Viewing movies on this thing can be downright nerdgasmic. Apple’s all-in-one desktop received numerous updates. First of all, the new iMacs now come in 20.5-inch and 27-inch models (up from the previous 20- and 24-inch models). That screen, 27-inches measured diagonally, is massive. That’s a viewable surface that’s 20.4 inches wide and 8 inches deep on a widescreen 16:9 aspect ratio.

The new iMacs are uber-bright, being the first iMac to sport an LED backlit display that Apple previously made available only on its Macbook line. That means the display can go to full brightness very quickly and display great contrasts.

The resolution is at 2560 by 1440 pixels so images are supercrisp whether you are reading text, viewing photos, or watching movies.

The traditional weakness of flat screens have been poor color quality when viewed from certain angles. Apple claims its new iMacs can be viewed up to a 178-degree viewing angle without seeing a color shift. The screen does look good from off the sides.

Anyway, enough about the screen. The 27-inch iMac comes with a whopping 3 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo and 4 GB or RAM installed. For some extra dinero, you have the option to upgrade to a quad-core processor and install up to 16 GB of RAM.

It comes with 1 terrabyte (1,000 gigabytes) of storage courtesy of a 7200-rpm SATA hard drive. The ATI Radeon graphics card is... I mean, will you look at the size of that screen?! It’s Gigantic! Gargantuan! It makes all other all-in-one desktops look like hobbits, if you ask me. Even most standalone monitors would look like Gulliver in the land of Brobdingnag beside this.

Anyway, as I was saying. This iMac is more powerful than previous iMacs. We have yet to do extensive testing using our usual benchmarkers (like Photoshopping Pokemon heads on top of pictures of Technews reviewers). Nevertheless, offhand, we could tell that starting up and opening applications were noticeably faster.

The design for the desktop itself is essentially unchanged. The all-in-one design has all the components neatly out of view within the casing that includes both the PC and monitor. No untidy entrails to ruin your view, no matter from what direction you look at this computer. It also means setup is pretty straightforward with the power cable the only wire you need to connect.

The set up is practically tangle-free thanks to the wireless mouse and keyboard that now come standard with the iMac. Both the mouse and keyboard promise great battery life since each is smart enough to power down during periods of inactivity.

Apple’s new Magic Mouse replaces the Mighty Mouse and ditches the scroll ball for a multi-touch surface like that on the iPhone screen. And speaking of screens. Will you look at the size of this thing? I mean, whoa, man. I mean, wow (or, as they say in España, “juao”)!

I just want to say something here for an informative minute. Studies commissioned by Apple have shown that larger screens tend to increase productivity by as much as 50% to 65%. Since repetitive tasks like switching between windows is reduced, for example when working on multiple Microsoft Excel files, or moving multiple files between folders or disks.

For multitaskers, distractions are also minimized since minor tasks can be performed without having to minimize or hide the windows for major tasks. My own theory is that with a 27-inch iMac, there’s also very little chance that you’ll be distracted by non-computer related things like brushing your teeth or earthquakes.

The power switch is in back of the computer as well as various connectivity slots: audio in, audio out, four USB slots, FireWire 800, mini display port, and gigabit ethernet. A slot can still be found on the right side for the DVD writer. A feature that is not new to PCs but is being adopted for the first time in the iMac line is the SD card reader.

The built-in iSight camera is embedded discretely in the upper portion of the screen bezel. The backing, which used to be a black plastic, has now also been replaced by an aluminum chassis. In front, the chin area below the screen is now slimmer as well. The better to give emphasis to the, ehem, bigger screen.

The new iMac comes with the new OSX Snow Leopard preinstalled. OSX 10.6 was released in August 28 and boasts faster performance and a smaller footprint. It has most of the features of OSX Leopard plus a few new features like ActiveSync and Exchange 2007 support, Exposé integration in the Dock, movie and screencast recording using QuickTime Pro. (But QuickTime still won’t play some AVI files by default, just grrr-buh).

So, anyhow, to wrap up. Did I mention that the screen is just humongous? It’s a starship among Volkswagens. It’s screenilicious. It’s screenormous. Did I mention the screen is huge?

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Stroking the new Magic Mouse

Goodbye to the nipple. Hello to the mouse that’s asking to be stroked. After four years, Apple is retiring the Mighty Mouse and replacing it with what it now calls the Magic Mouse. Where the last mouse was designed with a little scroll ball thingy, the new Magic Mouse comes with a multi-touch surface that’s sensitive to finger gestures similar to the iPhone’s touchscreen.

The multi-touch area covers the entire surface of the mouse. The touch surface lets you scroll up or down a page on your screen by brushing a finger vertically on the mouse surface. You can also use a two-finger swipe to browse photos in iPhoto or album covers in iTunes. The two finger swipe gesture can also be used to advance through pages in the Safari web browser.

The Magic Mouse is completely wireless, connects via Bluetooth, and is powered by two AA batteries. Some reports say the battery could last up to four months given how well the Magic Mouse conserves power by powering down during inactivity.

You can get the Magic Mouse when you buy a new iMac or you can purchase it separately. According to Apple’s website, the Magic Mouse requires OS X 10.5.8 or later. That seems to indicate that, as of this writing, the mouse could not be used in Mac OSX Tiger 10.4 and Windows.