Urgh. Here's the visible components of an iMac when sitting at in while it's on:
Stand
Bezel
Black screen border
Screen
Apple Logo
It's a good design because it's simple and uncluttered. That dell is neither.
Not sure why Apple had to make the Al iMac have a black boarder, however I am not taking too well with it. They should have either made the entire computer Al similar to the MBP or keep the back border and use a darker Al composite. At present the Al iMac is the worst compared to its design history.
It's not bad, there's really not much to do in desktop design these days, it's just a flat screen monitor.
This is quite apparent with the iMac G5 and the Al iMac, the only other direction the industry can go in an all-in-one design is plaster the components as flat as possible to the screen. This design of the iMac is already stale. Same goes for a laptop, you can only make it so thin or rotate the screen and presto you have a tablet. Nothing new here folks.
Which was actually a deal-breaker for me, so I kept the basic wired keyboard on my iMac.
Honestly, if not for the fact that I love the "multi-function function keys" on the iMac keyboard, I'd just get another Microsoft 7000 series keyboard and mouse. I really like those at work.
Actually I like the new Apple Wireless Keyboard, I have the previous model with the number pad and wireless if you want it make an offer.
Firstly I own a new iMac and I love it. I am not new to Mac's I have owned a few since a G3 powermac way back.
But I didn't buy any of my mac's for there looks, I bought them because it is what I could afford and they did everything I wanted.
If apple put out an ugly grey box (dell etc) loaded with great hardware and OSX , I would have bought one if it was cheaper then the iMac.
Just a different look at this topic, desigh is great but....
Cheers
Shane
True I never bought any of my Mac products which were usually a PowerBook > iBook > iMac > MBP cycle for their design it was just a bonus, it all depended on price and functionality of my requirements at that given time.
Could never justify a PowerMac or MP as I am either mobile or in love with my free desk space.
Since the MB have a glossy screen, I believe I will go ahead and purchase a MacMini (if only it could handle a 30" ACD).