“The design of the 17″ Intel iMac is nearly identical to its last-revision G5 predecessor. As the old saying goes, ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.’ Apple wisely stuck with the stunning all-in-one design of the iMac; a design that no other computer manufacturer has been able to duplicate or even approach; a design that had industrial designers and consumers all atwitter with excitement,” Jason Tomzak writes for Digital Trends by way of I4U.com.

“The 17″ iMac has a tiny footprint for a full-featured desktop – 114.24 square inches (maximum width times maximum depth). In comparison, a small form-factor eMachines or Gateway computer plus 17″ LCD screen has a clown-like footprint of 240 square inches or more. The iMac takes up less than half the space without sacrificing components, speed or style,” Tomzak writes.

Tomzak writes, “Even though most leading-edge computers on the market come with 16X DVD burners, Apple held back by supplying the 17″ iMac with an 8X SuperDrive. Of course, the 8X SuperDrive burns CDs, DVDs and even Dual-Layer DVDs quickly and stably and produces few or no faulty burns. In my opinion, Apple really should have gone all the way with a 16X dual-layer DVD burner.”

“Rosetta-dependent applications like Word, Acrobat Professional and Photoshop CS2 open much slower than Universal applications, but they open faster on the iMac than they do on a loaded 1.5GHz G4 PowerBook,” Tomzak writes.

“The LCD screen on the iMac is simply wonderful. The 1440×900 resolution screen is powered by the ATI Radeon X1600 graphics with 128MB GDDR3 memory. It is perfect for all basic applications like iPhoto, iMovie HD, Photoshop and Aperture and even GPU-slamming applications like Final Cut Pro. The X1600 graphics card is reportedly suitable for serious gaming in OS X and in Windows XP Pro under Boot Camp,” Tomzak writes.

“Having tested numerous PowerPC and Intel-based Macs in business, media and general-use scenarios, I feel confident saying that the 17″ Intel iMac is one of the better systems Apple has produced. It stays true to the sexy design that made millions fall in love with it. It runs silently. The screen is beautiful. The hardware and operating system are the most reliable around. It’s very fast and can handle most heavy workloads,” Tomzak writes.

Full review here.

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