Dr Gadget - Gadget Shop - iMac 24" Core 2 Duo 2.4GHz/1GB/320GB/ SuperDrive

	List Price: Our Price: £1,107.96 Your Save: £ ( % ) Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours Manufacturer: Apple Computer
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Binding: Electronics Brand: Apple EAN: 0885909152261 Label: Apple Computer Legal Disclaimer: Please check manufacturer's website for product compatibility Manufacturer: Apple Computer Model: MA878B/A Publisher: Apple Computer Release Date: 2007-08-09 Studio: Apple Computer
Related Items Office 2008 for Mac, Home and Student Edition (Mac) iWork '08 Mac OS X Leopard (1-User) (Mac OS X) Mac OS X Leopard: The Missing Manual iLife '08
Spotlight customer reviews: Customer Rating: Summary: High performance but shame about the screen Comment: This is undoubtedly a fast machine capable of running the latest Mac OS and Windows software. The configuration options are not bad either, especially since you can upgrade the RAM to 4 GB. All this would make for a great product were it not for the poor quality of the display. As others have pointed out here and on the Apple forums, the iMac screen may look lovely in the shop with a pretty desktop picture, but has proved useless when it comes to working in graphics applications that rely on you being able to trust what is seen on the monitor. First of all there is the unevenness of the brightness. I measured a 70% difference between the left and right sides of the screen. The other big problem is that it is too bright! When first switched on the minimum brightness measured 250 Cd M2, which is twice as bright as you want for the maximum brightness when editing photographs. This brightness will fade with use though, but not a good starting point for a new user. And lastly, I could not successfully calibrate this device, even using a variety of colorimeters and profiling software programs. If you are buying this computer with a view to doing imaging work, then beware of these screen issues. The only other solution is to use a secondary screen (I use a normal Apple 23" LCD and that works great), which would mean extra expense. If you are buying it for anything else, you may not notice the faults with the display. It really is a shame that Apple ship a top of the range iMac with such a poor quality monitor. I would be happy to upgrade to another iMac for location work (my reason for buying this), but would have to think again if this is the build quality to expect in future. Customer Rating: Summary: Looks Good and Works Well Comment: I bought an iMac just after Christmas 2007 to replace my unreliable PC. (It kept crashing because something in the Nvidia driver kept poking around in the kernel, upsetting Windows XP....I want to bang their heads together.) The most obvious thing about this giant iMac is the display. Twenty four inches of bright, high contrast, screen (over 2.5 sheets of A4 paper in size) enables me to see the minutest details in my photo images and I can work on up to 3 document pages simultaneously without zooming in to see the text. The minimalist style of the machine is supported by the lack of cables trailing everywhere. No need if the machine wireless networks and the monitor and motherboard are integral. The Leopard OS that came with the machine has been largely trouble-free. If you are migrating from a PC there are a couple of experiences I would pass on. First, the mouse WILL right click (just change the mouse settings) and second, the Mac OS does things without telling you. It usually does things correctly but it is unnerving. Occasionally, it will do something you wish you had been told about! When I first connected to my wireless router the Mac would not recognise the network key. Hardly surprising since it had reset it (to nothing) without informing me. There is a myth that the Mac OS never crashes, or if it does, you can always rescue the situation without rebooting. Not true on three occasions for me; if everything seizes up except the on-off button then it's reboot time! However, I did know what I had done to cause it. When Windows crashed on me it did so unexpectedly, and independently of my actions, just to remind me who was boss. Anyway, trust me, you can go for weeks without the Mac OS doing anything remotely worrying! Nevertheless, I do have applications which don't run on a Mac but the inclusion of Boot Camp software has enabled me to run a copy of Windows in a separate partition of the disk. The inclusion of Windows is no security threat to the Mac OS and a partition of 32Gb or less enables files to be freely moved back and forth between the Windows bit and the Mac bit. Leopard is extremely clever but Apple think that no one reads books anymore so the user guide is very thin on content. I found staggering amount more about Leopard when I bought a 'Missing Manual' guide. In