I’ve steadfastly refused to be swayed by the sleek design and aesthetic qualities of the Apple brand, whether this is an inverted snobbery or a general mistrust of the label (and most labels for that matter) I’m not too sure, however in recent months I’m finding myself increasingly drawn toward their machines.

As I’ve mentioned before I’ve done too much OEM building for friends, family and myself to be bothered much with it anymore unless it’s really niche and of personal technical interest (see WHS, Kubuntu and IPCop). So much so that my last machine to reside chez Broon has been a gutsy desktop-replacement laptop but I think this trend is set to be bucked !

Hi..! My name’s Scott and I want an iMac ! There…! I’ve said it…it’s in the open and the way to overcome your fears is to face them and prevail ?!?! Well I’d like an iMac and not any old one but one of these puppies. It’s a self-contained unit with everything built in round the back of a glorious 24″ screen. Of course first thing to go would be the ludicrous keyboard and single-key Mac mouse but other than this I love this thing.

So what’s swayed me on them ? Well…sometime ago Mac in their wisdom realised that running on Intel hardware was the way forward and the rot set in ! Following on from this Bootcamp was hurriedly shoved out the door after some enterprising young Mac-ktivists managed to dual-boot an Intel Mac with WinXP. The final nail in the coffin for me has been the announcement at the recent Mac love-fest that some of the biggest names in the gaming industry are firmly placing the Mac at the forefront of their push to broaden gaming support.

I just want one…it’s liberating to admit it !