As far as speed is concerned, the iMac chugged through a variety of daily tasks -- surfing the Web, e-mail, text editing and viewing digital photos -- without a hitch. Its performance was generally on par with the 2.4GHz 17-in. MacBook Pro I use, though, not surprisingly, it boots up a bit faster. It certainly offers all of the performance most users will need for the foreseeable future. The only upgrade I might consider at some point would be doubling the RAM to 4GB. As always, I'd check out prices for that memory at a third-part reseller; 4GB costs around US$118 at current prices. Apple, by contrast, charges US$200 to upgrade the RAM to 4GB.

As in the past, I love the relatively small footprint the iMac requires, which is true for both the 20- and 24-in. models. From a hardware perspective, the only weak point was Apple's Mighty Mouse, which has a scroll ball that tends to get gummed up. I quickly replaced it with Logitech's wireless VX Revolution, and was perfectly happy.

Were I to buy a new iMac (and the kids insist that's something we have to do) after the review unit goes back, I'd buy exactly the unit Apple sent. To save money, I might consider the 20-inch 2.66GHz model, but the US$300 cost difference just isn't enough to make that smaller one a better value.

Sure, you can buy a less expensive Windows machine for home or office desktop, but as Macs go, the new iMac is a great deal. And by using Apple's Boot camp software or Parallels or VMware, you get the best of both worlds: You can install Windows XP for full application flexibility, giving you essentially two computers in one.