Launched in a blaze of publicity back in January, Apple's new iMac has only recently become available in the UK. Its design is just as striking as the early publicity photos suggested.

Like the original iMac, it's an all-in-one machine that combines the monitor and case in a single unit. However, the bulky cathode ray tube screen of the original has been replaced with a slimline 15in thin film transistor (TFT) display. Sadly, there's no option to upgrade the screen.

The main components are housed in a pearly white, dome-shaped body that measures 27cm across the base. Projecting from the top of this dome is a jointed chrome arm that supports the TFT screen.

This arm is a clever piece of engineering: it's sensitive enough to let you adjust the height, tilt and swivel of the screen with fingertip pressure, but is strong enough to double up as a handle when you need to lift the 9.53kg unit.

When viewed from the front, the new iMac is almost completely featureless, with only a single slot for the CDRom/DVD-R drive interrupting the neat lines of the unit. There isn't even an eject button, since you can open and close the drive unit directly from the keyboard.

The unit that we reviewed was the top-of-the-range model and included an 800MHz G4 processor, 256Mb of SDRam, a 60Gb hard drive, as well as a SuperDrive, which is a combined DVD-R and CD-RW drive.

However, there are less expensive models available with different configurations priced from £977.99 (ex. VAT).

All the new models use a GeForce 2 MX processor for graphics and include a full suite of software in the form of the AppleWorks integrated suite, iTunes music player, iMovie video editor and a selection of games and educational software aimed mainly at school children.

All models run the Mac OS X operating system. Our review model also included iDVD, Apple's easy-to-use DVD authoring software, which can be used in conjunction with the SuperDrive to provide an excellent all-in-one video editing and DVD authoring system.

The 15in screen provides a resolution of 1,024 x 768 pixels and excellent image quality, although a larger screen would still be a welcome option, especially for designers.

The iMac's expansion ports are tucked away at the back of the unit. These feature two USB and two FireWire ports, built-in 10/100Base-T Ethernet and a V.90 modem.

There's also a small opening at the base of the unit that allows you to install additional Ram up to a total of 1Gb or, alternatively, a wireless networking card.

However, there are no expansion slots that allow you to install upgrades, such as new sound or graphics cards. Another obvious omission is audio input.

There is a microphone built in to the front panel of the monitor, but no audio line-in, so you'll have buy a separate USB or FireWire recording device in order to do any audio work.

The original iMac was attractive, but it wasn't very powerful. This new model is much more powerful and is more than capable of tackling demanding tasks such as video editing and DVD authoring.

Apple's prices are generally higher than those of its PC rivals, but the new iMac is priced quite competitively for a machine with this sort of specification.

In addition, its design is unmatched by anything currently on offer from any PC manufacturer, so we won't be surprised if this model repeats the huge success of its now rather quaint-looking predecessor.

Price: £1,300 (ex. VAT)

Specifications:

OS: Mac OS X
Processor: 800MHz PowerPC G4
Memory: 256Mb SDRam
Graphics card: 32Mb nVidia GeForce2 MX
Hard disk: 60Gb
Optical drive: CD-RW/DVD-R
Monitor: 15in TFT
I/O ports: V.90 modem; 10/100Base-T, 2 x FireWire, 5 x USB 1.1

Contact: Apple 020 8218 1000
www.apple.com/uk