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| Apple iMac MB323LL/A 20-inch Desktop PC (2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 1 GB RAM, 250 GB Hard Drive, DVD/CD SuperDrive) |
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List Price: $1,199.00
Our Price: $1,194.00
You Save: $ 5.00 (0%)
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Apple Computer
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Personal Computers
Brand: Apple
CPU Manufacturer: Intel
CPU Speed: 2.4
CPU Type: Intel Core Duo
Display Size: 20
EAN: 0885909203079
Feature: All-in-one Mac desktop with 20-inch glossy screen and sleek anodized aluminum enclosure
Hard Disk Size: 250
Label: Apple Computer
Manufacturer: Apple Computer
Model: MB323LL/A
Processor Count: 2
Publisher: Apple Computer
Studio: Apple Computer
System Memory Size: 1000
System Memory Type: DDR2 SDRAM
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Features
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All-in-one Mac desktop with 20-inch glossy screen and sleek anodized aluminum enclosure
2.40 GHz "Penryn" Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 250 GB hard drive, 1 GB RAM (4 GB max), 8x multi-format/dual-layer SuperDrive
802.11n Wi-Fi (as well as 802.11a/b/g); Gigabit Ethernet; ATI Radeon HD 2400 XT video card (128 MB memory)
Three USB 2.0, one FireWire 400, one FireWire 800, Mini-DVI output, audio line in/optical digital audio input (minijack)
Pre-loaded with Mac OS X v10.5 Leopard and iLife '08; includes wired keyboard and wired mouse
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Editorial Reviews:
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The all-in-one iMac packs a complete, high-performance computer?including the latest Intel Core 2 Duo processors?into a beautifully thin, anodized aluminum and glass design. The latest Intel Core 2 Duo processor runs at 2.4GHz with advanced 45-nm process technology and 6MB of shared L2 cache, allowing you to run your applications faster and more efficiently than ever before. iMac features a glossy 20-inch widescreen display and ATI Radeon HD graphics that gives a blow-you-away level of detail and realism in games, three-dimensional graphics, high-resolution photos, and high-definition video that comes alive with rich, vivid color. Built into the top of iMac is an iSight camera. You'll hardly notice it's there until you want to launch iChat, Photo Booth, or iMovie. iSight is easy to use and highly advanced. The remarkable picture quality and color accuracy make this tiny feature huge. With iLife '08, Mac OS X Leopard, built-in wireless, speakers, and ultrathin anodized aluminum Apple Keyboard, you'll be creating, sharing, surfing, and playing within minutes of opening the box. 20 Glossy Widescreen TFT Active-Matrix (1680 x 1050, 290 cd/m2, 800 - 1 contrast ratio, 160°H/V viewing angle) Liquid Crystal Display Built-in iSight Camera with Microphone ATI Radeon HD 2400 XT with 128MB GDDR3 Dedicated Video Memory Slot-loading 8x SuperDrive with 4x Double-Layer burning (DVD+-RW/CD-RW) Stereo speakers with 24-watt Digital Amplifier AirPort Extreme (802.11a/b/g/n) Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR 10/100/1000BASE-T (Gigabit) 3 x USB 2.0 (2 x USB ports on keyboard), FireWire 800, FireWire 400, Optical Digital Audio Output/Headphone out, Optical Digital Audio input/audio line in, mini-DVI with support for DVI, VGA, S-Video, and Composite Video connections via Optional Adapter, RJ-45 (LAN) Approximate Unit Dimensions - 18.5? (H) x 19.1? (W) x 7.4? (D) Approximate Unit Weight - 20 Pounds
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| Spotlight customer reviews: |
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Apple IMac Desktop
Comment: This is the most incredible piece of technology I have ever seen. I will never have another PC. It is very easy to use, but you might need a little help getting started, as I did. The most amazing feature about it, is that my son can take control of it in IChat and help to get things done from CA and I live in TX. That is wonderful!!!
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Ordering electronics from Amazon, not a great idea...
Comment: I ordered this computer from amazon - a different choice for me as I usually buy from Apple store directly.
The computer arrived damaged, and for the past 2 weeks, I have been trying to send it back! It's a nightmare trying to get someone on the phone - three trys later, and promises of pick up... still waiting. Will never order electronics from Amazon again. I had a television I bought 4 weeks ago, and it too came defective!
Still waiting for that to be replaced too!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Good machine, but WAY too bright...
