Ramblings of a Crowe

I realize that this is not the right place to ask, but I have a few very important questions for the Mac owner.

1. What size did you purchase, and are you satisfied by the quality of the picture and sound.

2. What accessories did you, or have you bought?

3. Strangely enough, a few of my friends, while happily extolling the iMac, claim that they've had their fair share of quirks and problems. Any on your part, hardware or software wise? I am most concerned about any problems concerning the compatibility between the computer and the iPod, since one person I know had a lot of trouble trying to get the thing to work properly.

4.Overall, are you satisfied with your purchase? I s there anything you would recommend to look into?

5.I notice the absence of the huge, clunky printer port on the iMac. Does this mean that I need a printer that has a USB connection? Also, and this is a noob question: Broadband connects to the Ethernet port on the back, right?

I've finally saved up enough money to buy myself the basic build 20'' iMac, but I want to get another person's opinion on the matter before I commit.

I'll do the best to answer the questions, but I'm still learning about my Mac. There are a couple people here who might pop in and have better answers ( J or Jeff).

I'm very happy with my Mac. I absolutly love it. The picture and sound are high points for me. To put it this way, it's very clear and shiny! :P Mine is an iMac, 20 inch wide screen.

I haven't really bought any accessories yet. I haven't needed to. I plan on buying a printer in the near future. As for the connection port...I really don't know yet. I have heard that you can get wireless printers for the Mac (they work via Blutooth). That is something I'm interested in, since I hate having a bajillion wires hanging around.

I haven't had any problems yet, hardware or software. Sometimes while writing in Japanese, the encoding gets all wonky--but that happened on my PC too. Video sites can be tricky occasionally, but all the major ones work (You Tube, Google, etc) and there is a WMP plug in that pretty much solves the problem.

As for the broadband connection...I don't know. I'm on a wireless network. My broadband runs through a router in another room (hardwired to a PC). But one thing with the Mac is that everything is simple. Any problems I've ran into have been because I've tried to over think things (which us PC users have learned to do).

As for the iPod deal...I've never had any trouble with either of my iPods. Nor do I know anyone else who has. In fact, I know J does a lot of stuff with his iPod and has never mentioned having compatibilty problems with it. Sounds like your friend is lacking some luck in that department. :P

Over all, I am very pleased with my Mac. I wish I would've bought one sooner. The only think I would recommend if you buy one is upgrade the RAM and graphics card. Oh, and buy a different mouse. The Mighty Mouse is the only beef I've had with Apple so far. It sucks!

Sweet deal. I guess now all I have to do is save up a bit more for Parallel Desktop (Unfortunately, school still requires the use of Word and PowerPoint) and I'll be set! Thanks for the help! :)

To run windows? You can use Bootcamp, can't you (it's free). That's what I have. Except I never use it. I have Microsoft Office for the Mac (thanks J!).