My wife is many things—beautiful, intelligent, capable, and hard-working—but a techie she's not. So when I proposed that we follow the lead of esteemed PC Maggers John Dvorak, Michael Miller, and Robyn Peterson and switch to a Mac, her first response was "will I know how to use it?"
I talked her into giving it a try, and used this week's iMac refresh as the perfect excuse to make the purchase. My wife was still incredulous when I got it home, though, and that's when it hit me: She should be the one to set up our precious new computer. Not only would she see first-hand how easy it is to use, but, as any geek knows, nothing binds the heart to a new piece of tech more than personally going through the set-up and install process!
In the following non-slideshow, we'll take you through the unboxing process right through to the moment Corinne first logged onto Facebook with the beautiful new machine. Elapsed time to Facebooking: 13.5 minutes! Beat THAT with your Dell Linux box, Jen! See if your girlfriend can do that with the fancy Vista PC she built, Jason!
(Man, a few hours with an iMac and I'm already talking like a Mac-head! Sorry!)
Apologies if these photos aren't as crisp as they normally would be. It was my first time using iPhoto and I'm still getting used to it.
No problem getting the hefty display out of the box. The iMac, like all Apple products, is packaged beautifully and simply. As my wife remarked, "No annoying twisties on the cables!"
Corinne had no problem plugging in the keyboard and mouse, hooking up the ethernet cable, and finding the On switch. Because it's an all-in-one machine, that's really all there is to it. (We'll see how she does with setting up our Bluetooth keyboard and mouse tonight). Power on, ready to rock!
Looking good so far.
After a (too) lengthy welcome screen, all that's left to do is register...
...snap a quick profile picture using the built-in iSight camera...
...and log onto Facebook! ETTF (Elapsed Time to Facebook): 13.5 minutes.
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August 10, 2007 10:41 AM
Congratulations on your iMac purchase, Kyle!! How many months until you pay it off?!?!
REAL men go Linux.
August 10, 2007 11:05 AM
Please let us know on the time to carpal tunnel syndrome. Those new keyboards look painful.
August 10, 2007 11:13 AM
Yeah, we're not big fans of the keyboard--it looks and feels like one of those fold-out PDA keyboards. I've got a wireless comfort curve keyboard that we'll use instead
August 10, 2007 12:43 PM
Of course iMacs are easy to set up. They're notebooks you put on your desktop (seriously! they're all notebook stuff inside...just look at the RAM). You could have bought your wife any all-in-one computer (Apple isn't the only one who makes them) and she'd be able to erm...plug it in, I guess. Or any notebook, for that matter.
Anyway, I have a Macbook Pro and I can't get Glenda to touch it. She *hates* OS X. So "just buying a Mac" was kind of out of the question.
Not to mention that buying an iMac would mean effectively buying a monitor she didn't need. And the fact that for a little less than the cost of the mid-range 20" iMac, she got a much more powerful computer (good quad core instead of dual, *way* more powerful graphics card, twice the RAM).
Oh, and games on a Mac? She's a gamer, remember. Your wife may not be, and an iMac might be great for her. They're great for my mom, who has been using Apples for as long as I have (since the Apple II+ days), only she hasn't used anything else.
I guess what I'm saying is, my girl could beat up your girl. ;)
August 10, 2007 12:49 PM
Is that keyboard really that bad? I kinda dig it, although I haven't actually had a chance to TOUCH it. I want to get my hands on one!
Anyway - congrats on the Mac purchase! I'm trying desperately to keep myself from following suit.
August 10, 2007 12:50 PM
Haha, we should remake the "I'm a Mac, I'm a PC" commercial with our significant others.
August 13, 2007 7:13 AM
Congratulations on buying a winner!
You also save lots of money, considering the high price Macs command second hand, and compared to Windows, all those saved hours for not having to deal with viruses and malware - especially the kind called Windows ;-)
As a video and audio pro using both Macs and Windows PCs for 20 years (although I now have dropped Windows completely), I really can't recommend anything else but Macs these days. Want to play games? Reboot the Mac into Windows and take it away, baby ;-)
August 14, 2007 1:53 PM
@Kyle Monson: Congratulations on the new iMac, it is a lovely machine, I only wish I could afford one instead of looking at it at work all day. You do realize however that you can plug the mouse straight into the keyboard though right?
