Fortune looks at 24" iMac

Apple's new Macs may not be cheaper than the competition, but the new iMac line represents a extremely competitve offering in terms of price and and performance, according to a new column. Fortune's senior editor concludes that Apple's 24-inch iMac is a better value than a similarly configured PC from Dell, although it does cost about $70 more: "Apple is making applesauce out of the old canard that Macs are a lot more expensive than Windows computers. Now that Macintoshes use the same Intel processors found in higher-end Windows machines, and can even run Windows XP and Windows applications.... One can quibble with the fairness of the comparison, but no matter how you sliced it, the Dell machine was hundreds of bucks more expensive than the Mac Pro.... Will the same hold true for Dell's consumer computers? It certainly looks that way, with a new $999 price point for a 17-inch iMac. Sure, you can get a PC and monitor for less money, but not with anything close to the power and multimedia features and software and ease of use of the iMac."

by MacNN Staff