Posted by
CmdrTaco
on from the can-i-expense-one-please dept.
MrMiyagi writes "Apple VP of of Hardware Product Marketing, Greg Joswiak, discusses the new iMac G5's hardware design. Apparently it's light enough to carry around the house, and has special fans that run at low speeds making the cooling very quiet."
This sums is up...
by
OneOver137
·
· Score: 5, Insightful
..."teeny little things like that that tend to, over the course of time, make people love their Mac and inspire magazines like yours, versus people getting [angry] over time at their PCs because of little things that drive them nuts."
It's that level of attention to detail that people cherish. God is in the details.
Re:This sums is up...
by
Anonymous Coward
·
· Score: 1, Insightful
Absolutely. I was totally stoked when i saw that my iBook power brick had these little arms for wrapping the cable around and a little clip to hold it all together. The closest thing I've seen to it on PC notebooks is a silly little rubber strap that is awkward to use.
Everything adds up: - the LED indicator on the power cable itself. - pulsing sleep indicator - lack of protruding bits - magnetic lid latch - battery power meter on the OUTSIDE of the battery. I've never seen this on a PC notebook. - putting the ports where you can actually SEE them with out having to get up or move the machine.
Re:100 times on the blackboard!
by
wattersa
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· Score: 3, Insightful
Notice that literally everything he says in the "interview" is devoted to increasing the differences between the "pro" and "consumer" lines. E.g. FireWire 800 had really been more attractive to a professional crowd. And really, more [appealing] than the speed has been the advantages [professionals] have with cable lengths.
What does this statement mean? It's pretty much throwaway. I hate apple marketing. They need to make the iMac G5 without the display (oh wait...attractive to a professional crowd = power mac). *sigh*
Re:The All-in-One is cool,
by
Laivincolmo
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· Score: 4, Insightful
A middle school really doesn't need a powerful G5 processor when you think about it though. If they're just going to maybe browse the web, and maybe have a few games installed, perhaps the eMac would be a more affordable solution : Apple Store
Re:Smart Design
by
Anonymous Coward
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· Score: 1, Insightful
If my beige box had holes in the top I would have spilled drink in there long ago. But the iMac can get away with it because it sits on the desk like a monitor. So I think both are well designed for what they are.
Re:Smart Design
by
Anonymous Coward
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· Score: 2, Insightful
wtf? who modded this up and didn't fact check?
It's amazing how you can make up any old shit and sound interesting on slashdot, and get karma.
Re:iMac G4 arm will be missed
by
Jeff+DeMaagd
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· Score: 3, Insightful
Given that the mount poing is based an open standard, I'd expect that third party telescoping mounts will be made available if there really is sufficient demand.
Most of us?
by
Udo+Schmitz
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· Score: 4, Insightful
Maybe those of us who don't fall into the "most people" category will miss the range of motion available on the iMac G4.
Those of us who don't fall into the "most people" category use a Mac anyway.
Re:The All-in-One is cool,
by
ChristTrekker
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· Score: 2, Insightful
Exactly. A "pizza box" that they could easily replace monitors on would be just the thing. Schools need computers to last a long time, and kids can be tough on them - repeatedly sending them back for LCD repair would get old fast. Though the AIO "almost no cables needed" style has some points in its favor too.
Warning to iMac customers
by
Ars-Fartsica
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· Score: 3, Insightful
AT 256MB, the standard RAM allotment will not be adequate for most people. Note that if you upgrade via the Apple Store, by Apple's return policies the box is now a "custom build" and cannot be returned. Since the RAM seems to have been lowballed almost by design, it seems there is a concerted effort to minimize returns.
Re:Warning to iMac customers
by
krray
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· Score: 4, Insightful
Agreed - 256M is not nearly enough. 512M minimum and 1G is really a good _start_. With every Mac I've requisitioned the memory has been capped where possible.
Upgrading via the Apple Store will negate a return, but by no means will they not service/replace the unit when/where needed. Besides, once you buy a Mac and use it for a bit you will not WANT to return it.
If you do decide to upgrade in the future you'll also find that Mac's tend to hold some decent resale value. PC's are worthless.
Re:Warning to iMac customers
by
HeghmoH
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· Score: 3, Insightful
Buy your RAM third-party. It avoids this trouble, and is usually half the price too.
