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My Mac Magazine #38, June '98

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From the My Mac Staff

A few hours after Apple unveiled the iMac, the Mac community went nuts. Almost all of the comments I read were positive, including those from the news media and other computer manufacturers. This event was not lost on the staff here at My Mac, and we all spent a few weeks emailing each other our thoughts about this great new product from Apple.

Our email was so engaging that I thought it would be a neat idea to share them with all of you. Let me tell you, if the passion that this little machine seems to have inspired in just us is an indication, the iMac is sure to be a huge hit.

My initial impressions on the iMac always come from the education view. First thought: Cool looking, but no way to transport media outside of a network, important because some schools like mine are still not networked. Then I read that Panasonic is coming out with a USB 120 mg drive for the iMac; great, that helps. But a key reason why one piece systems are so popular with schools is the minimal amount of separate pieces. If Steve wants the iMac in schools, they need to have this drive as an internal option.
Mark Marcantonio MarkMarc@aol.com

My initial thoughts about the iMac are quite positive. Apple clearly needs to target the consumer market, and with the glut of cheap (sub-$1000) PCs out there, hopefully the iMac will draw some support and get Apple back in the home market. I hope that Apple will be able sell the "it costs a little more, but it's today's machine, not yesterday's" idea, otherwise we'll end up back in the "yeah, Macs are cool, but they cost $300 more" line of thinking. I mean, if I'm a new user in the market for an Internet machine, Compaq and Dell's $999 boxes look pretty attractive... I'll be pulling for the iMac all the way, though!

As for the USB issue, I think it's a good thing. USB is the next "standard of the future," and so there may not be a large number of USB devices yet, but that's the old "if you build it, they will come" axiom. I'm not going to build a USB peripheral if there aren't any computers to support it, but once the computers start shipping and the market begins to open, then I want to be a part of the USB movement. I think there'll be enough peripherals when the time comes. Ideally, I'd like to see a Mac with both USB and SCSI connectors, but Apple wanted to keep the iMac price low, so the lack of a SCSI port is understandable.

Personally, I would rather have a full-featured desktop machine, and I'd be willing to pay extra for it. But, the iMac has great potential to be a fine entry-level Internet machine - it could sell on its looks alone! I also think Apple needs to bring the iMac into the education market; I see great potential there, too. All in all, I think the iMac looks like a winner, but what do I know? :-)
Mike Wallinga mikew@mymac.com

Whoa! I couldn't believe it when I saw it. That has got to be the wildest Mac I've ever seen. I'm waiting for the Anti-Gravity Levitating Control Panel to come out next (it'll probably need 8Gb of RAM to run, but, hey, it's worth it).

Peter, is this what you were talking about a while ago when you went to Area 51? :^)
Ed Tobey edtobey@hotmail.com

No Ed, this was not the same machine that I witnessed at area 51, although I was informed at the time of my visit that the iMac would soon be hitting the marketplace. But I was sworn to secrecy so I couldn't tell anyone that it was on its way!
Pete Miner pete@mymac.com

So I finally saw this iMac machine... I WANT ONE!!!! Jeez, talk about a George Jetson design... The thing that depresses me the most about the iMac is what you are getting for your money (considering what I paid for my 7100/80 3 years ago...)

Anyways, I salute Apple for finally addressing the needs of people who just want a machine to surf the net and do word processing on. This is exactly that type of machine my computer-illiterate mother in-law would be happy with. Unfortunately, my father in-law, a long-time Mac fanatic, already picked her up some Windows PC (an X-mas gift), because, as he put it, "They are cheap and do everything she needs to do". Oh well...
Mike Gorman nycgorman@aol.com

With the lack of USB devices, I'm concerned on how to service the darn thing. Currently, you can plug a hard drive into in the back of any Mac and do whatever is necessary to repair a drive, backup data, use Norton, etc., but that's no longer an option. Until we get USB-connected hard disks (or some sort of high capacity removable media), I'll have to carry an 8.1 CD to boot PLUS a PowerBook so I can transfer data.

There are also not too many printers (any at all?) that connect to it and I doubt too many of the consumers (in its intended market) have Ethernet-capable printers.

