New iMac G5 impressions

> Could you also comment on noise and heat? Supposed to be very quiet,
> true? Is there a lot of heat coming out of the exhaust vent across
> the top? Is the enclosure warm to the touch?

While it's always hard to comment on noise levels at a conference as
there is so much noise around you, I did stick my head right up close
to the iMac and couldn't hear anything, but a real evaluation will
need to wait for a quiet room to be sure.

As far as heat, I was there in the afternoon, so most likely it had
been running all morning already and it was noticably cooler than my
current cinema display.

Christopher Appell
Paris France

I don't know...did anyone else feel disappointed in the new iMac? To me, it doesn't break new design or usability ground as did the previous incarnations of the iMac. Not much "wow!" factor, since I've been seeing similar one-piece, all-in-the-screen PCs at the local electronic stores for quite some time now. They come with TV tuner cards and software that allows you to record TV to HDD/DVD and are advertised as as digital entertainment/multimedia systems. I have no idea how well they work, but they seem to be selling well. But the new iMac's external resemblance to these machines (Apple copying PC design? Oh no!) begs a comparison of features, and without the TV stuff, the iMac comes off looking like an also-ran.

Right now, I've got the kid's iMac 17" flat-screen machine set up to do this using an external video input box and some beta recording software, but it's slow and cumbersome. I was hoping that the new iMac would expand Apple's Digital Hub concept to include more of the TV stuff.

What would 'wow' me? Take the concept of the iPod and its dock...how about a dock-mounted iMac that could be removed from the dock and carried to the couch or another room, where it could serve as a wireless-fed personal TV? A tiny IR remote would handle the various tuner/recording functions. A fold-out stand, like a desktop picture frame stand, would prop it up on a night table or whatever.

Just a thought. Perhaps over the top, but I WAS disappointed in the new iMac's design and features.

Anyone else have any ideas?

Is there a way to connect another Mac (or PC) to that display? It would be outstanding if I could use it to replace my old Sony CRT. [Not as far as I know - the iMac itself can take an external monitor in mirroring mode, but it can't (without being used via remote control software like Apple Remote Desktop or Timbuktu, I suppose), be the display for another Mac. But of course, if you just want that, a normal Apple monitor would be cheaper. -Adam]

I am also disappointed with the unadjustable monitor. I am 6'3", my wife is 5'4", and my daughter is 3'6". The G4 iMac is perfect for each of us.

Does the CD/DVD holder pop-out like on the iMac G4 or is it internal like on the PowerBook? I much prefer the pop-out; I sometimes have problems playing DVDs on my PowerBook.



[I'm almost positive that it's a tray-less design where you insert the CD into the drive. I'm not sure that you can necessarily make an assumption that tray-less drives have more trouble reading discs though; it may just be your PowerBook's drive. I've never noticed any particular trouble on mine, for instance. -Adam]

Hate to say this, but I like the iMac G4 look better myself and see no reason to upgrade at this time.

David Tatelman

On Tuesday, September 7, 2004, at 07:42 PM, Steve Porritt wrote:

> I don't know...did anyone else feel disappointed in the new iMac? To
> me, it doesn't break new design or usability ground as did the
> previous incarnations of the iMac. Not much "wow!" factor, since I've
> been seeing similar one-piece, all-in-the-screen PCs at the local
> electronic stores for quite some time now. They come with TV tuner
> cards and software that allows you to record TV to HDD/DVD and are
> advertised as as digital entertainment/multimedia systems. I have no
> idea how well they work, but they seem to be selling well. But the new
> iMac's external resemblance to these machines (Apple copying PC
> design? Oh no!) begs a comparison of features, and without the TV
> stuff, the iMac comes off looking like an also-ran.

I think it's a great design, both functionally and aesthetically. It's
one that is significant enough to make the iMac look like a new product
- one that's more stylish, friendlier, easier to use, and much cooler
than anything PC. It's enough of a blockbuster that it received
extensive coverage in news sections the national press - not just in
the computer or technology pages. Maintaining a breakthrough image is
what's kept Apple and iMac thriving since Steve Jobs grabbed the reins
again.