-- Mod down posts with a "Free Mac Mini/iPod" sig, they're spam!
Re:100 times on the blackboard!
by
BasilBrush
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· Score: 3, Insightful
Need to? They don't need to do any such thing. For all the noise made by geeks on a tight budget, most of the computers that I've ever known of people buying have been bought with a monitor. They might get a few extra sales with a headless version, but would it compensate them for the lower profit on a lower value machine?
ITYM, you want them to make a headless iMac.
Re:Design is a regression, but a progression in co
by
aluminumcube
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· Score: 2, Insightful
I call BS.
The iMac G5 is progressive in price, technology and design. Since I will assume you agree with the first two-
In my book, design is all about making products that are elegant while being used and as minimal as possible when not being used. Based on those two (admittedly highly personal criteria) the iMac G5 is a BIG win.
Say what you will about it somehow being less compact then an eMac (exactly how are you measuring that?) the fact of the matter is that design is a about perception. I think any normal/sane/non-engineer person will look at the iMac G5 and immediately perceive it to be the most compact and elegant solution between previous iMacs and the eMac. Power perceived is power achieved in the world of consumer products, and the latest iMac wins hands down.
Then again, you also advocate that Apple should take a highly expensive, somewhat delicate, complex and oddly shaped device and expect the users of this product (designed to be as simple and elegant as possible) to fill the bottom of the bastard up with water as soon as they got it home so Apple could save a few $$$ on shipping costs...
Re:This is what Jobs...
by
BigFil
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· Score: 3, Insightful
The reason why the all in one LCD design was rejected last time around was becuase it would have required a large bulge in the back of the LCD (i believe for the PS) thus not making it a flatscreen. The technologhy has progressed far enough now that the bulge can be taken away.
-- "Better to be forgotten, then remembered for giving in" - Erich Schmaltz
Re:Design is a regression, but a progression in co
by
aftk2
·
· Score: 3, Insightful
I had proposed something like this to maintain the sunflower design - which I believe to be one of the most unique electronic designs of the decade.
And you were rightly chastized on MacRumors.com...because of the idea that people should add water (?) to the base of their sunflower iMac is just bizarre.
Look, I can't say enough good things about the new iMac. Somehow, they managed to shoehorn a 1.8Ghz G5 in there, allow you to add up to 2gigs of RAM, give you a serial ATA hard drive and a 20 inch screen, while making it user-serviceable (for the most part) and hovering around 2 inches thick (for the 20inch model.) That is amazing.
Furthermore, when this thing starts selling like crazy (which it will, look at that price), there will be more wall mounts and sunflower-style arms that one might have believed possible in such a limited market. I imagine they will probably even get a better graphics card in there, at some point (Don't think so? ATI just announced a 128mb card, the Radeon 9200, for PCI PowerMacs...these are systems that stopped shipping 5 years ago.)
-- concrete5: a cms made for marketing, but strong enough for geeks.
Re:Why do you want a G5 powerbook anyway?
by
PaulMaximne
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· Score: 2, Insightful
Well, I use my powerbook as my main machine. All my development is done on this, so more power would be very nice. I know several people that have a big monitor and external keyboard. When they are home, they connect the monitor, keyboard and mouse, close the lid on the laptop and press a key on the keyboard. Voila, the powerbook uses the nice big monitor just fine and so instant desktop.
I'll take as much power as I can get in my laptop, as long as I don't also sacrifice portability and battery life beyond reason, for some value of reason.
Paul
--
We witness not a fallen world, but falling every day - The Call.
Hopes and Dreams
by
ulfhednar
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· Score: 1, Insightful
It's a fair statement to say that the winpering weenies, who are currently commenting on the iMac G5, are having a problem because their vague, weeny dreams didn't come true. The fact that they really had no idea what they were wishing for in the first place is totally lost on them. They only thing they do know, for sure, is that they wanted to be "WOWED." And they weren't. Wah, wah, wah.
Re:Smart Design
by
badasscat
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· Score: 3, Insightful
I think Apple always goes the extra step when designing their products. I think that one of the most interesting parts of this new iMac is the fact that it has air holes in the top of it so that the hot air can rise out. Now why hasn't anyone else thought of that?
Umm, lots of people have. Probably 50% of all PC towers on the market have top-mounted fans and/or air holes.
