 | Apple Mac Mini MC270LL/A Desktop
Great machine -- 2010-08-23
This is a great little machine. Excellent first Mac, media center, or "additional" Mac. Perfect for the average user.
my first Mac -- 2010-08-20
While I have used computers for most of my 33 years in this world, this is the first I've ever purchased, and it is the first Mac I have ever used. Much as I can drive a car but have no idea how to change the oil, I can use a computer but have always turned to an instructor or technical support when there's a problem. If you want a highly technical product review please skip this one. If you're new to Mac or generally wary of buying a computer this review should be helpful.
First, the Mac Mini is so small I could hardly believe it. Since I bought it for an entertainment center I couldn't spare the space for a full desktop model. I connected it to my receiver with an HDMI cable from Amazon, which in turn connects to my Sharp Aquos 65" LCD HDTV. As soon as it turned on I was VERY impressed by how sharp and crisp the picture is. I did have a rather comical problem getting started though, as unknown to me the entire Mac toolbar along the top of the screen was being cut off, leading to a very confused support person having me repeatedly say "What Apple icon?! There's no such thing on my screen." Fortunately it was resolved in seconds once I knew the problem existed. I also had a hard time getting my internet connection to work initially, but that was due to my limited knowledge and not the product. By default the Mac is set to search for a wireless internet signal, a feature which had to be switched off before my wired ethernet connection would work. My Magic Mouse and Apple keyboard were detected in seconds and didn't require any setup. The SD card slot works flawlessly, so there's no need to directly connect a camera if you don't feel like digging out your USB cable.
Once the initial minor frustrations were taken care of there was no issue at all. You can set the Mac to search regularly for any updates to download from Apple so it will always run smoothly. There are help menus if you can't find something. The "Dock", the name given to the software icons along the bottom of the screen, takes some getting used to. If you're new to Mac the icons aren't very intuitive. Still, this is a review of the machine and not the software, so no points off for my own learning curve. Everything I try to do, from saving images to using iPhoto, involves getting familiar with new software, but it always works as it should. Just make sure you shut down completely and turn the Mac back on after downloading any system update, as failing to do so led to the DVD player not functioning until I did.
One feature I love is something called the Dashboard, which with the click of an icon appears on your screen with "widgets", windows of your choice with various features. I have a local weather forecast with current conditions, a calculator, sports score updates and countless other things at my fingertips without having to do a web search any more. It's positively brilliant.
I'm sorry to say that the manual is of almost no help at all when it comes to learning the software. The Apple home page is there when you open the web browser and they do have guides, but a book that lays it all out for me would be preferable. With so many Mac owners being first timers, that's a corner they shouldn't have cut.
Newcomers should know that the disk drive loads differently than you may expect. There's no tray, and unlike my Playstation 3 which sucks in a disk right away, you have to push a disk about 90% of the way inside before the Mac does the rest. At first I was worried I might break it because it seemed like I was forcing the disk in. Strangely, when you eject the disk it comes about 2/3rds of the way out, but it works and that's what matters.
Looking at all the features and feeling intimidated, I noticed that this machine comes with 2GB of RAM, and had no idea if those critical of it meant I should be worried. Not once has this machine stalled in doing anything I ask of it. I can have internet radio going with multiple web pages open and it works. I can run two videos simultaneously and there's no hiccups. The DVD player works fine, though it's impractical for me since I'm using an entertainment center with a dedicated DVD player connected.
If you are just an average person who simply wants a computer so you can check your e-mail, surf the net, copy and edit your photos, store your digital music, and other everyday tasks, you can't do better than this machine. For a grand total of under $850, I have a cutting edge computer with every feature I could ever need, a great mouse and keyboard, and my entertainment center has been transformed into a complete media hub and home office. I still have a lot of features to learn, but overall my only regret is not buying this sooner.
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 | Apple iMac MC508LL/A 21.5-Inch Desktop
iMac 21.5 Ich Desktop Mid 2010 is Great!! -- 2010-08-28
I love my new iMac. It arrived quickly and with no problems. this is my 1st Mac and im very pleased with it. It took me some time to get used to it but everything is really awesome. I would recommend this Mac to anyone.
