This Mac was designed for the ?rest of us?. In some ways, it is a ?super iMac?. The focus is not as that of a "work machine" - you?d never find this machine in a secretary?s office or a school lab. But you would see it in families living rooms, or in an author?s studio. Like the old Radius displays, this machine uses a full page screen (this time TFT LCD, not traditional CRT), with the ?landscape? ratio to that of a movie screen. Not only can you type while viewing the whole page, but if you turn the machine onto it?s side, it turns into a wide screen monitor to view - movies! You can play prerecorded DVD and Divix movies on it?s DVD 2x drive, and if you want, hook it up to your VCR, camcorder, Nintendo, laser disc, etc.! You can watch TV and the Mac OS will continue to run in the background (if you prefer too, the OS can be shut down and still watch TV) - it even comes with a universal remote control (it works with your VCR as well as the computer). But enough about the entertainment system.

The rest of the package is great too. A 400 Mhz G3 (with 1 MB of back side cache), a 12 x 24 inch TFT LCD screen (capable of millions of colours), 2 USB ports, 2 FireWire ports, 64 MB of SDRAM expandable to 512 MB, Composite Video & Audio In/Out ports, TV tuner card, ATI 128 chip set, IrDa port (with a universal remote controller for DVD movies, TV card, etc.), PlainTalk microphone (built-in), 12 GB hard disk and a DVD 2x drive and a 56k modem! If even looks great too with its poly-carbonate semi-transparent body with two colours of blue and white (same as the G3 blue & white towers). It comes with two pairs of fold-out feet, a pair to hold it up-right as a full page monitor, and another pair to hold it up as a wide screen (both collapse when it is being transported). The machine comes with one small hidden speaker built-in, but was only designed for audible alerts. If you want to hear more than little sosumi?s, go ahead and get the optional speakers. Sure, you could buy some stereo speakers, but they?re nothing like the ones that can come with the package. Two, 2-way speakers, bass, mid range and a tweeter each - all in a matching translucent casing. They snap onto the back of the Mac?s casing for easy storage and portability. Just snap them off and a wire leads to each one - power comes from the Mac, no extra AC adapter is required.

Expansion: To expand this machine, take out two screws, snap off the backing and pull up and away (the two pairs of feet are attached to the back). This exposes the DVD drive, the hard disk, and the mother board?s heat sink. To get to the RAM, pull up clips at each end of the heat sink, and lift up. The mother board and the daughter board are now opened up. The RAM slots, the ATI 128 chip set, and the CPU all reside on the daughter board . In the future, when new RAM is available, when the G4 is released, or when Voodoo 7 becomes available, you can easily switch daughter boards. It comes with a keyboard and a mouse (the standard Apple USB keyboard and mouse).

Software Package: The same as iMacs, except with the addition of the Connectix VGS, the Apple DVD player and the Apple TV tuner application.

- Mac Designs

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