It does look "way cool" (from the pictures I've seen) and with a couple revisions it could be a great K-12 machine. I've read they will introducing a similar model in the near future.....
Jeramey R. Valley jvalley@centuryinter.net

I've been using Macintosh systems since their introduction in 1984. Over the years I've owned the Mac 512K, a Mac Plus, an LC, an SE30, a Mac IIFX, a Quadra 900, a Mac Portable, two PowerBooks, and the PowerPC 8100. In addition, I suppose I've added just about every peripheral, installed all the major software, and written extensively on the whole operation. The machine that stands out in my mind - the one that came closest to fulfilling Apple's contention that 'the journey is the reward' - was the SE30. I suppose I was captivated by the brilliant combination of function and design. In its time it was blazingly fast, and its small footprint was a wonderful relief from the PC boxes I had to work with all day; it was a computer with a soul. I'd trade the hundreds of 1998 Pentiums running Windows NT at our school for SE30's any day and the students would accomplish a hell of a lot more.

And that's precisely why I'm excited about the iMac. It appears to be a direct descendant of the SE30 in form and substance and it offers cutting edge technology. Once again I'm tired of SCSI buses and cables and internal video and accelerator boards. USB sounds simple enough and for those who absolutely have to invest in old technology, a USB floppy drive will undoubtedly surface. The iMac is compact, fully loaded with great software, reasonably priced, and very, very cool.

I want an iMac in my home and I want lots in the schools. The iMac appears to truly be the machine 'for the rest of us!' It's been a long, circuitous route, but Apple is finally back delivering on that early promise of the computer as an information appliance. The Second Foundation is alive and well.

Congratulations Apple and congratulations Mr. Jobs.
Mick O'Neil mickoneil@mymac.com

You have all (or at least some of you) raised perfectly legitimate questions concerning Apple's new iMac thingamajig. Questions that need to be answered before laying out your hard earned, or for that matter, easily earned or even stolen money to buy this untested product. I do not profess to have these answers for you as they are way above my technical expertise. However, I can tell you why I think the iMac will be a hit with the younger need-for-speed generation.

The iMacs aerodynamic design and compact sleekness will most certainly catch the eyes of all the computer racing enthusiasts around the world. You put a good set of wheels under this puppy and I guarantee it will beat any PC (desktop or laptop) machine to the finish line by a good 2 or 3 seconds. Add to this its amazing glow-in-the-dark capabilities and I predict that by year's end, instead of midnight basketball, iMac racing will be President Clinton's answer to keeping our children off the streets. And if computer racing is not your bag-o'-beans, you could always attach a leash to your four-wheeled iMac and saunter through your neighborhood proudly displaying this thoroughbred of Apple engineering and ingenuity.

Granted, these were only my first impressions of the machine and it may have other, more practical uses in the computer community, but I do not have, at present, the time to elaborate or speculate on these other uses.
Pete Miner pete@mymac.com

I agree that the iMac may have more features. There is NO way - today - to count on the Internet as a primary floppy. I might survive without a SCSI as a new user, but never without that slow, but useful floppy. And external floppies are a lot of money.

But ... When I saw that beauty spinning in cyberspace, with no warning, it was LOVE. I like the size, the shape, the speed and even the color. Do I need one? Absolutely not!!! Still, it is the first time I've really wanted anything from Apple since they killed the clones.

The G3 notebooks, now, there's something that makes sense! Don't need one of those either, but I bet they'll sell like popcorn. I may have to start saving up.

Maybe the world doesn't have to have SCSIs and maybe everyone out there is ready for a new USB printer - if someone will only invent it by August. But NO FLOPPY???
Susan Howerter susan@mymac.com

Actually, the latest word is that there WILL be a floppy drive in the machine. Many people have been up in arms over that, so...
Tim Robertson Publisher@mymac.com

WOW! Could Apple actually be listening to the rest of us???
Susan Howerter susan@mymac.com

Perhaps not. Now I am hearing that the last LAST word is that Steve Jobs visited a factory that makes floppy drives (I forget which one it was) and saw thousands of them. He was told they are not selling, so I guess he just figured no one wants them. Truth be told, it is a rare occasion when I have need to use the floppy drive in my Mac. But not to even have that option?!?
Tim Robertson Publisher@mymac.com

So what are your feelings, dear reader, on the iMac. We would love to hear your thoughts, ideas, praise, or complaints about this new machine. Do you plan on buying one? Why? (Other than the cool factor, that is!) Let us know what you're thinking. If enough people write in, we can do this next month with YOUR letters.

Lets hear it... iMac, yea or nay?

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