Apple G3

While last autumn's launch of the colourful iMac made it clear that Apple was very serious about the 'think different' credo, not everyone was satisfied. Dissenters talked about underfed specs and the triumph of style over substance. Power users knew that the iMac wasn't aimed at them, and it didn't interest them. This is where the new G3 comes in.

Those old criticisms aren't just going to go away. Even if the G3 eventually ships in a range of colours, the design won't please everyone, particularly those that mutter about plastic looks. But the case does offer some superb features, like a degree of accessibility - just pull on the handle on one side of the case and the entire right side opens out with the motherboard attached. This gives you unparalleled access to the three available SIMM slots, three unused 64-bit PCI slots and the CPU. This means there's plenty of room to upgrade and it's extremely easy to do so. Security might be a concern, but there's a catch at the back of the system that prevents the side from opening, and this can easily be locked with a padlock.

Sadly there's not much potential for drive expansion. While there's a compartment for an optional Zip disk, and two bays for optional SCSI hard disks, you can forget additional IDE devices. Admittedly, there are some mitigating circumstances. For one thing, a 6Gb Quantum Fireball hard disk and a five-speed DVD-ROM drive should prove sufficient for many users. For another, the G3 boasts two USB and two FireWire ports, so external devices can be fitted quite painlessly. Finally, with 10/100 BaseT Ethernet installed as standard on the G3 range, it's already set up for network-based file transfer, storage and backup. Even then, there's still some reason to complain, particularly when these limitations don't seem to be a result of internal space concerns.

My first negative impression of the G3's mouse and keyboard (both of which I first saw with the iMac) hasn't disappeared. The small, round mouse isn't ideal and, while the feel of the keyboard isn't bad, it's lack of page navigation keys and a forward delete will be felt by heavy Word users. Apple might maintain the line that more mouse buttons confuse bewildered users, but that doesn't explain why the right-mouse button functions that Windows users take for granted have been relegated to tricky Ctrl-Click combinations.

The review system shipped with a 17in aperture-grille monitor - and a very nice one too. Detail is sharp and if you can live with the colour scheme of the case, you'll find it pretty easy to work on.

Apple's vision of the future has its down side, like the lack of any form of removable storage as standard, but luckily an internal Zip drive is available as an option, as is an internal 56K modem if you aren't using the system across a network. The emphasis on connectivity standards like FireWire and USB really makes the G3 a good bet for Mac lovers; digital video enthusiasts, designers and multimedia content creators. These are exactly the sort of people that Microsoft and Intel are trying to woo for NT.

Yet despite what Mac evangelists claim, MacOS is far from perfect. Over the past month I've taken the effort to use the G3 during the daily grind of editing the Reviews section and, in general, it's comfortable. I definitely miss Outlook 98 - Microsoft still hasn't bothered with a Mac version - and the memory management leaves something to be desired. I really shouldn't have to allocate memory to applications in order to get the best performance from them.