Creative Computer

Watch out if you or someone in your home smokes. Apple has refused to honor the warranty if used in home with a smoker!
Rating: 1 / 5

I was hoping to give this product a much higher rating than this, but after using it almost a week, I cannot.

For years we have heard how much better a Mac was than a PC. There have been tons of commercials over the benefits of owning a Mac when compared to a PC. While many are true, I cannot see giving this product a better score than this from what I have seen.

So why am I typing this review on the same iMac I just purchased and not a new PC? Well the answer is simple, Bill Gates screwed up Windows 7 so much, that I find that product completely useless for any of the older programs I enjoy. To give you an idea of how bad Windows 7 is, I purchased a printer 6 months ago that would work with either Windows XP or Vista. However, to my surprise I could not get it to install on a Windows 7 computer. Solution from the manufacturer — Buy a new printer. To make things worse, windows 7 would not support any of my older programs without spending an additional $90 for a Windows 7 expansion pack. So the computer was quickly returned to Best Buy and I called Apple to get an iMac. In the end I paid a little more than the one listed here at Amazon, but I was given a few bonuses for purchasing directly through apple.

When I first set up the iMac I tested to make sure my printer would work with it. Without any trouble the printer installed and is working great. Next I tested the Garage Band that the salesman was bragging so much about. Well he can brag all he wants but that program is a pile of garbage. I have used Acid Pro before and thought it was 15 times the program that this one is. So that is where my first negative begins. Secondly I was promised I could use many of my downloaded video games on this system, well we will find out when I use boot camp to partially convert this Mac into a PC.

Another bad thing about this unit is I was promised iMovie could handle any video reproduction I did. Well I did not believe that the salesman ever took a good look at my previous video work. Even if he had looked at the worst web film i ever did (The Great Dope Hunt), he would have seen that iMovie could not possibly do any of the things I work with on a daily basis. To do this I would need a copy of Final Cut. Which is way out of my price range considering I can spend $100 on a copy of either Ulead or Corel Videostudio for Windows and get the same results as I would on Final Cut. Also iDVD is about as good of a program as myDVD. To be honest you have no control over the compression of your movie files and it is impossible to place more than one film per disc. I remember when I went to film school how much they bragged about the speed of doing video on an Apple, but I have had the same amount of speed from a Windows based operating system.

Another gripe about this iMac is if it did not have internet capabilities, it would be a very dreary computer. The only game I found installed was chess. So now I have to find a whole new set of games for this computer.

Finally, I also noticed one other problem with using Mac programs. They are much larger than most of windows programs. Many of the normal stuff I would download for windows was around 100mb, but so far I have not seen an update for mac that was under 400 mb.

Now that you have heard my gripes I cannot tell anyone where to go to get a newer computer. The NEW windows 7 is pure garbage to start off with. And Although this Mac appears to be working fine, I have tons of gripes after being lied to by the salesman. So in the end I guess the real question is would you rather push a Chevrolet than drive a Ford or vice versa, because there is very little difference between the two. Next time I will just build my own computer and not worry about all the B.S. I have heard from both sides.
Rating: 3 / 5

This is my first Mac– and I must say– it’s different…. You have to completely re-learn–I guess it can be fun. Beware however, this computer is expensive… For full function you must purchase extra software. Overall, a real nice change… nice computer………
Rating: 4 / 5