Hands-On Book Review: iMac FYI, Get More From Your iMac

 

Hands-On Book Review: iMac FYI: Get More From Your iMac

Author: Martin C. Brown

Muska & Lipman Publishing.
Paperback (January 2000) 277p
Price: $14.95 list, $13.45 on Amazon.com

Review By Bill Fox
October 2, 2000

I read this delightful paperback by Martin C. Brown on a recent cross-country flight. iMac FYI is written in the form of 99 questions and answers sorted into seven sections plus a glossary and an extensive index. The sections closely follow timewise the information needed as one opens, sets up and uses a brand new iMac. They are:

1. Setting Up and Getting to Know Your iMac

2. Using and Customizing Your iMac

3. Attaching Peripherals

4. Using the Internet

5. Networking

6. Using the Supplied Software

7. Solving Problems

iMac FYI is well written and clearly intended for the novice buying a first Mac or even a first computer. However, despite being a Mac user since 1984 and an iMac user since October 1998, I found a few interesting tidbits that I either didn't know or had somehow forgotten. [I'm not going to embarrass myself by divulging what!]

The Q&A format is well done and very informative. The Q&A's in each section along with sidebar notes and figures completely cover the subject. The most complex section "Networking" should be understandable by almost anyone but it's not remedial. The networking section not only covers connecting two computers in order to play games but also more advanced topics like connecting several computers and an internet connection by ethernet and networking via AirPort, the latest wireless networking technology from Apple.

The book is written around the slot-loading iMacs that came out last Fall and Mac OS 9. iMac FYI not only covers the iMac's hardware features but those of Mac OS 9 and the software that comes with the iMac. In fact, iMac FYI is almost as good a primer for Mac OS 9 as it is for the slot-loading iMacs.

Section 6 of the book serves as an introductory manual for some of the bundled software. This is a difficult task because the bundle has changed substantially over time and is different among countries where the iMac is sold. iMac FYI does a pretty good job. It covers AppleWorks (word processing, spread sheets and painting), FaxSTF (fairly extensively), World Book Encyclopedia, Nanosaur and Bugdom. Not covered are Quicken Deluxe 2000, Adobe PageMill, KidsPix, the DVD movie "It's a Bug's World", or iMovie that came with my iMac DV SE. However, iMovie needs a book itself and receives only one question on one page. Still, this section is a real help to the novice. Internet software is well-covered in Section 5, "Using the Internet".

Are there any negatives to the book? Not really. Hard disk management could have received some attention. There's little to nothing on partitioning or file organization or routine, proactive maintenance. There are, however, some good reactive troubleshooting tips on disk-related problems and backing up one's data is covered in far more detail than the average person will need.

As mentioned earlier, iMac FYI is focussed on the slot-loading iMacs that came out last fall. Newly upgraded iMacs came out this past summer but the differences, aside from the new keyboard and mouse, are in CPU speed, hard disk size, color, price and software bundle. The newest iMacs do not have World Book encyclopedia, KidsPix or Adobe PageMill according to Apple's iMac web site.

In summary, iMac FYI is a terrifically infomative book for anyone new to the iMac and Mac OS 9. Despite the rapid evolution of the iMac and the Mac OS, it is still current and will remain so until Mac OS X replaces Mac OS 9 as the bundled operating system.

Copyright © 2000 by Bill Fox
All rights reserved--no use permitted without attribution.

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