No other desktop offers so much -- 2010-08-20
This review is intended for the 21.5 iMac mid-2010 model which came out recently. Apple made a significant improvement for the iMac line and it shows: 3.06GHz Intel Core i3 processor with 4MB level 3 cache; 4 GB of RAM upgradable to 8 GB; and also an ATI Radeon HD 4670 graphics processor with 256MB of GDDR3 memory. Look at last year's iMacs and you'll see that this is a very tempting offer despite the $1200 price tag.
Having said that, I don't think last year's iMac owners should rush to buy these new ones. However, if you haven't upgraded your desktop Mac in over a few years or you're looking to buy your first Mac desktop, this is one unbeatable deal you should not miss.
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 | eMachines ET1831-07 Desktop (Black)
Early review -- 2010-09-03
I just received this computer three days ago, so this is rather an early review. I just wanted to point out the things I liked and didn't like about it straight out of the box. As for long-term performance, I can't say anything on that yet, but I might come back and edit this review to include some thoughts on that later on.
THE GOOD: When I first took this out of the box, I really liked the look of it. After plugging it in and starting it up, I instantly fell in love with Windows 7 (which I had never used before) and I was pleased that for the most part there wasn't a whole lot of fluff software that I had to uninstall. There is some, but compared to all the fluff they put on my last two computers, this was downright minimal. Also, comparing it to my last computer (which was a netbook), the extra RAM and the large amount of storage space is FANTASTIC. The body of the tower itself is actually pretty sturdy feeling, though as you'll see below, that's not including some points. Also, the proliferation of USB ports is great, and if I were inclined to any kind of expansion, there seems to be plenty of room for doing just that.
THE WHATEVER: The green power light strip doesn't really sway me one way or the other. I think I'd actually like it if it had been blue instead of green, but since it's thankfully not red it doesn't really annoy me. I think if you really hate it, just get some black electrical tape and go over it and that would solve the problem. The keyboard and mouse that it came with are so-so. I dislike the mouse and prefer to use the one that was included with my wacom tablet, but since I don't have an extra keyboard and don't feel like spending the money on it, I'm using the one that came with it. It's not TOO bad; it feels rather cheap and makes a lot of noise, but since it can always be replaced its rather tolerable as a temporary solution.
THE BAD: The DVD/Disk drive. The actual drive is pretty solid, but the eject button DOESN'T WORK. This is because they created some kind of plastic thing that's smooth and pushed in and is SUPPOSED to push in on the actual eject button. However, due to miscalculation or some other kind of error, it doesn't even touch the button at all! If I want to open the drive, I have to lift the drive cover and reach in to push the button manually. This may or may not be super annoying to you, since it depends on how much you'll use the drive, but in my opinion I wish that they had sacrificed the 'smooth' look to the front of the tower and just put in a proper button!
Overall, for the things that you get for this price, I'd say that this is a decent buy. If I had had the money to play around and go for something higher-end, I probably would have. However, for someone with this restricted of a budget, it has all the necessities and more. Might not be super fancy, but it seems like it will get the job done efficiently. I might come back in a few months and let you know the long term performance.
Excellent value desktop -- 2010-09-02
Bought this for my retired parents after their 5-year old computer stopped working. Hard to beat for the price. Hardly any bloatware to get rid of which is nice. Attractive case, solid specs for basic computing (web, email, word processing). Could probably handle simple or older games with no problem, but this isn't applicable to my parents. They were especially impressed with how fast the machine booted up and the overall snappiness in general.
A few minor nitpicks; included mouse and keyboard are cheap and PS/2. I prefer USB, though I guess you could argue that PS/2 frees up more USB slots. The DVD drive is oddly recessed a bit behind a plastic door. No DVI output (VGA only). None of these issues are significant to users like my parents.
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 | Compaq Presario CQ5500F Desktop PC - Black
Good computer, good price -- 2010-08-27
I was looking for a reasonably priced computer to replace the one I had, and was pleased with the price, initial quality, and ease to set up of this computer. When it arrived, I was frightened, as the amazon.com box it came in was almost completely destroyed, but the box and computer itself were fine. Otherwise a good purchase.