But it's also important to consider that the line is designed not just
to preach to the already converted (us), but to convince PC users to
"switch." And by linking the iMac design even more closely to the iPod,
a product that's become equally popular with PC users, is making a
switch even more tempting. And now that HP is distributing, and heavily
promoting, iPods.

>
> Right now, I've got the kid's iMac 17" flat-screen machine set up to
> do this using an external video input box and some beta recording
> software, but it's slow and cumbersome. I was hoping that the new iMac
> would expand Apple's Digital Hub concept to includ! e more of the TV
> stuff.
>
> What would 'wow' me? Take the concept of the iPod and its dock...how
> about a dock-mounted iMac that could be removed from the dock and
> carried to the couch or another room, where it could serve as a
> wireless-fed personal TV? A tiny IR remote would handle the various
> tuner/recording functions. A fold-out stand, like a desktop picture
> frame stand, would prop it up on a night table or whatever.

Though I'm not an expert, I think that though these ideas sound great
are certainly tempting, they would be too expensive and would drive the
cost beyond historic iMac price points. I wouldn't be surprised to see
some revolutionary Apple consumer electronics hardware products rolled
out under the "i" brand with sophisticated digital video creation,
playback and recording capabilities.

Marilyn

I wonder why reviews rarely pay attention to all the electro-smog one is exposed to when sitting in front of a computer.

The iMac has its power supply built into the screen. What does that mean in terms of EM-exposure?

[My impression is that current research hasn't shown conclusive results about health problems being caused by low-level electromagnetic radiation, and most of the initial worries were related to CRT-based monitors, whereas the iMac has an LCD screen. And I can't see much difference between the power supply being built into the screen versus it sitting on your desk, as it did with the iMac G4. -Adam]

On Sep 3, 2004, at 4:34 PM, mpeursem wrote:

> KVM are easily extendable without loss of resolution, although I
> haven't found a 10 meter DVI-cable yet

Have you tried software solutions? I've been very happy with Teleport
and/or OSX2X. (The latter requires running a VNC server on the target
boxen.) Both work the same way -- scroll your mouse off the edge of
one screen, and mouse and keyboard focus move to the other.
Functionality is similar to multiple monitors.

<http://www.abyssoft.com/software/teleport/>
<http://www.opendarwin.org/projects/osx2x/>

I keep them both around due to minor bugs in both. Teleport
occasionally forgets to allow you to bring back the mouse focus to the
primary computer; at which point the only way to get control that I've
found is to turn off Teleport on the target computer. OSX2X works
fine, but you can't send a Command character.

Works great over AirPort non-extreme; biggest problem is squinting to
see the other monitor when it's far away.

Best,
Jeff

:-( For my wife the electromagnetic radiation could be and issue. She does react quickly to CRT monitors, cell phones, and Wi-Fi/2.4 phones. A sharp piercing headache drives her out of the roughly 3 meter radius, more for some cell phones.

As a teacher with the Maine Laptop program there are AirPort hubs in every class room, students were unable to sneak onto the Internet during class. She would feel it and threaten the loss of all Internet privileges. She was infamous for never being wrong or missing anyone.

We are thankful that Maine does not have many Wi-Fi hotspots yet. She will not go into an Apple retail store any more if there are any customers at a computer.

So the studies can show the "average" person, I live with someone who is on the outer end of the bell curve. I just never answer the cell phone while in the car with her driving ...

On Wed, 15 Sep 2004, tsivonen1 wrote:

> :-( For my wife the electromagnetic radiation could be and issue. She does react quickly to CRT monitors, cell
> phones, and Wi-Fi/2.4 phones. A sharp piercing headache drives her out of the roughly 3 meter radius, more for
> some cell phones.

Oddly enough, my wife too is affected, but not as much. Then again, she
does have a hefty bit of technology in her head -- a Cochlear Implant
(essentially for the lay person, that's an internal hearing aid -- which
is about as accurate as describing a Mac as a PC that works ;-)

She can 'sense' when a cell phone is going to ring a split second or two
before it actually does. As far as I know, there's no pain involved, but
it is interesting to see a person with reduced hearing grabbing for a
phone that hasn't rung yet (but does as soon as she picks it up)!

