Re: The sad Truth about iMac:

["Charles J. Sarchet" <csarchet@sinclair.net>]

Well John, I think that before you make any purchase, you ought to determine
what your needs really are.  It is true that the iMac is not the end all
beat all machine, but it does have it's place as can be displayed by the
iMac's sales figures.  The interesting thing about these figure are that a
majority of the people buying the iMac are first time computer buyers and
WinTel converts.

The iMac is focussed at people who want a computer that is not going to give
them a bunch of heart ache and will be easy to use.  Most are not concerned
with blazing speed and the latest games on the market.  All
technology-challenged people want is ease of use.  There is an article in
the latest issue of 3D-Design by Chris Tome that really give a good
perspective on the iMac and the G3.

As far as plugging the iMac into the wall and surfing the net goes, this is
possible with most ISPs that are not still in the dark ages.  With my ISP,
the only information I need is the phone number, my user name, and password.
After providing it once, the Net is no more than a click away, and this is
true for both the PC and Mac no matter what the flavor of the month is.

The bang for you buck part of the article is a bit far fetched.  I have
played that game to many times, and know now that it was one of the
stupidest things I ever did... Twice.  If you are going to try to have the
latest in greatest every two years which is what most IT professionals agree
is the desired turn around period, then you will have to figure that you
will be spending upwards of $4000 every two years.  My company tries to
replace its machines every four years, and we have a target of never
spending more then $1000 per machine.  A majority of my clients like to live
on the bleeding edge of obsolescence and often wait even longer.  It would
be wonderful if we all had the resources to buy the latest thing every year,
but most of us have better things to do with our money.

But back to my original point.  What do you want to do?  If portability is a
concern to you, then the iMac is not really the way to go.  A laptop is more
expensive, but I have found mine to be the best computer investment (other
then my 15 year old GS) I have ever made.  It goes with me every where and
hardly takes up any space.

If the latest and greatest is what you want, then wait about three months
when the new 1 GHz G3s and Pentium IIIs come out.  Of course you will have
to wait another year before a motherboard that can really take advantage of
the Pentium III is released.

Chuck :-)