A great buy -- 2010-08-23
Trust me, this computer is worth the money. It's very quick and stylish, perfect for a modern computer room. It has 3 or so USB docks, convenient for if you have a mouse, a p-drive, a camera, a phone... All that other junk that you need to strap up to your computer, you can do it all at once.
I've had it for a few months, and it's still as fast as it was when I got it. Now, I'm no computer tech, I really don't understand the details, but let me tell you, it almost overwhelmed me, all of the programs and upgrades and services this computer comes with, not to mention the cool backgrounds and designs you can customize your desktop with.
A great buy, you won't be disappointed!
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 | Acer AspireRevo AR3610-U2002 Desktop (Dark Blue)
Great HTPC with one noticeable flaw -- 2010-09-03
I use this as my Home Theater PC. Between this and my antenna, I have no need for cable TV, which saves me about $70 a month. As long as you make sure you are on Flash 10.1 (this is important!), this will play any video up to 1080p without issue. If you combine it with Boxee, you have a really great home theater PC.
I have one issue, and that is with the sound. Sometimes the sound just goes away and the only way I have found to get it back is to restart the machine. I thought it might be a Windows 7 issue, but I have a new desktop with Windows 7 and have not had any sound problems with it. Aside from that little quirk, this little machine is great. It definitely does a good job of saving me money on my cable bill.
Great companion for XBMC! -- 2010-09-03
Bought the Acer AspireRevo to replace an old laptop as the media center in our living room. The laptop was never able to play anything beyond standard definition, so it needed to go since we bought a Full HD LCD TV. The Revo came with Windows 7 installed and after uninstalling the many useless bloatware that also came installed and installing XBMC, it was up and running playing HD content smoothly through the HDMI output. You just have to remember to download the nightly build of XBMC as, until today at least, the stable version does not use the Ion GPU (and thus is unable ty play HD content).
I just won't give it 5 stars because of the gigantic number of bloatware that came installed. Even now, every week my movies are interrupted by an annoying window asking to register Revo. I'm sure there is a way to uninstall whatever is showing this, just didn't get to that yet.
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 | Apple iMac MB950LL/A 21.5-Inch Desktop
HAPPY WITH APPLE IMAC -- 2010-08-16
I think I made a good decision when I purchase this Apple Imac over the and the PC. It was some what different than the PC , but when I learned How to operate it, I was so satisfied and happy. It is great and it well worth the extra money to purchase this Apple than the PC. I have had it for 8-months and I haven't had a problem with viruses. I can say that I love it and would recommend it to my friends or to anyone.
Just about perfect -- 2010-08-10
I'm a graphic designer, though far from a rich one. There were many arguments for saving $400 and buying an "equivalent" PC (mostly the money), but I just love the Mac System, design, durability, and lack of virus issues too much. I've never owned a PC that lasted more than 4 years. The only Mac I've ever owned lasted 10 years, at which point I chose to replace it (could have upgraded, but that still would have only brought it up to "descent" as far as memory, disk space).
I almost went with the MacMini. A good selling point with it is that once it's outmoded, it can be plugged into your new computer and used as a backup. But with a 500Gig hard drive and awesome speed, etc., it will be quite some time before this baby is outmoded. Purchased 3 months ago and haven't had a single issue. Everyone is amazed when they see it: "Where's the computer?" is a common response. Boot Camp is an excellent addition that makes it very easy to run both Mac OS X and Windows (you'll have to purchase a copy) on the same computer, making software incompatibility a complete non-issue. The 21.5 in. monitor is a little bit smaller than I would have preferred, but makes it a much easier fit on my computer desk and makes transportation much easier too.
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 | Apple iMac MC511LL/A 27-Inch Desktop
This Apple is more like a 'Sour Lemon' -- 2010-09-01
My 2005 Mac proved to be a huge disappointment but nowhere near as bad as this brand new 2,000 piece of equipment.
