If you follow me on Twitter, you’ve probably read my trials and tribulations of dealing with my almost 2-year-old Dell Studio laptop. Well, we recently made the decision to purchase a new iMac, and received it this past Friday. After a few of days of use, I though it would be nice to share some of my initial reactions to it, for anyone else thinking of making the transition from PC to Mac.

My initial rection was after taking it out of the box, as to be expected, “wow!” It is a beautifully design computer, lightweight for the size, and thin enough it can fit into almost any workstation, no matter how small your space is. The keyboard and mouse fit perfectly with the style of the computer, so it all feels like one cohesive unit.

Once we set it up, my husband had to show me where the power button was – a bit of a downside considering it’s not in the most obvious of places [on the back of the screen, left hand side], but with his experience using one in the office, not a big deal. The setup process was smooth and each step was outlined simply on screen. Within minutes, it was ready to go, which made me quite happy.

Right out of the box, the keyboard and mouse are a bit strange. The keyboard is smaller than almost every Windows PC keyboard I’ve ever seen, and the keys are downsized to go along with it. Then of course there’s the new keys you don’t find on a standard keyboard, and the change of keyboard shortcuts – I still haven’t figured out how to tab between programs – or even if you can. But the media buttons on it work very well [better than the ones on my former laptop!], and I love that it’s wireless, so I can adjust it’s position easily, and don’t get my feet tangled in anything while I work.

The mouse also has a completely different design, which I’m still getting used to. It’s wider and very flat, so it doesn’t lend itself to actually resting your hand on, so it can be uncomfortable to use for long periods of time. The touch-based controls are nice, though I find them to be slightly less responsive than I’d like – and without the click of a scroll wheel, it’s hard to judge just how far or fast the screen will move while swiping your finger. I’m still adjusting to it, so in a few weeks once I’m solidly using it for work and play, I’ll have a better sense of whether it’s good or whether a swap out for a different one would be in order.

Being a Unix-based operating system, it definitely has a different feel to use than a Windows PC. One of my biggest initial issues was that the menu bar is always located at the very top of the screen, no matter what you size the window to. It took me a little while to adjust to that, and I still sometimes find myself getting confused when I try to do something with it. And without a standard Windows task bar, I sometimes have to search a bit for the program I want, since I no longer need to use my windows at full size.

So far though, my biggest complaint with the OS is the installation of new programs – I’ve found it to be confusing, and definitely more difficult than it’s made out to be on the various websites I read before getting the iMac. The drag-and-drop style doesn’t always work just how it’s supposed to, and it won’t work if you don’t move the exact file you need to – which can be annoying if you download something and it comes in a folder or zip file. For the most part I’ve figured it out, though I still have one game I can’t seem to get to work even after I installed it, even under the Admin user. But, with time to adjust to it and some quick instructional reading online, it’s not a major problem.

So, my impressions thus far are generally favourable. While there is a definite learning curve and adjustment period, I feel like it was worth the investment and switch from a Windows PC – especially after spending time editing some photos and seeing just how well it handles my heaviest-use software.

Photo is by me, and is my current desk set up.