fact, I changed from an 'it's OK really' user to a raving devotee of the Mac OS. It has many more features and functions than I initially realised. Moreover, the book enabled me to make sense of the all the unfamiliar symbols on the keyboard. So why has the iMac got four stars instead of five? The problems, small though they are, come down to hardware. The graphics card and hard drive capacity are reasonable but hardly cutting edge for the price. I've noticed that the graphics does not always handle moving images in open GL programs; there is a tendency for narrow diagonal wedges to flash across the screen. The iMac ships with just 1Gb of RAM (and not the fastest RAM around either) and some applications (such as Office 2008 for Mac) challenge this. I shopped around and got 4Gb of good quality RAM (the maximum the iMac will take) for substantially less than Apple charge for 1Gb. Although I had little trouble fitting it, the iMac's RAM access port is not very clever. Appearance reigns over functionality when it comes to sockets. Most are at the back of the machine, which is awkward to access. The video output is a mini HDMI, fine unless you are one of the thousands who still have kit that works on RGB VGA plugs. An adapter costs around £20. Apple are always mean with USB ports; this iMac has three at the back (pain to get at) and two in the keyboard (but one is lost to the mouse of course). Now here's a warning....my second keyboard USB suffers power/voltage reduction. It won't run my Cannon N1240 scanner and I suspect that the same problem afflicted my card reader, causing dozens of images to get scrambled during transfer to the Mac. I have to connect to one of the awkward rear USB's now. As everyone acknowledges that the Mac is the photographer's preferred machine I cannot fathom why they haven't built in a card reader anyway. OK these little things can annoy...but they are little. The machine is reliable, easy to use, nearly silent in operation (oh joy!), takes up less space on my desk and comes with a really solid yet good looking aluminium chassis keyboard. And the screen is to die for! Customer Rating: Summary: Tres Cool and Plenty Fast Comment: My iMac arrived just after New Year and it's been great. It took a short while to get used to after Windows but I'm happy enough with OS X, Leopard. Applecare have helped me sort a couple of things and my friends have certainly been impressed with the screen size, speedy processing and general 'look' of the thing. I'm not a heavy computer user and really this has been a treat to myself. I'm glad I held out for this model. Customer Rating: Summary: Screen problems Comment: I have to agree with previous review: gradient issues with screen! Appears to be throughout range (reading thru some of the Apple forums), not just one-offs. SO if you're dissatisfied in any way it really doesn't look like there's much point in opting for a replacement. Customer Rating: Summary: Beware: Uneven screen brightness problem Comment: I bought the 24" Imac a week ago. I noticed that the left hand side of the screen was significantly brighter than the right. I got a replacement and surprisingly this had exactly the same problem, i.e left side brighter. I took it back to the Apple Store and the manager discovered that store model had same problem! A quick look at the Imac discussion board at Apple's website reveals that many, many people are noticing the same fault. My advice: If this wouldn't bother you then go for it, but if you're considering the Imac for professional use, the poor screen quality is unacceptable. If you do buy one then check it immediately using the light grey solid colour desktop. This should reveal any irregularities more clearly, and avoid you discovering 2 months down the line when a refund will be harder to get! More Reviews
Editorial Reviews: The best technologies come together in the new all-in-one iMac Intel Core 2 Duo - this computer has everything you could possibly need! It?s quick and efficient, so you can use any application, including the Mac OS X v10.4.10 Tiger operating system, and it sets new standards for power and performance. Each component has been scrupulously designed by Apple to make sure you get a system that exceeds your expectations. Its Radeon HD 2600 PRO graphics card plays superb videos on the large TFT screen, so you can create your very own home videos, while the iLife?08 software package lets you build up your own media library and add information to your personal website. The iMac even comes with an iSight webcam, which has been neatly built into the top of the screen so you can chat on the Internet and take instant photos. You?ll also be able to chill out to music and control your iMac from the comfort of your favourite armchair using the Apple Remote. Enter into the new age of multimedia with the iMac from Apple!