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iMac
A whole lot of media attention these days is focused on Apple's new iMac machine. This latest addition to the Macintosh line has been touted by the mainstream press as Macintosh's reentry into the home computer market because its intriguingly futuristic yet retro design and low price make it very attractive to consumers.


The iMac may be good for casual gaming, but it isn't for the hardcore
Priced to sell at $1299, the iMac does provide excellent value for the casual home user. Its brain, the 233MHz PowerPC G3 processor and 512K level 2 cache, is up to today's standards. iMac comes with 32M of RAM and 4GB of hard drive space in the box, ample space for most Macintosh computing needs these days. Add to that a 24x CD-ROM reader, a 56Kbps modem, a built-in 15-inch monitor, keyboard, and mouse, and you've got everything you need to surf the Web or run Microsoft Word in comfort.

Casual game players will find the iMac capable enough. Soldered on to the motherboard is an ATI Rage Pro 2D/3D graphics chip, a capable video accelerator. Most of the less-demanding games available for the Macintosh will run just fine on this graphics solution, although users may want to add another 32M or so of RAM to avoid having to use virtual memory, which will sometimes cause annoying delays during gameplay when swapping from disk. Built-in 16-bit sound completes this able if unspectacular performer.

While the Rage Pro may not have the power of the best 3D chipsets on the market, it's good to see it in the iMac, since the original version of the iMac shipped with the Rage IIc, a low-powered and highly-dated choice for 3D. Apple's decision to make this upgrade to their line bodes well for iMac gaming. Even more heartening is MicroConversions' announcement of an iMac version of their Game Wizard, the Voodoo 2-based 3D accelerator that PCI Mac owners throb for. The iMac Game Wizard plugs into the "mezzanine" PCI slot on the iMac, which may in fact void a user's warranty. In any case, MicroConversions hopes to ship it in January of 1999.

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