Is it a computer or that desk lamp from “Toy Story”? It’s hard to say, but either way, Steve Jobs was involved.

Jobs, CEO of both Apple and Pixar Animation Studios, unveiled the new line of iMac computers earlier this month during his keynote address at the annual Macworld Expo in San Francisco.

“We could have taken our iMac and taken a hacksaw to it,” Jobs said during his address Jan. 7, when he showed the capabilities of the iMac. Instead it was “redesigned from the ground up.”

In his address, Jobs labeled the new design, which was two years in the making, “the best thing I think we’ve ever done.”

Whether or not it truly is the best thing Apple has ever done, the new iMac has drawn the attention of computer users everywhere, including Jake Whitver, president of the Macintosh Users Group at Iowa State.

“They spent a lot of time thinking about making a revolutionary product,” said Whitver, senior in computer science. “They just look a lot better than the old iMacs.”

Aside from its “radical new design,” the new iMac also incorporates technology previously found only in high-end PowerMacs.

Apple is putting their best components in their new computer – each iMac comes standard with a 15-inch flat-panel LCD monitor and G4 processors. Also new to the scene is the “SuperDrive,” a combination DVD-R and CD-RW burner, meaning it can burn both CDs and DVDs. Apple is offering three varieties of iMacs, ranging in price from $1,299 to $1,799.

“I still can’t believe they put a SuperDrive in it,” Whitver said. “The overall system . they brought it up to speed with the Power Macs.”

In the last year, Apple has produced a line of products designed to be integrated into the new iMac – what Jobs has described as the “ultimate digital hub.” Some of these products – including iDVD, iTunes, iMovie and the new iPhoto – and the new operating system, OS X, are preloaded on all iMacs.

The digital hub concept uses a suite of multimedia applications to smooth the rough edges of music, movie and photo creation and manipulation. The combination of iTunes and Apple’s new iPod portable music player create a powerful way to store and use digital music. iDVD and iMovie, combined with a SuperDrive, allow a person to create and burn digital movies using only their iMac and a digital camcorder.

iPhoto, the newest and last addition to the digital hub, “set out to eliminate what one magazine called the Chain of Pain for digital camera users: importing, editing and printing,” Jobs said in his keynote.

iPhoto even allows users to create hardbound books of their photos right from their desktops. For $30, the data is sent to a printer, and the book is returned to the user in about a week.

The multimedia capabilities have drawn him toward the new iMac, Whitver said.

“If you want to make DVDs, you can just get the iMac. You don’t have to spend the money for a [Power Mac],” he said. “If I was looking to buy a new computer, I think this would be the one to get.”

Interest in the system already has bloomed on the ISU campus. Jeremy McKinley, customer relations specialist with Academic Information Technologies, said several people have stopped in to see if a demonstration model was available in the Microcomputer Product Center.

The center ordered the new iMac the first day they could, McKinley said, and it’s expected to arrive in two to three weeks. Ten pre-orders for the high-end model also have been placed.

“I’m kind of excited about it,” McKinley said. “It’s a move that’s been a longtime coming. Flat panel iMacs have been speculated for a while . it has the speed, look and functionality.”