(FORTUNE Magazine) – Some people look at Apple's longneck iMac and declare it to be a triumph of industrial design, destined for the Museum of Modern Art. Others look at its snow-white, rounded base and the rectangular, 15-inch liquid crystal display that floats above the desk on a stainless-steel mast and conclude that the new iMac resembles a half-submerged Humpty Dumpty setting sail for Geekland. Is the new iMac all it's cracked up to be? Let's skip the question of whether it's gorgeous or grotesque; as a matter of aesthetics, you'll have to decide for yourself. (I think it's a striking piece of functional desk sculpture. But then, I also gladly paid a premium price for the now-discontinued Macintosh Cube, which in retrospect was a case study of form over function.)

Apple clearly has learned from its Cube experience. The new iMac is functionally better than the candy-colored, beach-ball-shaped original iMac in nearly every way. The $1,799 SuperDrive model I've been testing appears to be not only a great home computer, especially for people with an interest in the Internet, digital music, digital photography, and digital video, but also a heck of a bargain.

Not counting the keyboard or mouse, the iMac takes up less desk space than a dinner plate. Packed into its half-sphere base (you'll understand why some wags call it the iBreast) are an 800-megahertz PowerPC G4 chip, a SuperDrive optical drive that reads and writes DVD and CD disks, a 60-gigabyte hard disk, 256 megabytes of synchronous dynamic (SD) RAM memory, and a power supply, plus an impressive array of connection ports.

It's impossible to make an exact match of specifications to compare the SuperDrive iMac with competing Windows systems, but I got pretty darned close with a Dell Dimension 4400 desktop. The Dell has a slight edge in hardware and support, while the Apple has better software and aesthetics, but the Dell arrives at the checkout line costing $350 more than the iMac.

The entry-level iMac CD-RW system, at a base price of $1,299, is less of a bargain. For starters, the basic iMac comes with a miserly 128 MB of SD RAM, which is inadequate out of the box. Nor does it have speakers. Boosting memory to a more realistic 256 MB and adding the speakers brings the iMac's "real" base price to $1,408. I compared it with a $1,299 Gateway 700ES, complete with 15-inch LCD display, and deemed the two computers evenly matched, except in appearance. (The Gateway looks like, well, a computer.)

Is the iMac such a good computer and such a good bargain that it should cause Windows users to switch sides? That isn't a tough call at all. If I used a Windows machine at work, had invested hours learning the Windows operating system, planned to run business applications most of the time, and was simply looking for a home PC to satisfy my left brain, the answer is no way. There are decent PCs available for less money, and I wouldn't have to mess with learning an entirely new operating system. Apple has gotten a lot of mileage out of the "easiest computer to learn to use" label, but in my experience the current "dual OS" setup--the new iMac comes with both the OS X operating system and the previous OS 9, and hops back and forth depending on which applications are run--is much more confusing for new users than Windows XP.

But if all I did was crunch spreadsheets and do PowerPoint presentations, I'd be horribly depressed and would probably buy a Mac anyway as a cheaper and less dangerous midlife alternative to buying a Porsche or a Harley.

The Mac is without question the better platform for gratifying a person's right brain. With innovative programs like iPhoto, iMovie, iDVD, and iTunes--ay-yi-yi!--the iMac, especially the SuperDrive model, is the best digital hub around for consumers interested in taking and sharing photographs, making their own digital video movies, having fun with digital music, dabbling in desktop publishing, and maybe running the occasional Microsoft Office application.

And let's not forget the whole-brain reason to consider the iMac: The SuperDrive model is actually cheaper and more practical--it takes up less desk space, is quieter, and uses less electricity--than a comparably equipped Windows machine.

What's not to like about the new iMac? For starters, there's the awkwardness of adding additional memory and wireless networking capability from the underside of the base, a procedure that only a proctologist could love. Bottoms up! Also, the pre-production unit I tested occasionally hummed and buzzed and vibrated when the SuperDrive was engaged, spoiling the otherwise nearly silent operation of the computer. The problem may not affect regular-production iMacs, but keep your ears open for reports from early buyers.

Enough about the hardware. Well, maybe not quite. The stainless-steel neck of the iMac deserves special praise. It's able to make the display seem to float with the touch of a finger yet holds screen position indefinitely without sagging. And it's rugged enough to act as a handle in case the iMac needs to be moved.

On the software side, the new iPhoto software that made its debut with the iMacs is, quite simply, the best photo-management program I've used. As such, it takes its place alongside the best digital music software (iTunes), the best digital video editing software (iMovie), and the best DVD-creation software (iDVD). While such innovative Apple hardware designs as the new iMac and the iPod portable music player get all the glory, the software applications are equally impressive and give the Macs their unique personalities. (Apple's iPhoto is free and can be downloaded from www.apple.com, but it works only with Mac OS X.)

The genius of iPhoto is in its ability to simplify the collection, organization, and sharing of digital photos. Plug any digital camera into the iMac and the software is smart enough to recognize the camera and import the new images. While Windows programs organize images with completely unhelpful file names, iPhoto has a novel concept: It's easier to identify photos by looking at them. But it's even better than a shoebox of prints, because thumbnail images of the photos are grouped into virtual albums based on the dates they were added or by keywords that you assign. Scanning through hundreds or even thousands of images is fast and easy, especially with a slider bar that makes the images as large or as small as desired. My early version of the software had some annoying design quirks, but it's still an elegant and creative tool.

Quite unexpectedly, my favorite iPhoto feature is the ability to create and order, via the Internet, a professionally bound ten-page, linen-covered book of images and text for $30, plus $3 for each page over ten. It's the sort of surprising, simple, and yet emotionally powerful feature that makes Macintoshes so much fun.

Feedback? technology@fortune.com