Comment: This machine works well, but the screen is glossy---very annoying in the light of my room. And the screen is way too bright. Even when I go to System Preferences and turn the brightness down to the minimum, it's still ridiculously bright. I have installed Shades, which helps a little. It's too bad this isn't made with a matte screen. Also the resolution is very high, but the type is very small on the browsers. I know you can adjust the minimum font size, but that can cause some text overlap. Not a bad machine, but the major glare and brightness are a real turnoff.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Concern
Comment: I am just about ready to actually purchase the 20 inch imac because the 24 inch is too big for my space at home. My concern is, I have been reading a lot of forums and reviews on these machines and aside from a few satisfied customers, quite a alot seem to have issues with these machines. I have been to the apple store numerous times and I don't see what everyone else is seeing. The complaints range from washed out colors on the top and bottom of the screen, screen freezing when coming out of sleep mode, condensation in the case, computer won't boot up and so forth. This would be my first mac and I WAS excited until I started reading the reviews. Like I said, not everyone is disappointed but I find that the number is greater than the satisfied. Why?? Should I be swayed by this or just take a chance? I am just an average user so maybe I won't be looking for what others are. I guess graphic designer and photo person would notice little imperfections. I'm confused.
Customer Rating:
Summary: What doesn't work - if you're thinking of switching to Mac
Comment: I switched to a Mac in February after getting fed up with my XP laptop. I expected some problems, but after about six months, realized I simply could not continue to use the Mac for work (even though I do like it). Here's a partial list of what doesn't quite work as hoped:
1) Microsoft Office compatibility. Simply put, while Office for Mac is pretty good, it's not seamless. I'd say it's a 90% job, and that's not good enough for many people. If you work with colleagues to co-author documents, you'll have small glitches a lot. I always used to write documents on the Mac, then do a round of "post-production" on a PC to make sure they looked OK in a Windows environment. Office for Mac crashes A LOT and I've lost a lot of work, even with frequent saves. (A common theme: there is a workaround - save frequently and do post-production, but this is time-consuming and makes my computing experience more difficult). Another example that really got to me: if you ever copy and paste Excel tables or PowerPoint slides into Word documents, the "enhanced metafile" option isn't available, and you end up with a low-res copy and paste job that doesn't look professional. I do financial services work, and we copy and paste charts, tables, etc all the time. It blew my mind that something as simply as copy and paste was beyond a $2500 computer.
2) Microsoft Messenger compatibility. The Messenger offered for Mac is terrible: no video chat, no offline messages, usually doesn't display pictures. (Again, you can use a third party program like aMSN, but again, it's time consuming, not straightforward, and still doesn't work as well as Messenger for Windows).
3) Entourage and Outlook simply aren't (easily or intuitively) compatible: I never got my old work e-mails over (and I'm reasonably computer literate). Now, I can't get the newer ones back from the Mac to my new Windows PC. (Again, this is possible, but certainly not easy).
4) Software / other compatibility issues: phone synchronization software (and many others) don't seem to work as well on a Mac. Maybe you can get them working, but it's a constant battle. After about three weeks of regular use, at some point the wireless simply stopped connecting to the office network - I hadn't changed anything. We had three professionals look at it, and nobody could figure out why. The Windows PC's all worked fine on our network. So in the end, we had to drill a hole in the wall so I could plug it in with a cable.
5) Browser - some web sites simply don't work unless you're using Internet Explorer. Personally I never use IE unless the web site won't work otherwise, but I find it's vital to have access to IE just in case you need it. A great example is a very well known vendor of audio books - their site simply doesn't work on Firefox or Safari. I use this very same site with IE on my Windows PC and it works fine. I recently had a problem verifying my account info with this company and they actually told me there is no solution on a Mac - only PC. So the web site was literally useless to me - I couldn't download or even listen to books I'd already purchased - and I love audio books! Similarly, I just tried to update my status in a professional organization I belong to, and their web site simply only works with IE. This happens more often than one might think... and IE doesn't exist for Mac anymore.
A common theme here (at least among points 1-3) is "it's Microsoft's fault". That might well be true - but the point here isn't to take a position on whether a monopoly is or isn't healthy for the computer industry, the economy, or anything else. It's to point out that to the extent that you use Microsoft software, or collaborate with people that do, I don't think you'll be happy using a Mac.
(Note: I also spent $400 buying a copy of Windows Vista Ultimate and tried both Parallels and Bootcamp. I REALLY wanted this Mac to work! It works OK but not great, and in the end why would you want to switch back and forth all the time, not to mention the extra cost, when you can just use a PC?)
To be fair, I suspect that some, perhaps many, of my complaints could have been "fixed" by a competent IT professional. However, as I said, I'm reasonably computer literate - I've been using computers at work and school for 15 years, so I'm probably as capable as the average user. If it's this hard for me, then it will be for many others, and I don't think it's fair or accurate to describe Macs as easy or intuitive - or even more reliable, since you constantly have to worry about how a document produced on the Mac will appear once it gets to a Windows PC.
I loved many other things about the Mac: no bloatware, super reliable operating system, great search function, great looking, some really nice features (e.g. Spaces), etc.
However, my recommendation is: if your work is in any way dependent on Microsoft software, or if you collaborate with Windows PC users in Microsoft Office, or if you simply want to avoid a lot of compatibility headaches, stick with a Windows PC.
Bottom line: if I had known then what I know now, I never would have bought the iMac.
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