Customer Reviews

Apple iMac Desktop with 17-inch Display MA710LL/A (1.83 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 512 MB RAM, 160 GB Hard Drive, Combo Drive)

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

There's a myth out there that Apple makes products that are just too expensive compared to Windows PCs. But costing well under 1000 dollars, this all in one computer is well worth it. First off, everything is in the screen, there is no desktop tower or seperate components to deal with. Second, Apple makes computers fun out-of-the-box. Being able to plug in a digital camera and not have to deal with installing any drivers is a welcome change. Programs for managing your photos, music, movies, calendar, website, and addressbook are all there by default. I had no problems with setting the iMac up, and have had no hardware problems to date. This computer has made my personal computer life much more enjoyable.

I received my computer today. What a joy!
Noticed that it had two 256 mb memory chips
rather than the one 512 mb single. A bit of
a bummer when upgrading because there are no
extra slots. Amazon misrepresented this.
Just my two cents worth.

Update: December 7th - Amazon issued a credit of $90 for the
misguided information. I am extremely happy with their offer
of compensation. Five stars now *****

Recently I have been looking for a budget-priced computer for my daughter. As a former NASA research scientist I have been a fan of Macintosh computers for many years and find that they keep getting better and better for quite reasonable prices. Naturally, my first consideration was this iMac. But I felt that I should at least check out some of the PCs being advertised at super low prices. To my surprise I found that a PC advertised for $500 would actually cost several hundred dollars more when configured with adequate RAM and software and still have less software than is included in this iMac. In my opinion Macs are still better computers -- and better buys -- than PCs. I recommend all of the computers in the iMac line, including this one.

For the money, considering you get a fast state of the art computer with a gorgeous screen in a small form factor COMPLETE with all the software you need to manage your life and have fun, it beats a PC hands down.

However, I would suggest you look at the model one step up that has the single DIMM allowing you to add another 512MB (any modern OS needs at least one gig of RAM) and has a separate video card versus the on-board, RAM using video that this one has.

512MB is only enough for casual use. Otherwise, this is a relatively fast computer at a very good price -- especially after [...] It's quiet, and the LCD is bright and flawless. 99% of the time I prefer Mac OS X, but with Bootcamp installed, Windows runs better on this Mac than it does on my IBM PC at work.

Apple is not perfect, but they are head and shoulders above other PC makers.

So if any of you are close to a major university that sells MACs you will be able to find this exact computer for 699-799 and if you are looking for the SuperDrive than 949. This is a great machine and worth every penny to me but if you are looking to save a bit more money check out an apple certified college or university!

Continuing the excellent iMac line - getting better all the time. Easy to set up. Easy to use. Reliable. Quick. Elegant. Buy one - you know you want to.

The only thing I can say against it is that I preferred the whimsical styling of the previous "table lamp" design.

If you personally find a 17" screen to be small by today's standards, try the 20", it's a nice step up. The 24" is beautiful, but it is just absurdly large...

This computer is so sexy and slim, very few wires needed. The computer itself is contained in the lower part of the screen. No need for a huge tower to put on the floor and hook a hundred wires to. OS X is beautiful, and ultra powerful.

MS tried to imitate some of the look and feel with the latest windowz release, and now is offering a program to make windowz even more like OS X (the buttons and etc.. are imitated) they have it on their website for a beta download right now. I guess the boys at redmond are concerned about the number of people buying this particular item?

The bottom line is this is what a computer should be, the keyboard is so sexy it probably should be rated R. The only complaint I have is with the mighty mouse, it's very hard for the mouse to distinguish between a left and right click, but with the beauty and power of this system I can live with it.

*UPDATE January 12, 2009*

Ok, this has been one WONDERFUL machine over the past two years I've had it, but all the sudden today I turn it on and I've got a cyan line of pixels running vertically across the screen. A permanent line that will not go away. So I googled it and found out that this particular model suffers from this ailment at around the two year mark. Mine just turned two years old (since I bought it). Further, it's not in warranty, and Apple has not acknowledged it as a product defect. It still functions, but it looks cruddy and imperfect. I'm hearing it will cost me from $700 to $1000 to repair it. Doesn't seem like something I'll do since I can buy a new iMac for $1100.

Beware of this model, stick to the 20" or up, that do not seem to have this malfunction.

so bright, so fast, so... cool
its probably one of the best computers out there and besides what can you expect? its a Mac!
it can make movies with the built in camera record sound video chat, burn discs and play music, and at 1 grand? its a great deal

Fast and reliable........this is why Wintels are always chasing Steve Jobs, he and his crew (pirates) at Apple take what windows based PC's have been using for a very long time and right from the start make it better, easier to use and much more stable compared to the windows machines I must use for work sometimes.