For a site that declares its hostility to Mac zealotry and positions itself as a debunker of the Reality Distortion Field, MacNET doesn’t exactly go out of its way to be balanced. Instead, it tends to go off the other deep end. And no clearer case in point could be its reactions — two of them — to Apple’s latest product releases, the 20-inch iMac and the dual 1.8-GHz Power Mac G5.

The new iMac is essentially a Cinema Display on a stick; it’s exactly the same machine as the 17-inch iMac, only it’s got a 20-inch monster atop it. But that doesn’t stop Lisa Swanson from complaining about the things that pro Mac users usually complain about when it comes to the flat-panel iMac: overpriced, underpowered, processor too slow, hard drive too small, no L3 cache, yadda, yadda, yadda.

All of which are arguable, and beside the point: they equally apply to the other iMac models. But because Apple upgraded the screen — and only the screen — Ms. Swanson finds cause to complain.

The thought that Apple might be chasing a different market than themselves has apparently not entered the blinkered minds of people like Ms. Swanson. Or that Apple might have done some market research before inflicting a 20-inch iMac on the general public. Instead, she does what MacNET does best — blame Steve Jobs:

More likely than not this was a classic “Steve Jobs” executive directive; “I want a bigger iMac!” And so he shall receive. HE might want one, but would anyone else?

Never ask a rhetorical question if you don’t know the answer.

As for the new dual 1.8-GHz Power Mac G5, a machine that should get all kinds of Mac-heads excited — a dual G5 for only C$3,500: hot damn — Sean Foushee acknowledges the lustworthiness of the system, but claims that Apple has “shot itself in the foot” because it has now pissed off all the early adopters who bought a dual 2-GHz G5 at a higher price!

Frankly, the longer early adopters avoid having prices cut and falling behind in the specs, the worse off the rest of us are. Early adopters are the last people that a company should worry about; Apple needs to get more people to buy their products, not pander to the insecurities of a few who’ve already got them. Hands up: who here doesn’t want better stuff at lower prices?

I know, I know: they’re obviously trolling. MacNET’s been writing critical articles guaranteed to tweak the sensibilities of Mac users and provide grist for their campaign against “Apple zealotry”. It’d help if their arguments were a bit more credible, though — better thought out, better researched — and if they didn’t write as though Steve Jobs (and they do personalize it) loves nothing better than fucking over Apple’s customers.