Dear Future Gamer,

I am a new computer owner. Having missed any formal school education on PCs, the iMac seemed the perfect way to teach myself about general home computing and take advantage of the Internet. The iMac is a wonderfully designed machine, attractive and genuinely simple to use.

With regard to its upgradabilty, I understood that the use of USB ports allowed for a multitude of add-ons, such as a DVD drive, joypad, and other games-related devices, and that its PowerPC chip was also upgradable.

However, I do think Ben.C is missing the point - very few people buy an Apple computer specifically to play games on. Although it seems the market for games on the Mac is picking up, if games had been a primary concern for me, I would have brought (and struggled with) a PC.

And anyway, any prospective Mac owner who does want to 'get their hands dirty', could always buy one of the 'blue and white' Power Macintosh G3s. It’s a bit of "Horses for courses", as they say...

P. D. Haeger

FG: Yeah, but it's a woman's computer - see iMac letter elsewhere in this week's issue. Only joking. You illustrate the point I was trying to make in my reply to the earlier letter. The iMac is a fantastic piece of kit that’s specifically designed to be as easy as possible for people to use. We salute it.