Apple VP discusses iMac G5 Hardware Design

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."

Comments

Cool, out of my Amish lifestyle.

[MikeMacK]

Modern living starts at $1299.

Wow, who knew it was so easy and cheap, now I can get out of my Amish lifestyle for something more modern.

Joswiak?

[Anonymous Coward]

You're not fooling anyone, Steve.

Re:Joswiak?

[crackshoe]

Jobs + Wozniak = Joswiak. This is obviously the product of genetic manipulation dating back to the early 1980's, to breed a technical genius with a reality distortion field and impeccable style.

Smart Design

[samtihen]

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? I mean, my computer has a ton of fans to move air around, but that could definitely be lessened by air slits in the top. Thanks Apple!

Re:Smart Design

[Anonymous Coward]

They're actually speed holes, they make the computer go faster.

Re:Smart Design

[FuzzzyLogik]

i think the poster was pointing out that we don't typically see this in many mainstream computer manufacturer's designs.. when in fact we should see it. Why should PC's be so loud when apple can design a 2 inch thick computer that's virtually silent? given the amount of room in a typical pc case why should the 2 inch thick imac be so much quieter when compared to a larger pc? I think that's the point he was trying to make, not that it hasn't really been done before, but it should still be done regardless of how old the idea is. it's a clever design, why not use it? you sir need to chill and just oh.. i don't know, contribute but not be such an ass in the process? sounds good.. then again you are an AC so i guess your reasoning is pretty well explained.

Re:Smart Design

[.com b4 .storm]

Who would buy an iMac over a comparable laptop, and why?

Probably someone who...

1. Wants a G5 and/or doesn't want to spend $300+tax more for a laptop with an older, slower processor (1.3GHz G4 Powerbook), or
2. Doesn't want noisy laptop fans, or
3. Wants more hard drive space built-in, or
4. Wants a better GPU, or
5. Doesn't *need* a laptop, or
6. Any/all of the above

Then there's the screen size. As it stands now, a 17" PBook would cost $2800, and have a 1.5GHz G4 in it. For $1300, you get a 17" iMac with a 1.6GHz G5...

Re:Smart Design

[ThousandStars]

Now, how is this different and/or better than a laptop?

The base G5 iMac, for $1300, gets you more processing power and HD space than the most powerful $3000 Powerbook, as well as a higher-quality screen.

The iMac has more power, less money, and apparently it is somewhat user serviceable (contrary to your post).

Granted, in form factor is the number one priority and all others fall away in the distance, then there is little difference between a laptop and iMac. So when one does buy a laptop, one gives up both money and power. One gets other advantages, of course, and Apple makes various machines for the needs of different people.

Re:Istalk

[Anonymous Coward]

Nahh. Us supervillains need expandibility. Where can I fit my PCI-Express Death Ray Control Card? Or my FPGA-based neural network card? Fact is, this is a computer only for suspiciously stylish european or euro-wannabe supervillains who have a puzzling lack of buxom female henchmen, but many large blond male ones.

100 times on the blackboard!

[Scrameustache]

Repeat after me: I will not post articles from a VP of marketing.

I will not post articles from a VP of marketing.
I will not post articles from a VP of marketing.
I will not post articles from a VP of marketing.
I will not post articles from a VP of marketing. ...

Good, now continue. Even if he's from Apple and he's got a brand new toy to talk about, he is still a VP of Marketing. : )

Re:100 times on the blackboard!

[jedrek]

In otherwords, Apple can't give people what they want (midrange desktop box), because they are too busy gouging someone else (low-end pros).

Gouging? Where? Show me another pre-assembled, pre-configured 1.8ghz 64-bit machine with a similar form factor, 17" widescreen LCD, running at 20-30db - all for $1299. The truth is, this machine is all most "Photoshop types" need - it's more than enough (after a memory upgrade) for anything other than large print projects.

I think Apple flat out doesn't want to dilute its brand. They sell expensive, great looking computers with excellent customer service. They're not Dell, they're not HP, they're Apple, plain and simple. Remember when they used to license clones? Remember how big of a flop it was? They're nto going back there, at least not until they have to, and they may never have to.

I've been a Mac hater since '88, but this a really, really nice machine at a great price. I'm actually getting one right now and if OSX is as good as people have been saying, I'm getting one for my mom next year.

Oft-Overlooked Point

[the pickle]

In everyone's clamouring for a G5 PowerBook, a lot of people have said that this iMac proves a G5 PowerBook could be coming soon.

Joswiak does a great job of explaining exactly why that won't be happening:

There's still a luxury we have in two inches that we don't have in a fraction of an inch, if you think about how much space there really is in the bottom of a PowerBook... Certainly we were trying to learn from the iMac, but not like, "Oh, there's this breakthrough now, expect it next month.

I want a G5 PowerBook as bad as the next guy, but I'm a realist about it. If we see one by MWSF in January I'll be VERY impressed.

Fascinating interview overall. Anything that gives insight into Apple's collective thought process is worthwhile for the rest of the tech industry to keep an eye on.

p

Re:Oft-Overlooked Point

[John_Booty]

I agree with you.

Serious question, not rhetorical: is there really that much to be learned about cooling a G5? There's only so much heat removal you can do, given a certain amount of space and a CPU which produces a certain amount of heat. I don't know that there's some miracle the Apple design/engineering wizards can really pull out of their proverbial hats on that one. Unless there's some really obvious stuff they're NOT doing at the moment?