My first machine came with 2 surface scratches, one on the base and one on the metal part below the display.
I lived with both since I already fired up and loaded all my files.
After 2 weeks I noticed a loud clicking humming sound coming from the back lower right side. Sounded like a loud fan to me. Then I felt the top of the computer and nearly burnt my hand!
Took it back to Best Buy and demanded an exchange. Thankfully it was day 13 of a 14 day allowable return.
My second machine came out of the box with more scratches than the first. Boxed it up and drove it right back.
My 3rd replacement has no scratches, yet has a louder clicking noise than the first. I bought the extra Apple Care and plan to have them come out to address this issue. After googling this issue I found that there are more than several complaints about so many flaws in this model that I am wondering when Apple will issue a recall. What will it take?
I'm not at all happy with dropping 2 grand on such a subpar computer.
Very impressed -- 2010-08-28
I must say that Apple has turned me into a fan since they moved to Intel processors a few years ago -- they run Windows great for the part.
For this purchase I was replacing an older 30" Dell monitor and didn't want to lose my screen resolution -- but also didn't want to pay another 2k for a new 30" monitor. This iMac was a great choice, I'm basically using it for it's screen and for when I need to test things on OSX. Purely as screen alone this thing is great, the IPS technology is very impressive and the response time seems to be very good even though it's going through a DVI-to-Mini Display Port adapter at full 2560x1440 resolution. HINT -- You change the input source only if the Mac is on and then you hit Command and F2. More on leaving the Mac running in a moment.
For the PC side of this Mac (and stop kidding yourself, it's a PC just running OSX) you get pretty good performance. I'm using a Core i7 based system with 12GB of Ram and SSD's in a raid so I'm very spoiled as far as performance goes, but still this iMac holds it's own fairly well. What I'm extremely impressed with is how quiet and cool this thing runs. I can not tell when it's own -- while my full on PC is fantastically fast it sounds like a fan is running all the time trying to keep it cool, this iMac is amazingly quiet and cool. So while I mainly use this as just a monitor it actually runs cooler and uses less energy than my old 30" monitor even though it's a full PC that is running.
Finally the mouse and keyboard for this are excellent -- as long as you don't plan on using them for very long. I'm not sure why Apple gives you just a keyboard with no keypad on it for what is supposed to be a daily use computer. While it looks nice and makes the monitor look really big it also makes it difficult to use at times. However if you can get past that the keyboard is excellent. The mouse is fairly good as well, I got used to using the top gestures fairly quickly and its a neat treat. However it's much to flat to be comfortable to use for extended periods. Since the mouse doesn't support your hand like a normal mouse you end up holding your hand out when using it -- while this doesn't sound like a big deal it can become a pain to do after 30-40 mins of solid usage.
Finally Pt2 -- This really is an excellent PC, Windows 7 runs great on it. Another hint, when you go to upgrade the video drivers get the mobility drivers, not the standard ones -- it took me 2 tries to figure out why they were not loading. The PC performance is great and it runs games at full resolution surprising well.
That's it -- overall I have to say I'm very happy with this purchase.
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 | HP Pavilion p6540f Magnesium Grey Edition PC
Serious defects -- 2010-08-25
This computer has two serious problems. The first is that it produces loud clicks on the audio output whenever it goes in and out of sleep mode. The second is that it its onboard VGA output is unusably blurry.
Of course if you don't use the VGA output (or plan to purchase a separate video card) and you don't mind the loud clicks, it seems like a pretty decent PC. Other hardware weaknesses are the fan is relatively loud, and the case is relatively flimsy and requires a screw driver to open. Par for the course for most entry level PCs.
Of course like most retail PCs it comes pre-installed with dozens of relatively annoying things that you probably will never need and which will take some work to disable. And you probably have to live with the hyper cute Windows 7 home edition "features" like user pictures that can't be turned off, and which appear obnoxiously at the top of the start menu.