What I don't get about the new iMac is this: Ok, so it's basically a screen and keyboard. And you can carry it around the house. And it's not expandable (like other iMacs). Now, how is this different and/or better than a laptop? So the computer itself is in the screen rather than the keyboard - that's not really a major difference in form factor. What advantages does the iMac have over a PowerBook, or an iBook? Is Apple going to delay the G5 iBook now because it'd cannibalize iMac sales?
I would think a laptop would have obvious advantages over the new iMac, while not giving up much of anything. A laptop is truly portable, a true all-in-one unit. The iMac isn't.
Who would buy an iMac over a comparable laptop, and why?
I have a P4 based PC that is the same formfactor as the 'new' G5. 17" TFT out front with all the worky bits behind it. Guess what? Its silent. And also guess what? It costs the same as this system. And guess what? If you are willing to invest money in it, you can also get the same level of noise reduction in an off the shelf $399 P4 based system. Its very simple a case of you get what you pay for, a $399 price point doesnt lend itself to $199 in cooling technology.
Obviously, the eMac sucks at some things, but has benefits in others. And it's all of a dollar or two more expensive than the equivalent Dell, and lord knows an order of magnitude more attractive.
For what you get, Apple computers are competitively priced. You can argue little crappy pinheaded arguments over the details, but all things considered, they're not so bad.
From my experience, the SOFTWARE is what's expensive. Fuck - for the price of Photoshop and AVID DV Express, I can buy one helluva nice computer on EITHER platform.
The cost of hardware is comparatively incidental anymore.
Of course, Linux this and Linux that, Free here, Free There - been there, done that, and frankly spent WAY too much time dicking around with my computer to get a proper workflow going, and on top of it, most of the Linux software *just isn't up to snuff*. A lot of it has to do with patents (which is why GIMP can't do anything interesting in CMYK space, for example) and really lame ass UI design (which is why GIMP is such a pain in the arse to use, for example).
I still don't know of a decent NLE video system on Linux that does what FCP can do on the mac or AVID on Windows.
So - sure - save $200 on a Linux box - and GET NOTHING DONE.
At the same time: I FERVENTLY hope and pray that this will change - soon. I am NOT a bigot against Linus, by any stretch. At the same time, I won't get rid of my Mac - but I'll cheerfully stop using Windows as soon as Linux is easier and better and HAS THE SOFTWARE I NEED TO GET MY WORK DONE.
From my experience, the SOFTWARE is what's expensive.
Thats actually what a lot of geeks forget too. They loudly complain that PCs are cheaper then macs... but forget that they've stolen Windows, Outlook, etc.
Re:Smart Design and Smart Engineering
by
Anonymous Coward
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· Score: 3, Insightful
The thing I've always wondered about is just why Apple haven't gone after more of the high-end scientific/technical market (or servers, really, for that matter.) As has been pointed out many times, a G5 Mac is basically a scaled-down IBM POWER5 system. It's just a lot cheaper. Lots of Unix stuff (free and non-free) already runs on OSX, and the stuff that doesn't would be a pretty easy port. They hype it to a degree on their website, but not as much as they (IMHO) should. I wonder - do they have some sort of agreement with IBM not to go after the workstation/server market too aggressively? In other words, Apple gets the low-end of the PPC market, but all the really high-end stuff are belong to Big Blue?
Re:The more things change..
by
jcr
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· Score: 2, Insightful
We'll give up Obj-C when you show us something better.
-jcr
-- The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
Re:Video Card is an Nvidia 5200...
by
Warlock7
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· Score: 2, Insightful
I'm sure that this is related to the heat dissipation capabilities of the machines new design. Most likely, if you put a better graphics card in the machine it would overheat the proc.
Re:I have always loved mac stuff,
by
MacGod
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· Score: 2, Insightful
I wait with bait on my breath for a simple, cheap ($500-$800), computer from them that includes the styling and beauty of the more expensive models.
Yeah, and I wait on baited breath for BMW to release a $10,000 car with all the grace, beauty, styling, comfort and power of their 5 and 7-series models.
Some things just aren't in the cards.
-- "Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one "
-Albert Einstein
Slashdot Mirror
..."teeny little things like that that tend to, over the course of time, make people love their Mac and inspire magazines like yours, versus people getting [angry] over time at their PCs because of little things that drive them nuts."
