Apple iMac - All-in-one - 1 x PPC G4 1 GHz - RAM 256 MB - HDD 1 x 80 GB - CD-RW / DVD - GF4 MX - Mdm - MacOS X 10.3 - Monitor : 15" TFT

The trouble with entering a Mac store is not that it looks light and airy and full of designer fun, but that it's difficult to exit the store. It's almost equally difficult to choose which model to buy, once you're finally convinced that Apple's are no longer so different that they're incompatible with the rest of the world. The store is full of fun models and choices, ranging from the budget to the massively expensive. In terms of buying a perfectly servable computer that has all the bells and whistles you need, is affordable and has a little bit of a personality, the iMac is the way to go.

I love this computer. It has a 15 inch flat screen, that conveniently tilts in any direction you want it to, and comes attached to a small base which contains all your hardware (yes! no more huge lumps of iron under your desk that you knock your knees against). It even contains a DVD/CD-RW drive - and if you want to go for a DVD writer, you just go up one model. In truth, this computer does everything I've ever wanted from a computer and more. I've never been one to get sucked into technology, but the iMac has adorable features, like iTUNES (I've completely stopped buying music on CD's and even bought an iPOD to replace my minidisk), iMOVIE (for editing film clips you made of your new puppy), and other fun programs.

If you are smart, you will by the mac.com package that costs only $70. This deal has given me more free software than I care to recall, and provides me with online support (not that I need it often in this user friendly environment), my own webpage and much more. For traditionalists, you can buy the Windows for Mac package, which has all the software you know and understand, such as Word, Excel, Powerpoint and Entourage (equivalent to Outlook). The advantage of this is that you can open the same files as everyone else, and send them the files as they are, without having to convert them first. This was a huge selling point for me on the new operation system OS X.

So what, if it takes you 10 minutes to figure out the little oddities that you're not used to, like clicking on the top left instead of the top right to minimize a window, or holding the control key in order to left click. All in all, the iMac software is MUCH easier to navigate than Windows once you spend 10 minutes on the Mac.

If you're fed up with the Bill Gates monopoly and the viruses Windows seems prone to, and wish for a little bit of umph in your life, the iMac is for you. I wish I could convert the whole world, but then ... the iMac wouldn't be special anymore.