Apple iMac 20-inch

Full Review

We've all heard how you can configure a fantastic PC for the cost of an iMac. But despite all that there's something about the Apple iMac that defies all pragmatism and makes you want to buy one. There's that majestic all-in-one design, and a full aluminium body, of the iMac that plenty of pretenders have tried to copy but the real deal still remains unmatched. No doubt, it's one of the prettiest computer you'll every buy.

Unlike the Lenovo IdeaCentre A600, the iMac's 20-inch all encompassing monitor stands sturdily on a stand which allows forward and backward tilt, nothing else. The screen is very bright and offers very good viewing angles, unmatched by any other all-in-one PC we've seen. Under the hood, the iMac 20-inch has a pretty decent set of hardware. It has an Intel Core 2 Duo 2.66-GHz processor, with a 1066-MHz FSB and 6MB of shared L2 cache. Complementing the processor, Apple provides 2GB of DDR3 RAM, a 320GB (7200rpm) hard drive, and an Nvidia GeForce 9400GM graphics card with 256MB of shared video memory. This is of course just the base configuration, you can upgrade RAM and hard drive if you want.

The large screen comes with a built-in webcam, and a slot loading 8x DVD writer placed on its right edge. Below the bottom screen bezel are the speakers, which are pretty good at pumping music. On the back panel you can find four USB ports, Ethernet, FireWire, DisplayPort and audio ports. There are two more USB ports on the keyboard (on either side), and you also get the mighty mouse with it. You can't play very many games on the Mac, yes, but if you aren't a gamer, you can't go wrong with the iMac. And yeah, it's a tad costly compared to the Lenovo IdeaCentre C300 or Dell Studio One 19. But if you want a computer that's a work of art, which makes you feel good while using it, and is one of its kind, the iMac is for you.

Bottom Line

The original lifestyle computer and still going strong, with the Apple iMac, cool comes with the territory. One of its kind design coupled with very good hardware still keeps this computer on the desirables list.