New iMac – 4 days on
I’ve been using my iMac now for four days and the novelty still hasn’t worn off. Since it never did with 2.5 years of using a G4 Mac Mini then I don’t expect this to wear off anytime soon.
Before buying the iMac I had been reading some posts on the official Apple Support Forums regarding the 20in display. There were lots of complaints about a gradient look – dark at the top, fading at the bottom to the point that icons in the dock looked washed out. This was one of my biggest concerns especially when spending £800 – the most I’ve ever spent on a computer. When I first switched the iMac on the display was a lot brighter than I felt comfortable with but this was quickly remedied by going into System Preferences and selecting Displays and then Colors. I calibrated the monitor and switched from 1.8 Standard Gamma to 2.2 Television Gamma. This made it much less bright and colours looked more real.
Another concern was the possibility of dead pixels. This can happen with any monitor, of course, but I haven’t had dead pixels on any of the past couple of displays I’ve used and I’m happy to say that continues to be the case with the iMac. I changed the wallpaper to a black background to check this and it’s all clear 
I already touched on the Glossy Display in my initial entry regarding the iMac. Because I hadn’t physically seen/touched the new iMac before my purchase I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. It’s absolutely fine for me. Yesterday we had quite a bright and especially sunny morning and although I could see my reflection a little, it wasn’t to the point where that’s all I could see or concentrate on. As I sit here now I wouldn’t be able to find my reflection even if I was looking for it.
The other thing I’m enjoying with the new iMac is the keyboard. I’m not new to the slim aluminum keyboard as I ordered mine back in August moments after the Apple Event announcing the new iMac/keyboard. But, I have been plagued by one minor niggle which I can see now bothered me more than I realised. I suffered from a sticky key. Sounds painful I know. My Caps Lock key needed two strikes before it would come on or off. Because I loved everything else about the keyboard I was reluctant about sending it back for a replacement. Infact I thought it was perhaps down to it’s newness and would loosen up in time. But, since receiving the new keyboard with the iMac I now realise that was more of a glitch than anything else as this one is perfect and I don’t feel like I’m going to get RSI in my left wrist through striking the caps key hard.
So, what about Leopard? Well, I haven’t played around the iWeb, iMovie, iDVD or iPhoto yet. I was previously using iLife 05 with my Mac Mini which lacked iWeb. I did have a quick wander in and the themes looked very nice. Seems like a great little package for people wanting to set up a website quickly. I am not sure I will find any use for it just yet.
One of the things I was looking forward to using with Leopard was Photo Booth. Again, since I was using a 2005 Mac Mini I didn’t have the pleasure of iSight or Photo Booth, but now with the added backdrops I was looking forward to having a play around. My first attempt didn’t work out too great as the lighting has to be right for it to work correctly, otherwise it can look a pixelated mess, but last night I cracked it by switching on the main light in the home office and I think these turned out rather well…
Even though I don’t use Instant Messaging hugely, I do think the new feature in iChat which allows you to screen share with a buddy is really very cool. Yesterday I was having an issue where I couldn’t bring up certain websites on the new iMac yet was able to do so quite happily on the iPod touch and iMac G3 which all share the same internet connection. As I sat scratching my head, Graham kindly offered to have a look around my Mac on screen sharing with iChat and although we didn’t get around to it (as it seems everything is okay now) it’s a marvelous feature for those times when you’re having a technical issue and don’t quite know how to fix it yourself.
I will be buying some external speakers for the iMac soon. I find that the built-in speakers lack punch which disappointed me a little. I have been using JBL Pro speakers with the Mac Mini which previously came with my Compaq Presario desktop computer in 2000! And yes, they are beige and boring which would look completely out of place in my current set-up! So, I’m on the lookout for some new speakers. If you have any recommendations then do pass them on. I don’t want to spend huge amounts of money so if you can suggest some between £60 and £100 then even better.
About the author
I'm a thirty-something Geordie Lass with a passion for Macs. I love playing with new gadgets, Mac software and iPhone/iPad apps.
| Print article | This entry was posted by Sam on November 3, 2007 at 6:10 pm, and is filed under Apple, Applications, Hardware. Follow any responses to this post through RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site. |
about 2 years ago
Sam,
The “problem” with your Caps Lock key sticking is not a flaw, it’s a feature. Apparently Jonny Ive and his design team thought we accidently hit the caps lock key too often when we did not intend to do so. Therefore, to “properly” activate caps lock, you must hold it down for about a half second or so till it lights up. No more is it just a simple tap, but a deliberate press. Don’t jam it down with your finger. More pressure won’t help. Just hold it a little longer than a tap.
As for speakers, I recommend the JBL Spot or Spyro.
Cheers,
Chris
about 2 years ago
Hehe how cool does eric look
. Btw this txt box looks wrong in Safari 3, the txt is too tiny almost impossible to see.
I can recommend you some speakers though, the JBL spot speakers are About £85 and really stylish. There 2.1 so you get a sub too but the speakers are really small but actually pack quite a punch! I heard them in the apple reseller by me so I can’t judge too much from how they’d sound at home, but in style they suit the mac perfectly.
IF you want even more substance over style then these are more like it.
http://www.play.com/Electronics/Electronics/4-/819534/Acoustic-Energy-Aego-Music-System/Product.html
There only £80 delivered but get top marks from just about any review they’ve ever had. Suppose to sound really great for muusic and pack a real punch. As I think there made by a british company they should sound really great. I remember for many years this make has had great 2.1 speakers available.
Btw sam I’ve been using twitter for a while, if u want my twitter address it’s
http://twitter.com/maximono
Can I add u to mine if thats ok?
Ash
about 2 years ago
Hey Ash,
Thanks for the speakers recommendation. I’ll have to do some serious hint dropping around Christmas time
I’m not using Safari (my browser is Camino) so haven’t seen the text box. Sounds a bit of a pain – not sure how I can rectify that.
Yeah, of course you can add me on Twitter (purplelime) I’ve just added you
Sam
about 2 years ago
Sam,
The problem you are having with your caps lock key is actually a feature that Apple designed into it. Instead of being able to tap it, they made it so you must express you intention to push it by holding it down for about a half second or so. I guess too many people at Apple accidentally tap the caps lock key a lot. (See, there is an advantage to being one of those typers that have to glance at the keyboard often).
Anyway, your keyboard is fine, Apple just crippled the instant functionality in the caps lock key.
As for speakers, I also recommend the JBL Spot but you may want to look at the JBL Spyro too. Spyro is the same thing as the spot except the satellites look different.
Cheers,
Chris
about 2 years ago
Thanks for the speakers recommendation, Chris!
As for the keyboard, yeah, I’d read that Apple did this on purpose. But, the one I got with the iMac is much better so I think the caps key on my other one was stiffened up just a little bit *too* much
about 2 years ago
I can highly recommend the Harmon Kardon soundsticks – they sound amazing, and look great too
about 2 years ago
I’m so envious of your lovely new imac. I love my 2 year old powerbook, but I think I need a larger screen. Of course I could just buy a larger screen to use with the powerbook, but it’s just not the same as that glossy imac…(sigh)