Losing weight has become a national obsession. Thin is in and it's not just with the human form. Some of the most desirable technology products of today are thin and the thinner the better. New digital cameras are thin enough to slip into a shirt pocket. Portable mp3 players and even the latest stereo components are losing weight. And let's not forget those wonderful flat plasma TV sets that hang on a wall, and who doesn't want a flat panel computer screen on their computer these days? Unless the computer IS the flat screen. Well that's exactly what Apple has done to its newest generation of iMac computer.

Looking at the new iMacs is like looking at a computer monitor without the computer. Apple has managed to cram the entire computer into a beautifully sculpted display that comes in a wide-screen format. In fact, the new iMac's form looks pretty much like Apple's recently introduced line of 20, 23 and 30 inch screens. The brushed aluminum base allows the screen to seemingly float above the desk. A touch of the finger lets you pivot the screen to an ideal viewing angle. The base is also part of the iMac's cable management system that guides all of the cables that plug into a vertical array of five USB ports (three USB 2.0), two FireWire 400 ports, a 10/100BASE-T Ethernet and a 56K V.92 modem port on the left side of the reversed screen.

For complete review please go to:http://www.computeramerica.com/content/columns/craig/2004/2004-09-13.htm

Craig Crossman is a Knight-Ridder newspaper columnist writing about computers and technology. He also hosts the nation's longest running nationally syndicated radio talk show on computers and technology, Computer America, heard on the Business Talk Radio network weeknights at 10PM ET. In South Florida, you can hear a rebroadcast of a selected Computer America show each Sunday evening at 8PM ET on WJNO 1290AM.

Craig Crossman is a Knight-Ridder newspaper columnist writing about computers and technology. He also hosts the nation's longest running nationally syndicated radio talk show on computers and technology, Computer America, heard on the Business Talk Radio network weeknights at 10PM ET. In South Florida, you can hear a rebroadcast of a selected Computer America show each Sunday evening at 8PM ET on WJNO 1290AM.