@Mark Hachman: Odd you should say that, it's actually much more comfortable to type on the new keyboards than the old ones. In fact, these keyboards are the most comfortable I have ever used. The lack of "bump" on the front means that you don't need to raise your wrists 3 inches into the air to get your fingers on the keys. Very comfortable, lots of feedback and very fast to type on.
@Jason Cross: As an Apple technician I find this hilarious. The FSB (Front Side Bus), GPU (Graphics Processing Unit), HDD (Hard Disk Drive) and so on... it's all desktop spec. Do I need to try and find a 24" notebook? The only thing that the iMac carries over from the notebooks is the use of SO-DIMM modules, but this is simply common sense as it uses less space. I don't see any basis for these kinds of claims.
All of that said, they are insanely simple to set up. Some time around the 3-4 minute mark would be more common for your average geek, but 13 minutes isn't bad for someone who doesn't care about this stuff.
August 17, 2007 9:33 AM
Corinne had no problem plugging in the keyboard and mouse, hooking up the ethernet cable, and finding the On switch. Because it's an all-in-one machine, that's really all there is to it.
Wow! So easy, even a woman can do it! *sigh* I guess it wouldn't be so bad if you didn't sound surprised that she was able to plug devices (whose printed icons match) into one another.
Got to go check my lip gloss now.
August 17, 2007 9:44 AM
@Kerri
I didn't see it at first, but you're right--this article smacks of a little...um...not-so-respect for your wife. I mean no offense here, as I'm sure it wasn't meant to harm, but there's an implication here: WHOA MY WIFE CAN DO THIS NO WAY!!!!!111 WUT ELSE CAN SHE DO??!! One only needs to look at the "my girl can beat up your girl" comment (sorry, commenter) for some confirmation.
Again, no offense meant, Kyle, I have no beef, but consider the weird vibe your article gives off.
August 17, 2007 11:01 AM
Kind of amazing that you felt you had to point out she was your wife. Makes it seem like you're really saying "even a girl can do this" which is very 1950's and, I think, takes away from the point you are trying to make. I thought you could have done a better job and showing your objectivity if you had simply stopped at Technophobe and left it at that. That she's your wife seems entirely irrelevant to the story.
August 17, 2007 3:07 PM
Yeah, Saltberry, I can see that, though "So Easy My Technophobic Wife Can Set It Up" is a much better headline than "So Easy a Technophobe Can Set It Up." That might be the worst headline ever...obvious, impersonal, not at all pertinent to our audience, etc.
You can read into it whatever you like, but "technophobe" implies nothing about a person other than their level of technological expertise. What I meant to show is that those of you with technophobic spouses (whether husband or wife) need not be afraid of switching to Apple. By contrast, Gearlogger Jen Deleo set up a Linux-based Dell this week at home...I'll let her tell her own sad story, but let's just say a slideshow of her setup process would look very, very different than this one.
August 17, 2007 3:18 PM
I'll get you yet, Monson! Let me just clear the air now and say that it only took 5 minutes and 49 seconds for me to set up the Dell/Ubuntu machine and Ethernet connection.
And yes, I will tell my tale of woe next week, as my boyfriend and I DID run into problems with finding a driver for the wireless card (but I installed the wireless card all by myself!), and that's only because it was an oversight on our parts. I will explain completely in detail, so stay tuned Linux hater!
September 8, 2007 12:15 AM
The only reason i read this article was because of the blatantly derogatory title just begging for some hemp neclace wearing female to get offended. Clearly Mr. Monson meant no harm. Macbook pro along with a free ipod nano in the mail. Cant wait. Its my first Apple Computer. I think it has taken me so long to buy one because in high school the old imac had a round mouse that infuriated me. Hopefully this one pleases.
January 22, 2008 12:53 PM
I've got the new 24-inch iMac too and I love the new keyboard! I can type so much faster and it takes up way less room!