Computer -- 2010-08-19
Great delivery! I ordered it on Monday and got it on Thursday evening (Super Saver shipping). The computer works great right out of the box. Print shop doesn't work with windows 7 all my other programs seem to work ok (even some old games from the mid 90's). Great speed and huge hard disc capacity. I think best for the price. Watch Amazon they seem to raise prices over the weekend and lower them during the week. I looked at the price on Wednesday the week before and went to order it on Friday, but the price went up $50, on Monday the price had dropped $40.
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 | Gateway SX2850-01 Desktop (Black)
Gateway Desktop Tower -- 2010-08-28
Love the size of the tower. The keyboard is pretty plain and the mouse is not cordless. The problem is Windows 7. I hate it and it comes equipped with it. That is the only drawback.
Very satisfied so far -- 2010-08-27
My 2003 entry-level DELL had been giving me trouble for the last couple of years. It got to the point where I was having to reformat it every single week, and even after doing so, simple things like typing in the address bar would lag about a full minute behind my inputs, even from fresh boot-ups (which took about 5 minutes just to get to desktop itself)Forget about multi-tasking in several windows, I could barely "run" one, and I use the term loosely.Youtube videos? Forget 720/1080 resolutions, my system stuttered and would often lock up running 360p. I was sick and tired of my ancient DELL as well as the dinosaur known as Windows XP, I literally couldn't do any of the simple things I wanted.
WIth a few of my college classes requiring online software, and that I would need to type reports with Word, and not trusting my junky Dell, I got with the times and ordered this Gateway model. Startup/shutdown is lightning quick. Web pages load almost instantly. The built-in WIFI is MUCH quicker AND reliable. Windows 7 seems to be a great product, at least compared to my experiences with XP. Youtube videos can be viewed in full 1080 HD, with no stuttering and no need to pause and let the stream "catch up" to my WIFI DL speeds. Big thanks to Amazon for the college student PRIME offer. It gave me free 2 day shipping, which was a lifesaver in keeping me from falling behind in my classes.
The form-factor wasn't a big issue with me choosing this PC, bet it IS nice to have a unit nearly 1/3 of the size of my old Dell. The Gateway is much less of a "tower" than the old unit. It is roughly the size of an XBOX 360, making it a fine choice if you are hooking it up to a living room LCD bigscreen. It even has HDMI, making it even more tempting to do this.
My only two very minor complaints are the WIFI antenna doesn't just plug into the back like I expected. It does connect there, but the wire runs to a suction cup antenna that sits on top of the PC. It dosen't match the sleekness of the PC itself, and the the cup looses grip often. The other issue is the bundled VGA cord is way too short (about half the length of my Dell's) I guess they expect you to either make due or use your old cable.
This is a great PC that is perfect for those like me that have squeezed every drop of usage from their old computers. The price is very reasonable for the power it packs, and I would estimate that I will save 6 hours or so per week thanks to the quick startups, lack of crashes, and from not having to reformat on a weekly basis. A+
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| Apple iMac MC510LL/A 27-Inch Desktop
First screen arrived scratched, second time has a minor flaw and loud disk drive...but saved >$500 over Apple store! -- 2010-09-03
I saved more than $500 by purchasing this from Amazon, but it seems that Amazon gets the less than perfect computers. The first to arrive operated beautifully, but had a scratch on the screen. Amazon replaced it for free, but I had to pay more than $100 to ship and insure the returned computer...which will supposedly be reimbursed soon. The second computer has a bit of fuzz behind the lower right corner of the screen, but it's worth keeping it to avoid the return hassle. However, I will have to bring the computer to the Apple store next week so they can fix the loud drive.
Simply beautiful and amazing -- 2010-08-11
This mac is amazing and the 27" screen just makes it better. I upgraded from a iMac G4 and the performance is a huge boost. With a 3.2Ghz processor and 4GB of standard RAM it's one fast computer with lots of capabilities. I would suggest buying it from Apple because it's free shipping and you can customize it beyond what you can believe. I would definitely recommend this to anyone looking for a new computer or upgrading their old mac. The display is so big you have to see it in person. Also, it comes with Boot Camp installed so all you need to run Windows is a disc to install it. Overall a great computer and one I would recommend to someone looking for a computer.
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