G5 iMac
I got over the new design rather quickly, since it's boring. This isn't a desktop, it's an early prototype for a PowerBook, or perhaps an aborted Tablet design.
But it sucks. The graphics hardware sucks, the design is uninspired and sterile, there's no life to it. What Apple needs to do is take someone like Andre 3000 from the group Outkast and have him come up with some signature color schemes or designs, or take some recognized artists or product designers from companies like Louis Vuitton, Porsche (Since Ferrari has been taken by Acer), Nike and others and come up with schemes with color. White computers suck, White is less inspiring than Beige, Silver is the new Beige, give it some red, blue, yellow, whatever. No flower patterns.
I mean, it's no small thing to say that Windows PCs now have more colorful designs then the Mac. The Alienware and Chenming designs, alone, beat Apple, but Acer's Ferrari notebook is just hot (And also targeted by fraudsters, unfortunately), some of Lian Li's cases are totally boring, but then compare that to this one:
http://scasp.webnow.biz/upload/a0000010/en_US/prd_1207.jpg
And another bad thing - Apple has returned to its Ram gouging days. 1x 1GB ram chip, CDN, $700+ for this iMac from the Apple Store. 1GB Generic ram from Premier Computer Canada - $299, and a gig of the fastest stuff from Corsair and OCZ is less than $600, I doubt Apple's RAM is anything more than generic.
If I like this PC enough, I may never go back.
Similar
As Greg (and others around th
As Greg (and others around the web) have pointed out, "it's just like the Sony VAIO". Except, of course, that it's $400US less, has a larger LCD, and twice the video RAM.
I had several back and forth emails with people about this today. I admit, I was expecting more. But then I start thinking about what my choices were going to be -- I'm in the market for either a large LCD (19"+) or a digital projector. This would actually take care of the large LCD desire, plus a new, faster computer to boot (our desktop is a 2 year old, I-bought-it-when-it-was-released, 15" flat panel iMac).
I've seen the Acer Ferrari laptop in person. It may be a branding triumph, but it is a piece of crappy red plastic in real life.
I've never bought RAM from Apple, so who cares if they gouge?
Add an external, firewire/USB2 connected tuner, and you've got yourself a nice TV.
The problem with Apple gougin
The problem with Apple gouging is that it looks rather severe now, they used to be quite decent with their prices after a number of people in the industry made comments about them gouging, well they seem to be back with a vengence. Perhaps they do it for new designs to capture the impulse buyers, but it's a shitty business tactic I wish they wouldn't do it.
Too bad Acer's design is plastic, it has huge potential. Actually, it's already a big hit, but obviously it looks better in a picture than in person.