It's that level of attention to detail that people cherish. God is in the details.
Notice that literally everything he says in the "interview" is devoted to increasing the differences between the "pro" and "consumer" lines. E.g. FireWire 800 had really been more attractive to a professional crowd. And really, more [appealing] than the speed has been the advantages [professionals] have with cable lengths.
What does this statement mean? It's pretty much throwaway. I hate apple marketing. They need to make the iMac G5 without the display (oh wait...attractive to a professional crowd = power mac). *sigh*
A middle school really doesn't need a powerful G5 processor when you think about it though. If they're just going to maybe browse the web, and maybe have a few games installed, perhaps the eMac would be a more affordable solution : Apple Store
If my beige box had holes in the top I would have spilled drink in there long ago. But the iMac can get away with it because it sits on the desk like a monitor. So I think both are well designed for what they are.
wtf? who modded this up and didn't fact check?
It's amazing how you can make up any old shit and sound interesting on slashdot, and get karma.
Given that the mount poing is based an open standard, I'd expect that third party telescoping mounts will be made available if there really is sufficient demand.
Those of us who don't fall into the "most people" category use a Mac anyway.
Exactly. A "pizza box" that they could easily replace monitors on would be just the thing. Schools need computers to last a long time, and kids can be tough on them - repeatedly sending them back for LCD repair would get old fast. Though the AIO "almost no cables needed" style has some points in its favor too.
Constitutionally Correct
AT 256MB, the standard RAM allotment will not be adequate for most people. Note that if you upgrade via the Apple Store, by Apple's return policies the box is now a "custom build" and cannot be returned. Since the RAM seems to have been lowballed almost by design, it seems there is a concerted effort to minimize returns.
ITYM, you want them to make a headless iMac.
I call BS.
The iMac G5 is progressive in price, technology and design. Since I will assume you agree with the first two-
In my book, design is all about making products that are elegant while being used and as minimal as possible when not being used. Based on those two (admittedly highly personal criteria) the iMac G5 is a BIG win.
Say what you will about it somehow being less compact then an eMac (exactly how are you measuring that?) the fact of the matter is that design is a about perception. I think any normal/sane/non-engineer person will look at the iMac G5 and immediately perceive it to be the most compact and elegant solution between previous iMacs and the eMac. Power perceived is power achieved in the world of consumer products, and the latest iMac wins hands down.
Then again, you also advocate that Apple should take a highly expensive, somewhat delicate, complex and oddly shaped device and expect the users of this product (designed to be as simple and elegant as possible) to fill the bottom of the bastard up with water as soon as they got it home so Apple could save a few $$$ on shipping costs...
The reason why the all in one LCD design was rejected last time around was becuase it would have required a large bulge in the back of the LCD (i believe for the PS) thus not making it a flatscreen. The technologhy has progressed far enough now that the bulge can be taken away.
"Better to be forgotten, then remembered for giving in" - Erich Schmaltz
I had proposed something like this to maintain the sunflower design - which I believe to be one of the most unique electronic designs of the decade.
And you were rightly chastized on MacRumors.com...because of the idea that people should add water (?) to the base of their sunflower iMac is just bizarre.
Look, I can't say enough good things about the new iMac. Somehow, they managed to shoehorn a 1.8Ghz G5 in there, allow you to add up to 2gigs of RAM, give you a serial ATA hard drive and a 20 inch screen, while making it user-serviceable (for the most part) and hovering around 2 inches thick (for the 20inch model.) That is amazing.
Furthermore, when this thing starts selling like crazy (which it will, look at that price), there will be more wall mounts and sunflower-style arms that one might have believed possible in such a limited market. I imagine they will probably even get a better graphics card in there, at some point (Don't think so? ATI just announced a 128mb card, the Radeon 9200, for PCI PowerMacs...these are systems that stopped shipping 5 years ago.)
concrete5: a cms made for marketing, but strong enough for geeks.
I'll take as much power as I can get in my laptop, as long as I don't also sacrifice portability and battery life beyond reason, for some value of reason.
Paul
We witness not a fallen world, but falling every day - The Call.
It's a fair statement to say that the winpering weenies, who are currently commenting on the iMac G5, are having a problem because their vague, weeny dreams didn't come true. The fact that they really had no idea what they were wishing for in the first place is totally lost on them. They only thing they do know, for sure, is that they wanted to be "WOWED." And they weren't. Wah, wah, wah.
