Greatest wife ever!

[KBCraig]

I have the greatest wife ever.

I also have a new 27" iMac on order.

The two things are directly related. 

[Tom Sawyer]

Me too... WOOHOO they are shipping the i5 version now! Can't wait!

[KBCraig]

Oh, and the Apple store happily offers the education discount for homeschoolers. It's a hundred bucks off the computer, and a discount on anything else you order at the same time, like a remote or pre-installed software. I got the remote and iWork.

http://www.apple.com/education/shop/

Apple Online Store for Homeschoolers
Apple understands the benefits of homeschooling and knows which products are the most relevant. Education discounts are available to homeschool teachers.

I got the Core 2 Duo instead of the i5. For any audio/video/graphics processing I might do, I can wait a few extra processing cycles.

I doubt that I'll like the Magic Mouse, but I'll give it a try. I don't know about those chiclet keys on the wireless keyboard, either. I started to get the wired keyboard since it has a 10 key pad and 2 USB ports, but in the end I went wireless.

[Tom Sawyer]

I played with the duo core... real snappy. Probably as fast as the i5 in many applications.

Liked the Magic Mouse... might not need a trackball like I use now.

Awesome freakin monitor and all so elegant... made me feel like I was in the future.

Also getting the wireless keyboard... might get a dedicated Final Cut Pro keyboard later.

I was looking at the GPU and CPU info and was amazed to realize that there will be billions of transistors in the computer... when I was a kid it was a big deal to have 3 transistors in your radio. 

[KBCraig]

Do you shop with Small Dog since they're on your side of the river? Or do you have a convenient (tax free!) address in NH? 

[Tom Sawyer]

Our first iMac we got from them, the grape iMac.  That was when they just had gotten into a bigger location.

The current 20" we got in Keene... We are getting the 27" there.

I go to the Apple Store in Holyoke Mass. and Northern VA when ever I get a chance... it's kind of like Mecca for me. 

[Pat K]

 

[KBCraig]

Two days ago when we decided to make the purchase, the 27" (Core 2 Duo) was shipping in 24 hours. Yesterday when I looked it was shipping in 3-5 business days. Today when I actually ordered, it was shipping in 7-10 business days. When I got the confirmation email, it will ship 11/27. 

It's gonna be a heckuva Christmas season. I wish I'd bought Apple stock instead!

[KBCraig]

Funny thing is, this is only my third-and-a-half Mac.

1995: Performa 6200CD
1999: B&W G3/350 (eventually maxed out on 2GB RAM and a G4/733 processor, which created horrible buffer overruns)
Early 2009: built my own Intel Atom Hackintosh, love it, but got tired of worrying about upgrades destroying it all
Late 2009: iMac

The Performa was a piece of crap from the whirlwind Sculley/Spindler/Amelio era. I bought the G3 a couple of weeks before the G4 was released (not realizing that "Hey, it's on sale! Buy it!" meant instant obsolescence). This iMac is the closest thing I've ever had to a current, nearly-top-of-the-pile (only one step down) Mac.

1995 Performa: $2,500 with 15" monitor, keyboard, mouse
1999 PowerMac: $1,995 without monitor, with keyboard, useless hockey puck mouse
Early 2009 Hackintosh: about $500 including a new 22" monitor, plus a couple thou' worth of worry, stress, research, and aggravation
Late 2009 iMac: $1,695, all-in-one 27" monitor, bluetooth keyboard, bluetooth multi-touch mouse

That's three (and a half) Macs in 14 years, total cost including various HD, monitor, and RAM upgrades: about $6,000.

Since Mary and I met in 2001 and married in early 2002, we've gone through 8-10 "cheap" Windows PCs for her and the kids. Total cost, at least $5,000. The only one still functional is the HP laptop ($600 at Wal-Mart) that I bought her this summer to replace her toasted 2006 HP laptop ($1,400 at Office Depot).

So much for the myth of "cheaper" Windows hardware.

I'm still philosophically opposed to the all-in-one design. Monitors and CPUs have different failure/obsolescence curves, and it's a shame to trash the whole thing just because part of it has failed. But, there's a price point where you just have to throw up your hands and accept that a <$2k iMac makes a lot more sense than a $700 Mini (with no keyboard, mouse, or monitor), or a $5k Mac Pro (again, with no keyboard, mouse, or monitor).

I still want my mid-size, mid-range, Mac mini-tower, though!

[K. Darien Freeheart]

Apple doesn't want you to know this...

Macs are PCs too.

Glad you're happy. Mike Barskey has one of them there massive Macs and it always makes me feel... inadequate... when I use it.

[Mike Barskey]

Well, mine's half a year old. 2.66GHz Core 2 Duo 24" iMac. It's nice, but it's not the newest toy that KB and Tom are getting.

[Pat McCotter]

Size doesn't matter y'know.

[Tom Sawyer]

I'm still philosophically opposed to the all-in-one design. Monitors and CPUs have different failure/obsolescence curves, and it's a shame to trash the whole thing just because part of it has failed. But, there's a price point where you just have to throw up your hands and accept that a <$2k iMac makes a lot more sense than a $700 Mini (with no keyboard, mouse, or monitor), or a $5k Mac Pro (again, with no keyboard, mouse, or monitor).

I'll just move the 27 in to the second monitor position... "Oh my second monitor for tools, pallets, logged footage etc. is 27 in..."  How freakin large the main monitor will be I don't know 

I have no desire to hotrod or upgrade a computer. It's kind of like some folks want to build a souped up hotrod and swap parts to make it more powerful.

I see the iMac like a Nissan Altima... runs fast, corners great, stops well, and it is in a compact elegant form. Add to that it's OS X and from the ground up a great computing experience... I look at the stuff ie. hardware and software user interface for long periods... I like the aesthetic that is Apple.

I spent years staring at 5k monitors and 50-200 k videotape tape machines... I appreciate well done gear. Now I have a more capable edit suite in an iMac sized package... blows my mind. 

[freeborn]

You people are sick, sick, sick.

[KBCraig]

I'm still philosophically opposed to the all-in-one design. Monitors and CPUs have different failure/obsolescence curves, and it's a shame to trash the whole thing just because part of it has failed. But, there's a price point where you just have to throw up your hands and accept that a <$2k iMac makes a lot more sense than a $700 Mini (with no keyboard, mouse, or monitor), or a $5k Mac Pro (again, with no keyboard, mouse, or monitor).

I'll just move the 27 in to the second monitor position... "Oh my second monitor for tools, pallets, logged footage etc. is 27 in..."  How freakin large the main monitor will be I don't know 

That is one cool thing about the 27" (not sure about the 21.5")... when the CPU is obsolete, it can still be used as an external monitor. No other all-in-one has had that capability.