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Asus Eee Box B202
by jboho
First things first- this desktop is tiny, so tiny it can be attached onto the back of most monitors. This turns the monitor into a media marvel- with the computer almost invisible.
The Good:
The Asus Eee series primarily tries to pitch computers to the wider market by creating new and slightly quirky machines. Usually, ... Asus compensate on hard drive capacity, not here- 160GB is a satisfactory.
The machine comes pre-installed with Asus' own media suite: Eee Cinema. Eee Cinema is surprisingly easy to use, especially with the free remote which comes with the PC. With this you can browse music, videos and photos in a fun, visually pleasing way.
The Bad:
The processor is but a measly 1.6Ghz! This is simply not enough- it has clearly been used to cut down on space to make it so compact, but it really compromises the performance of the PC. The main use of the product is intended for media playback- the processor does not allow for high quality video. This makes the HDMI port useless- you could never play an HD movie on this machine- far too jerky!
Overall, it is easy to appreciate Asus' attempt to make a media 'hub' for all to use, but its speed isn't quite up to scratch.
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Apple iMac MA589B/A
by deelot
As well as owning an Apple iMac 20", I constantly use the same model at work and have done so for several years. I am responsible for training people how to use this Mac in an educational institution. I train a diverse range of people of widely differing abilities, and the people vary from young children to octogenarians! It is a ... very rewarding job, as I get to develop my expertise in this area and I get to see how my clients flourish with their newly acquired IT skills. As a result, my review is both based on of my experience of this product and the experiences I have witnessed from my clients.
The first point I would like to make, is that I would thoroughly recommend this Mac to everyone regardless of ability. A lot of people put up barriers when you say, "Apple Mac" to them - they don't want to know, because they immediately assume that Macs are for the ordained specialists and for those arty-types in the niche creative industries. They think that Macs are alien from the "real world" of PCs, and that they're too different and difficult to use. Of course it is true that Macs are the tool of choice in graphic design and desktop publishing, but it is also fantastic for the rest of us too as I shall testify.
EASY TO INSTALL
This Mac is solid and sturdy, yet light enough to lift out of the box and place onto your desk. What I like about this Mac is that it takes up less of your desk space compared to owning a PC. With a PC you have a monitor and a separate unit, whereas a Mac combines its CPU with its monitor. There is less to dust, but better still there are fewer cables! When I viewed the back of my last PC, it was like spaghetti junction - cables all over the place for all different purposes. With my Mac, I have one power cable to plug in, which looks rather like an umbilical cord actually. I switch on the power and hey presto, my Mac is up and running!
You don't need to purchase any additional speakers, because the speakers are built-in and they produce very good sound quality. The only other cables you would need of course is an Ethernet cable for a broadband connection. You cannot use this machine for a dial-up connection, but let's face it - dial-up is dying out anyway. Furthermore there are plenty of USB ports in the rear of the Mac, should you need to install a printer. This Mac has an in-built camera and microphone, which is very discreet, but very effective. You can use it really easily as a webcam for video messaging to friends and family using Skype or iChat. You can use it also to take still photos and to record videos. It has something called Airport (I haven't used this feature), which basically helps to enable you to have secure wireless internet access. (You may need to purchase a wireless router). This Mac also has Bluetooth built-in, so you can transfer photos and music back and forth from a Bluetooth-enabled mobile phone to this Mac without the need for any cables. Airport and Bluetooth functions are also good if you want the added luxury of owning a wireless keyboard and mouse.
Macs do seem more expensive than PCs, but desktop PCs do not necessarily come with speakers, webcams, microphones, dongles or even monitors! From my point of view, owning a Mac means you don't have to worry about acquiring and installing these other necessary peripherals. I should add however, that this Mac doesn't come with an in-built card reader, but should you actually need this, you can obtain one inexpensively for about tenner or less on the high street.