Matt Childress

On Sep 15, 2004, at 11:27 AM, tsivonen1 wrote:

> :-( For my wife the electromagnetic radiation could be and issue. She
> does react quickly to CRT monitors, cell phones, and Wi-Fi/2.4 phones.
> A sharp piercing headache drives her out of the roughly 3 meter
> radius, more for some cell phones.

Um -- not to sound glib or callous, but have you considered asking your
wife to visit a research hospital? There's just nothing in the human
body that's supposed to react like this to radio waves on this
frequency, AFAIK. If this is legit, your wife could be an amazing
research subject.

Out of curiosity, how does she react to microwave ovens? That's the
same frequency as WiFi, only much stronger.

My guess is, she's got a loose filling, or SOME foreign object in her
head that's resonating somehow. (Or perhaps a bone fragment?) Because
what you're describing is like the scene in K-PAX where they say Kevin
Spacey can see ultraviolet.

Best,
Jeff

[Wow, this got so completely off-topic, but in such nice little steps... Ah well, I'll let it go. -Adam]

On 9/16/2004 8:34, "Matt Childress" <mccprairienet.org> wrote:

> She can 'sense' when a cell phone is going to ring a split second or two
> before it actually does.

I can hear clearly when my cell phone is about to receive a text message,
when I have it sitting about 6 feet from my (GE) two-line desk phone. This
happens a lot, since our servers use text messaging to page me about
problems or imagined problems.

There is a sort of rattling, clacking sound from the speakerphone speaker.
Presumably, these are transmissions from my phone...at full strength since
the signal from the tower is weak here. If the cell phone is significantly
closer, the desk phone usually announces impending rings, too.

I can't put this cell phone where I would like to in the car either, since
the car radio (old-fashioned Baxter listens to AM) picks up this noise
during routine tower-to-cell conversations.

  --John

Flicking through old e-mail, I stumbled across this message, which I sent on 13/6/2002

from: Steve McCabe <bigstevemacmac.com> date: Sunday, January 13, 2002 5:16 PM to: TidBITS Talk <tidbits-talktidbits.com> Re: New iMac industrial design comments

I'm not quite sure just how bendy these new iMacs might be, but I'm wondering if it might even be possible to mount one on the wall. It would free up a lot of desk space, and would be a way to sell them for kiosk use.

[No, we asked the Apple folks about that, and they said that the drives (Combo and SuperDrive) need to be horizontal to work correctly. I'm sure that will improve over time, but I'm not surprised by them needing a specific operating environment right now, since they're still quite new and haven't gone through the evolution that the read-only drives have. -Adam]

Steve

Anybody know who I should talk to at Apple about royalty cheques?

[I think you should ask Steve Jobs directly. :-) -Adam]

Steve

At 8:34 AM -0700 2004/09/16, Jeff Porten wrote:
>On Sep 15, 2004, at 11:27 AM, tsivonen1 wrote:
>> :-( For my wife the electromagnetic radiation could be and issue. She
>> does react quickly to CRT monitors, cell phones, and Wi-Fi/2.4 phones.
>> A sharp piercing headache drives her out of the roughly 3 meter
>> radius, more for some cell phones.
>
>Um -- not to sound glib or callous, but have you considered asking your
>wife to visit a research hospital? There's just nothing in the human
>body that's supposed to react like this to radio waves on this
>frequency, AFAIK. If this is legit, your wife could be an amazing
>research subject.

        This type of thing might also qualify for the million dollar
"paranormal" prize offered by the JREF. The ability to detect this type of
radiation probably qualifies.
        <http://www.randi.org/research/>

        At the very least, contacting them might allow you to figure out a
valid test to determine if it is actually the EM radiation, or perhaps
something else such as audio effects (due to high frequency transformer
humming or something like that). If you determined that it was an audio
effect, you might be able to provide some sound shielding for some of the
offending devices that would alleviate some of her suffering.

        good luck

To get back to the subject of iMac G5 impressions, has anyone
purchased and received a new iMac G5 ? Extended first-hand impressions
? I'm very seriously considering replacing my aging Cube 450 with a
new iMac but a little nervous about a v1 product. Thoughts ?

