprise that the modem is now an "external" USB item at an additional cost of $49.00 plus tax & shipping. This escalated into another expense because I needed o replace my three port USB hub to a 7 port hub. Nice going Apple! Installing the USB modem to the Windows XP platform was automatic and worked the first try and maintaining individual ports. But getting it to work under the iMac platform appears to be something else. After playing with it for a number of hours it still is not working. Apparently, "plug-and-play" is not applicable to their own modem! instructions are poor to say the least. This whole thing reminded me of the early computer days of the eighties where computers as a whole were not "user unfriendly" and replies to questions were given in an "over-technical fashion" by those who were enchanted by the complexities of this new business.

Apple's ingenuity did not venture into the keyboard where they could have incorporated a small LCD readout panel above the up-arrow key to create a (functional, from the key pad, "on-board") calculator. Would have been nice. Maybe next time.

It is now about three weeks ago I purchased the iMac20 and I am working the iMac like a pro going from one platform to another. Granted, I am not fully familiar with most of the Mac software as well as the Tiger OS but Windows is running very well on my so called "obsolete" software and I can take my time to get to know the Mac site. I may have saved a chunk of money by avoiding Vista but I probably will spend some money to slowly replace current software for updated Mac versions as time goes on, At any rate, I am in control of the spending, not Microsoft.

Is Mac OS better than Windows?
That is hard to say and probably comes down to which ever system you got accustomed to. My exposure to the Mac OS has been not long enough to form an opinion however, it seems more elegant. It also looks like software for the Mac is more direct and more functional. At the moment I am in a learning period and it probably will be a while before I know Mac OS as well as I know Windows.

A word about MacDrive7
If the Windows partition under Boot Camp is larger then 32GB, NTFS formatting is mandatory. Fat32 format provides read/write across both platforms whereas NTFS format limits access to read only. MacDrive7 provides NTFS read/write access to CDROM or/and USB hard drive from Windows but not visa versa. Macdrive7 can burn CDROM/DVD Mac disk which can be read from the Mac OS platform. This facilitate transferring data to the Mac and writing it to a file on the Mac partition.

The Mac OS can read (but not write) Windows NTFS files on the Windows platform. This is a Mac OS build-in ability and has nothing to do with MacDrive7. As a matter of fact, one can load many types of Windows files into programs being in the Mac OS but they can not be written back to their point of origin.*** With MacDrive7 installed and active, one can write Windows files to a directory on the Mac platform. One can even delete files on the Mac site. The fact that MacDrive7 can do this and is capable of making disks in Mac format facilitates the switching to the Mac very helpful. Not mentioned in their documentation, MacDrive7 can not transfer application software to the Mac platform. It re-formats/translates files but not program code. Would that be nice if it could? Transferring files to the Mac from a "Boot Camp" facilitated Windows partition, seems to be error-free whether the files are transferred to a Mac CD or DVD or directly using the Windows copy command.
***
With the help of application software/program, there is a "round-about" way of writing Mac based files to the Windows partition. I have been doing this out of need because one photo processing software program was located on the Mac partition and another on the Windows partition. Image files located on the Mac partition can be accessed by a windows based program such as Adobe Photoshop or Elements or any other editor. The files can be edited then written back to the Mac location where they came from (this can not be done without MacDrive7) or, you can do a "SaveAs" and write them to a new file or a file of choice in the Window partition with the same file extension or a new one.

Small problem
There is a potential problem not mentioned anywhere in the MacDrive7 documentation regarding disk based application install software in both Windows and Mac format. MacDrive7 as installed, is setup to read (look for) and give preference to a Mac format being in the Windows platform and it hangs the system badly leaving you no choice but to pull the power! To prevent this*, one can change this by setting Macdrive7 disk to read the Windows format only and reversing the change after the application installation. There appears to be no problem reading Windows only format when MacDrive7 is in the default (Mac) setting.

Is it worth the money? The need is in the eye of the beholder. If you have a need to write Mac files from a Windows platform such as being in a PC to Mac machine transition, well then it is. On other hand, Mac OS can already read Windows files and it probably will a matter of time before Apple some other third party software house will include both capabilities.

MacDrive7 runs in the background and is apparent problem free. Macdrive7 can be disabled easily.

Virtual PC for Mac Version 7
Recently, Microsoft has made available a cost-free virtual PC a "in-memory" translator which allows execution of PC application software from a Mac based OS. The translator is not designed for dual Intel processors. If you have a standard Mac G5 or the like, one can down loaded it from the following address: http://www.microsoft.com/mac/otherproducts/virtualpc/virtualpc.aspx?pid=virtualpc6

*Only necessary when an application installation disk has auto install software routines installed for both windows and Mac OS