Papa's Got A Brand New Mac
| Published 9/17/04

 


Graphic by: Jenny Conner
Last week, Apple released its stunning new iMac, with a 64 bit G5 processor and a tidy, minimalist design. Its appearance varies greatly from its predecessor, the iMac G4 which had an unusual semicircle design sometimes referred to as the "iLamp". The iMac G5 is still "true to what an iMac has always been about," according to Apple VP of Hardware Product Marketing Greg Joswiak. This article will detail some of the most innovative and unusual features of the new iMac, and basically explain why it is just so cool.

The most obviously striking element of this new Mac is how impossibly small it is. It's about two inches thick - 2.2 inches on the 20" model and 1.99 (wow!) on the 17" model. In comparison to the G4 model, the 17" is more than four pounds lighter, and the 20" is 15 pounds lighter. It stands on an 8mm thick aluminum foot that allows it to tilt up and down from 25 degrees to 5 degrees and has skids on the bottom for better right-left adjustment.

Some will say that this is a step backwards from the previous generation, which had an arm that allowed the screen to swivel in any direction imaginable. If turning your iMac display in all sorts of wild directions is a luxury you cannot possibly give up, you can purchase an adapter for the G5's screen that gives it the same positioning abilities as the G4.

Another thing that stands out in the pictures on Apple's release site is the lack of cords. Using Bluetooth and Apple's AirPort, all the peripherals on the iMac G5 are completely wireless. Therefore, the only cord on the desk is the power cord.

The downside to this is that the iMac G5 is only "AirPort Ready," a neat way to say that you still have to buy and install an AirPort Extreme card. Until then, ports on the back allow you to plug in your keyboard, mouse, etc: audio and video out, three USB 2.0, two FireWire 400, Ethernet and Modem.

One of the Apple design team's biggest challenges was finding an acceptable way to cool the new iMac, as its 64 bit G5 processor generates a lot of heat. In earlier models, fans were just used to suck air in and push air out, generating a lot of dust and eating up a lot of power. The iMac G5 engineers created three cooling areas that run air slowly over the hottest places in the computer, and then expel it out the top of the machine. This process, controlled by advanced thermal software, not only makes the computer much quieter, but saves power as well.

Starting at $1299, the iMac G5 is a big step for Apple. As the Unix-based Panther OS X has made Macs more mainstream, demand for a machine like the iMac G5 has grown. While there would never be enough room in this article for all the specs (NVIDA GeForce FX 5200, robust OpenGL support, Slot-loading optical drive, Serial ATA...), the major new innovations have been outlined. The new iMac G5's start shipping in a couple weeks. You can find out more or even reserve your own at Apple's iMac site: http://www.apple.com/imac .

 

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Name: Sarah Lovas
Year: junior
Major: media studies
Comments:
yeah for macs! my boyfriend's parents just got the new iMac G5 and love it. I used to work on PCs and just got tired of the infamous "Blue Screen of Death." That's why it's now impossible to tear me from my Powerbook G4. I can't help but subtly smile when my roommate reboots her Gateway for the fifth time in a day....