Stylish iMac wins points for design, loses on practicality

The one-piece design seems curious at first, but its compactness is a huge advantage in a small place like mine. Even the back view is attractive because all the connections are concealed beneath a neat door on the side, so you don't get the usual spaghetti of wires.
Does it come in any other colors? No, only two-tone "Bondi Blue" and "Ice." All of the casings are translucent, even the keyboard, mouse and cables. The front of the unit has a glossy finish with a ribbed appearance, and at the back there's a handle for picking it up.
How long did it take to set up? Not long. You only have to plug in the power lead, the keyboard and mouse, and the cable for the built-in modem. All the software is pre-loaded, and when it first starts up, you answer some basic questions to help configure it. This includes setting up internet access if you want. I set up my Demon account in around 12 minutes, and most of this time was spent trying to remember my password. If you don't have an internet account, you can set one up as part of this process.
What's it like to live with? For a cheap computer, the screen is marvelous, very sharp and totally flicker-free. The keyboard has a compact layout, though the main keys are full-size. The small round mouse took more getting used to, it feels like holding a pebble. The whole system feels pretty sturdy and durable, except for the compact-disk drive. This is the same as those used in laptop computers, with an exposed lens. If I had small children, I'd worry about them damaging it, but this doesn't seem to be a problem with PlayStations.
The iMac is cheap, particularly for a Macintosh computer, retailing at about $1,300 in New York. It is not a bargain, however, when compared to PC clones with more memory that retail for about $600 or less. In Europe, the computer is also less readily available, particularly Eastern Europe where less Macintosh vendors and support outlets are present.
But if you can get your hands on an iMac, it has the convenience of coming fully loaded, as do most computers these days.
What software do you get? As well as MacOS (the operating system), you get ClarisWorks 5, an all-in-one program with word processing, spreadsheet, database, and graphics. There's also fax software, and a 3-D dinosaur game. Microsoft's Internet Explorer and Outlook Express are supplied for internet browsing and e-mail. Apple says there will be some extra CD-Roms, too, but these weren't available for review.
Was it fast? The iMac cleaned up (sorry) on every test I tried, from photo-retouching, full-screen video playback, and Quake, to heavy internet use. It would have been even better with the optional extra video memory, the supplied 2Mb doesn't allow the built-in graphics accelerator to work fully with some games. Overall, this is a seriously fast computer.
But if it's cheap, what's the catch? The design means that you can't add much internally except memory. The choice of printers, scanners and the like is limited at the moment. The lack of a floppy drive will also prove awkward for some, though it caused me no problems, and USB plug-in drives will be available soon.
Again, though, in Eastern Europe the lack of a disk drive would be a major detriment. With the pace of technology a little further behind here, disk drives are a must. How often does your computer network at work not function or crash outright? Also, how are private users supposed to transfer their data anywhere? Disk drivers are important deterrents for computer problems in this part of the world, and relying on a computer without them could be risky.
Ultimately, would I like to buy an iMac? Yes. I'd even think about getting one for my mom, a self-confessed technophobe, because computers don't come much easier than this.
More basic, first generation iMacs are available in Poland for around $1,099, which makes them almost as cheap as many PCs for sale here.
Specifications: PowerPC G3 processor at 233MHz, 32Mb Ram, 15-inch screen, speakers and microphone, 24x CD drive, USB ports, infra-red, 100Mbps Ethernet and 56k modem.