Christopher Appell
Paris, France

Christopher Appell wrote:

>To get back to the subject of iMac G5 impressions, has anyone
>purchased and received a new iMac G5 ? Extended first-hand impressions
>? I'm very seriously considering replacing my aging Cube 450 with a
>new iMac but a little nervous about a v1 product. Thoughts ?

I am as curious as Christopher. After reading Adam's "Take Control of Buying a Mac" I found myself assured to buy a new model (and I am very much interested in the new iMac!) after the first revision, which can be expected early next year.

<http://www.tidbits.com/takecontrol/buying-mac.html>

Because I don't have to buy a new machine, it feels good to postpone any further thoughts about configuration details etc. to that moment in the future.

- Michael

On Thursday, September 30, 2004, at 01:16 PM, Christophe Appell wrote:
> To get back to the subject of iMac G5 impressions, has anyone
> purchased and received a new iMac G5 ? Extended first-hand impressions
> ? I'm very seriously considering replacing my aging Cube 450 with a
> new iMac but a little nervous about a v1 product. Thoughts ?

I don't have one of the new iMacs, but I did get a first generation
dual processor G5 last year right after it hit the market, and two jobs
ago I was one of 3 people in the office to get a first generation iMac
within a few weeks of its release, and in my last job I got an iMac
Special Edition DVD also within a few weeks of release.

I can unequivocally say that it was true love from the outset to the
end of the relationship with each of the machines. There was a problem
with the DVD in the Special Edition iMac going on the fritz the third
day I had it, but it was covered under the warranty and got fixed
promptly and easily - I had it back in 2 days as it was repaired here
in New York City.

I have been very happy with Apple's products, and would purchase an
early release again without hesitation.

If there's an Apple store or retailer near you, I'd check out the new
iMac to see if you like the screen, etc.

Marilyn

On Thursday, September 30, 2004, at 01:16 PM, Christophe Appell wrote:
> To get back to the subject of iMac G5 impressions, has anyone
> purchased and received a new iMac G5 ? Extended first-hand impressions
> ? I'm very seriously considering replacing my aging Cube 450 with a
> new iMac but a little nervous about a v1 product. Thoughts ?

A new Apple store opened in Kansas City a couple of weekends ago and they
had the new iMac on display. I thought the 15" looked a bit weird -- it
has a huge white border around it. You keep wondering why the screen is so
tiny (considering my primary computer at home is a 15" PowerBook you would
think I was used to it, but it seemed small). The 17" seemed to fit the
box better with smaller borders of white.

The heat is noticeable on top of the computer (top-left seemed hottest).
But not hotter than the bottom of my laptop.

Connectors are on the back which seemed weird 'til I realized they're
trying to hide the cables. Still I'm not sure I'd want the better
appearance over the easier connections.

I didn't realize the power button on the back but that just matches up with
Apple's never turn the computer digital hub.

Kevin

At 6:48 AM -0700 10/5/04, Kevin van Haaren wrote:
>
>A new Apple store opened in Kansas City a couple of weekends ago and
>they had the new iMac on display. I thought the 15" looked a bit
>weird -- it has a huge white border around it. You keep wondering
>why the screen is so tiny (considering my primary computer at home
>is a 15" PowerBook you would think I was used to it, but it seemed
>small). The 17" seemed to fit the box better with smaller borders
>of white.

Maybe because the sizes are 17" and 20". :-)

--
Alan Forkosh <aforkoshmac.com>

--On Tuesday, October 5, 2004 7:08 AM -0700 Alan Forkosh <aforkoshmac.com>
wrote:
> At 6:48 AM -0700 10/5/04, Kevin van Haaren wrote:
>> A new Apple store opened in Kansas City a couple of weekends ago and
>> they had the new iMac on display. I thought the 15" looked a bit
>> weird -- it has a huge white border around it. You keep wondering
>> why the screen is so tiny (considering my primary computer at home
>> is a 15" PowerBook you would think I was used to it, but it seemed
>> small). The 17" seemed to fit the box better with smaller borders
>> of white.
>
> Maybe because the sizes are 17" and 20". :-)

Oh lord now I feel stupid. Maybe should revise my comments to "the huge
margins make the 17" monitor feel like a 15" and a 20" like a 17" 8-)