Opinion
by Yuval Kossovsky
OCTOBER
05, 2004 (COMPUTERWORLD) - Editor's
note: Last month, online news editor Ken
Mingis snagged one of the first iMac G5s
and offered an early look at Apple's latest
desktop (see story). Here, Yuval Kossovsky
weighs in.
Like many of you, I heard the iMac G5
announcement several weeks ago, and when
I saw a picture of the new desktop computer
on the Apple Web site, my first reaction
was: "I want this -- now!"
I
recently had the pleasure of taking delivery
of the top-of-the-line 20-in. iMac G5
-- provided by Apple for review purposes
-- and I can honestly say that I still
have that same visceral reaction every
time I see it anywhere in my house.
I
asked the folks at Apple about their design
goals and philosophy in creating the new
iMac and came away with this: The design
of the new iMac G5 is based on the consumer
using the machine (yes, they made this
for you) and redefining the consumer desktop
for the 21st century. They want to do
for the desktop and home computer what
the iPod did for music.
Generally,
only the screen, mouse, keyboard and media
drive of any computer are regularly accessed,
and the rest of the parts are considered
necessary evils. Moreover, the box itself
is usually considered ugly and intrusive
-- not something you would want in your
living room, kitchen, office or anywhere
else it might be seen.
The
iMac G5 changes that by hiding the computer
inside a 2-in.-thick flat-panel LCD. The
clean design and neutral white coloring
ensure that the device will complement
any decor. The keyboard and mouse can
be tucked into the foot that supports
the panel/computer, keeping the iMac's
footprint to a minimum. The iMac tucks
away anywhere, but it looks so good, you
won't want to hide it.
I
want to stress that the iMac G5 is truly
a "family computer" and was
designed as such. For those who need to
do intensive 3-D renderings, genome sequencing
or other compute-intensive tasks, Apple's
Power Mac dual-processor G5 machines are
more appropriate. However, if you're just
surfing the Internet, getting e-mail,
processing photos, editing home videos,
making music, doing home banking and studying,
the iMac G5, with either a 1.6-GHz or
1.8-GHz G5 chip, is more than enough computing
power.
There
are a few other design and operational
touches I discovered that, again, show
how Apple engineers made this a family
machine inside and out. The screen has
a tilt range from -5 degrees to +25 degrees,
ensuring that viewing is comfortable for
all, from the tallest to the smallest
member of the family. Opening the computer
requires only the loosening of three screws,
and those screws are "captive,"
so they can't fall on the floor and get
lost.
The
inside of the machine is clean and easy
to access. Adding memory or an AirPort
wireless card is so simple that the instructions
are printed inside the back cover of the
machine (not in the manual), so you never
need to open the manual. And there is
a self-diagnosing process that consists
of several LEDs. When you call Apple's
tech support, just tell them which LED
is lit, and they will know which part
your machine needs. And since most of
the machine is easily user-serviceable,
you might never need to take your iMac
G5 into the shop.
The
technical details
The
iMac G5 offers a speed jump (not just
a bump) over the previous iMac, which
used a slower G4 processor. The lowest
end of the new line is more than 60% faster
than the previous generation. There are
three Universal Serial Bus 2.0 ports,
two FireWire 400 ports, a video/VGA out,
modem and Ethernet (10/100). The audio
out is both a 1/8 in. minianalog port
and an optical out for those with an optical-capable
sound system.
The
iMac G5 is whisper-quiet, literally. It
makes less than 25db of noise in standard
operations (a whisper is around 30db).
My experience with it was that I couldn't
tell by listening whether it was on or
off. And those who like to webconference,
take note: The top of the machine has
a magnet built in to support the new iSight
magnetic stands.
Being
a technojunkie, I was skeptical that 64MB
of video RAM would be enough to drive
the screen; and the Nvidia card Apple
uses has come under fire from would-be
gamers who want something more powerful.
But with the bus optimization engineered
into the system, I wasn't disappointed
with video performance in any way. As
for RAM, the iMac ships with only 256MB.
That's enough for basic use, but I think
all computer manufacturers are guilty
of putting in the minimum necessary to
keep prices low. I would suggest doubling
that to at least 512MB if you are going
to do photos. And if you can afford it,
put in the full 2GB of RAM the machine
will accept. Do that, and you'll still
be enjoying the machine five years from
now.
The
configuration sent by Apple came with
512MB of RAM, and I was initially concerned
that it would underperform. So I tested
it using something designed to push the
system harder than most folks would. I
hooked up a Digidesign mBox and ProTools
and did some professional quality audio
mixing. (I was a sound engineer in a previous
career.)
The
iMac G5 handled 24 tracks with compression
on each, and there were no skips, stutters
or slowdown in screen or mouse response.
This machine rocks.
For
PC users tempted to switch platforms,
Detto Technologies makes a product called
Move2Mac that simplifies the migration
process from Windows to Mac OS X. I will
be covering that very issue in my next
article, because my wife (a lawyer and
longtime PC user) decided when she saw
this machine that it was time to try a
Mac.
Apple
is promoting the elegant look and use
concept through the ability to configure
the system with integrated Bluetooth,
wireless keyboard and wireless mouse as
a build-to-order (BTO) option at time
of purchase from the Apple store online.
You can get the Bluetooth module, wireless
keyboard and mouse all for $100. Normally,
the keyboard alone is $70. I highly recommend
going wireless. It's elegant, and if you
have a 20-in. screen, you don't need to
be directly in front of the computer when
using it.
I
should mention a few other touches. A
new migration tool built into the new
iMac G5 asks if you have another Mac you
are migrating from. If so, you hook up
a FireWire cable to your old machine (booted
in FireWire target mode), and the migration
software will copy over your accounts
and applications with settings to the
new computer. It's easy and simple. Combine
that with power and elegance and you have
the new iMac.
Did
I miss something? Do you have feedback?
Send your questions, comments and curses
to y.kossovsky@ieee.org.