I think Apple always goes the extra step when designing their products. I think that one of the most interesting parts of this new iMac is the fact that it has air holes in the top of it so that the hot air can rise out. Now why hasn't anyone else thought of that?
Umm, lots of people have. Probably 50% of all PC towers on the market have top-mounted fans and/or air holes.
What I don't get about the new iMac is this: Ok, so it's basically a screen and keyboard. And you can carry it around the house. And it's not expandable (like other iMacs). Now, how is this different and/or better than a laptop? So the computer itself is in the screen rather than the keyboard - that's not really a major difference in form factor. What advantages does the iMac have over a PowerBook, or an iBook? Is Apple going to delay the G5 iBook now because it'd cannibalize iMac sales?
I would think a laptop would have obvious advantages over the new iMac, while not giving up much of anything. A laptop is truly portable, a true all-in-one unit. The iMac isn't.
Who would buy an iMac over a comparable laptop, and why?
I think it's a joke mod. Anyway, it's a running joke - even Joswiak himself has made the joke that they hired him to get the best of both names.
I have a P4 based PC that is the same formfactor as the 'new' G5. 17" TFT out front with all the worky bits behind it. Guess what? Its silent. And also guess what? It costs the same as this system. And guess what? If you are willing to invest money in it, you can also get the same level of noise reduction in an off the shelf $399 P4 based system. Its very simple a case of you get what you pay for, a $399 price point doesnt lend itself to $199 in cooling technology.
compare a machine to a Dell, just for fun. In fact, there's a website that does just that.
So let's look at the bottom of the barrel: a $650 computer.
Obviously, the eMac sucks at some things, but has benefits in others. And it's all of a dollar or two more expensive than the equivalent Dell, and lord knows an order of magnitude more attractive.
For what you get, Apple computers are competitively priced. You can argue little crappy pinheaded arguments over the details, but all things considered, they're not so bad.
From my experience, the SOFTWARE is what's expensive. Fuck - for the price of Photoshop and AVID DV Express, I can buy one helluva nice computer on EITHER platform.
The cost of hardware is comparatively incidental anymore.
Of course, Linux this and Linux that, Free here, Free There - been there, done that, and frankly spent WAY too much time dicking around with my computer to get a proper workflow going, and on top of it, most of the Linux software *just isn't up to snuff*. A lot of it has to do with patents (which is why GIMP can't do anything interesting in CMYK space, for example) and really lame ass UI design (which is why GIMP is such a pain in the arse to use, for example).
I still don't know of a decent NLE video system on Linux that does what FCP can do on the mac or AVID on Windows.
So - sure - save $200 on a Linux box - and GET NOTHING DONE.
At the same time: I FERVENTLY hope and pray that this will change - soon. I am NOT a bigot against Linus, by any stretch. At the same time, I won't get rid of my Mac - but I'll cheerfully stop using Windows as soon as Linux is easier and better and HAS THE SOFTWARE I NEED TO GET MY WORK DONE.
RS
Shoes for Industry. Shoes for the Dead.
The thing I've always wondered about is just why Apple haven't gone after more of the high-end scientific/technical market (or servers, really, for that matter.) As has been pointed out many times, a G5 Mac is basically a scaled-down IBM POWER5 system. It's just a lot cheaper. Lots of Unix stuff (free and non-free) already runs on OSX, and the stuff that doesn't would be a pretty easy port. They hype it to a degree on their website, but not as much as they (IMHO) should. I wonder - do they have some sort of agreement with IBM not to go after the workstation/server market too aggressively? In other words, Apple gets the low-end of the PPC market, but all the really high-end stuff are belong to Big Blue?
We'll give up Obj-C when you show us something better.
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
I'm sure that this is related to the heat dissipation capabilities of the machines new design. Most likely, if you put a better graphics card in the machine it would overheat the proc.
I wait with bait on my breath for a simple, cheap ($500-$800), computer from them that includes the styling and beauty of the more expensive models.
Yeah, and I wait on baited breath for BMW to release a $10,000 car with all the grace, beauty, styling, comfort and power of their 5 and 7-series models.
Some things just aren't in the cards.
"Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one " -Albert Einstein