GIVES PEACE OF MIND
Macs are not vulnerable to viruses and spyware. This is because viruses and spyware are created for PCs with Microsoft operating systems. Microsoft operating systems are an easy target, because they have more flaws to exploit, along with the fact that more people use PCs than Macs. Macs have a different language, so they are not able to run any of these virus or spyware programs. It is because of this, that I would recommend this Mac in particular if you are buying a desktop computer for children and teenagers in mind. In my experience, I know that many children (including my nieces and nephews) who over time mash up their PCs, because they are all too ready to click on anything without reading or thinking about what dodgy things they are clicking on. As a result, it really doesn't take too long for them (or us adults for that matter) to have inadvertently downloaded trojans and an assortment of other spyware, and before you know it, the PC slows down until one day it grinds down to a halt altogether.
This Mac also has a firewall that you can easily activate to protect your privacy online. These security aspects are very important for me and they do give me the piece of mind to carry out my online activities safely and securely.
EASY TO USE AND MAKES USING A COMPUTER FUN AND REWARDING
This Mac comes with iLife which is already installed. iLife is a package of software, which includes: Garageband (music-making software), iMovie (for video editing), iDVD (for creating DVD menus and chapters), iPhoto (for photo editing and archiving), Photobooth (for taking cool photos), iTunes (for music playing, storage, and CD burning).
I have used all of these packages extensively and to summarise they are all very easy to use. They have an intuitive feel about them and the interfaces look great. This software package can help anybody young and old to produce really impressive music, photos and movies, so that we can be like the arty-types too! One of my clients is a retired lady who has edited at least 10 videos of her travel movies and burned them on DVDs to share with others, using the iLife software. I also like how these programs are seamlessly integrated - for example I can create a soundtrack for my movie on Garageband and easily transfer it my movie project on iMovie.
Most of the work you can create on a Mac can be saved in a format so that you can open it on a PC and vice-versa. For instance music files created from Garageband can be converted as an iTunes file, or as an .m4a file which is a file that is compatible for many devices including mobile phones. If you like, you can even convert you sound file to an mp3 file using the free downloadable software, Audacity.
I personally like to take advantage of the free open-sourced software that is available to download legitimately. My favourite freeware is NeoOffice. This is OpenOffice for Mac and it means that I do not have to go out and buy Microsoft Office for Mac! Firefox is my second favourite freeware. I believe it is the best Internet browser for a Mac and a PC.
If you are really still yearning for Windows, you can download the freeware Bootcamp from the Apple website. This enables you to partition a portion of your hard drive, so that you can install Windows XP onto one of your partitions. You would need to have your own copy of Windows XP on a disk to do this. I have performed this type of installation myself and it is not too hard to do, as long you read the instructions carefully. If you have any problems along the way, the Apple website and support forum is a good source of advice. Anyway, the end result is that you would be able to reboot your computer to Windows XP as and when you choose to, so that way you can get the best of both worlds. I personally prefer the Mac world though!
Using a Mac is what you make of it. Inexperienced users do not need to install Bootcamp, but I am pleased that Apple can give you plenty of freedom and support to help develop your experiences as a computer user if you want to.
© This is entirely my own work. I have also published this review under the user name dnl05 on Ciao UK.
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Apple Mac Pro MA356B/A
by Gtiracer
I use these computers at my university, very posh machines indeed. The spec on these machine is fantatsic and i feel priveledged not having enough money to buy one of these machines for myself.
Looks:
Very stylish and sleek with the minimalist deisgn looks, Case is always cool, very quiet in operation and a nice ... sound quality that comes from them to, the keyboard is about half a centimetre thick and a little hard to get used to when all you've used is typical desktop keyboards but it is a minor worry.
However for the money I would've expected more USB ports on the front (only has 2) and also no memory card slots which is a bit dissapointing considering all the money these machines cost. They have a fantastic sized hard drive 4tb (I believe) and process every operation with ease
The Monitors that come with these are very flash and sleek, i do like the overall styling that apple put on all of their machines and they haven't failed to dissapoint with the looks of this one. mouse is a typical apple mouse i believe with a roller ball on top.
The computers we are using have two operating systems installed, Mac OS and Win XP, we have to use XP because we dont have logins for the MAC OS so don't know what thats like, but all in all, a very nice machine if a little overpriced.
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