I think the thing that leads to a G5 laptop would probably be cooler-running G5 CPUs from IBM, or a newfound desire from Apple to do an unsexy "luggable" laptop. Then again, I suppose the current generation of G5 CPUs would run pretty cool when clocked down to 1 or 1.2ghz, if they really wanted to get one out of the door...

The All-in-One is cool,

[Hawthorne01]

but I'd love to see a system with the same stats, without the LCD being offered to the education and enterprise markets. That would kick up Apple's market share in a heartbeat. I own a G4 17" iMac and love it, but I know my needs and the needs of the middle school down the road are two different things.

Re:The All-in-One is cool,

[Laivincolmo]

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:The All-in-One is cool,

[crackshoe]

educational implementations tend to use (and often prefer) the all-in-one. Its easier to move (mobile computer carts), harder to steal parts (its actually an issue - i promise). From the all-in-one g3 (with the clear plastic hood which led to the imac, if i don't misremember, which i might) to the emac (and, if you want to go farther back, the long line of apple all-in-one units).

I have always loved mac stuff,

[deutschemonte]

but being a poor techie, I just can't afford it.

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.

But I guess that's why I am typing this on my old 497mHz 128MB ram linux box.

Hail the new "free" economy and the frustion of Apple that they are not considered by many to be an alternative to the mighty monopolistic broken OS.

It's very user serviceable

[Anonymous Coward]

From Apple's Site:

Think you need a new part? You can replace many of your iMac G5's parts yourself.

The iMac G5 is designed to make it easy for you to install replacement parts if you need to. The parts you can install yourself are:

AirPort Extreme Card

Memory - DDR 400 MHz (PC3200) SDRAM

Hard drive

Optical drive

Power supply

LCD display

Modem card

Mid-plane assembly (contains the main logic board, the G5 processor, fans, NVIDIA graphics processor, and so forth).

The back supposedly has only three screws holding it on. Plus a optional wall mounting bracket is available from Apple. The keyboard can go under the computer to save desk space, fans are quiet too!

Team Mac OS X #1971 is going to love Folding@home with this new toy.

I love it and definably getting one!

This sums is up...

[OneOver137]

..."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.

Smart Design and Smart Engineering

[reporter]

The iMac G5 is a full-blown workstation in its own right. It runs UNIX on top of a Power4-based microprocessor. Furthermore, its performance is competitive with the very best desktops based on the new 64-bit x86 processors.

Instead of focusing so much on styling, the marketing droids should show us some stats indicating the percentage of the engineering market that the G5 Macs have. I suspect that the G5 Macs have the highest percentage of the engineering workstation market after the x86 boxes.

Re:Smart Design and Smart Engineering

[ScottSpeaks!]

The iMac G5 is a full-blown workstation in its own right.

The low-end iMac G5 is - almost spec for spec - last year's low-end PowerMac G5. I should know: I have one (and paid nearly $1000 more for it).

Re:Smart Design and Smart Engineering

[xrissley]

Point noted, but let me direct you to Apple's onw site:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=868 12
which states precisely that user can herself service (so: replace and or upgrade) the following:
- AirPort Extreme Card
- Memory - DDR 400 MHz (PC3200) SDRAM
- Hard drive
- Optical drive
- Power supply
- LCD display
- Modem card
- Mid-plane assembly (contains the main logic board, the G5 processor, fans, NVIDIA graphics processor, and so forth).

So true, graphic card still seems hard to upgrade, so seems CPU itself, but this is less of a stuck design here, nice improvement, not?

Of course, mirror only display makes a point for powermac form factor.
re drives, we have firewire (not 800, so pro will still look at the powermac line).

All in all, the comparison lots of people keep on making with Powermac prooves one thing: the iMac G5 seems to be a nice powerhorse.

iMac G4 arm will be missed

[mariox19]

We found that most people don't end up raising or lowering [the iMac G4 screen]. The big thing is the tilt direction...

Maybe those of us who don't fall into the "most people" category will miss the range of motion available on the iMac G4. I own one now. Occasionally I like to tilt my chair back and slump down. To match that posture, I move the iMac screen down, too. At other times I'm just tired of sitting. I then stand and raise the screen all the way up, tilting it all the way back. I can surf the 'Net comfortably for a little while this way. It's a nice change of pace.

I think the G5 iMac is a great machine, but I'll miss the screen mobility when I get one.

Apple devotees a little miffed

[SilentChris]

I've spent a lot of time on the Apple forums (I own a new iBook) and the reaction I've seen to the new iMac has been pretty "eh".

The original iMac, G4 cube and even the last iMac (to a certain extent) were elegant. The iPod had a great design because it was functional enough to fit in a small pocket. It doesn't make a very good consumer PC design.

Also, people have been a little miffed by some design choices. Why have all the wires running out the back of the screen instead of the base (I know, I know, wireless keyboard and mouse -- but most people will be hooking a printer up to this thing). Some people are complaining about it not being wall mountable (which would've been a cool high-end feature). Also, from a marketing standpoint, they completely missed the fall school schedule.

For now, I'm quite happy with my iBook. It has become my computer of choice in a house full of computers, and prompted me to buy an iPod. But I wouldn't buy the new iMac.

Re:Apple devotees a little miffed

[phillymjs]

Some people are complaining about it not being wall mountable

Some people don't read specs closely enough before bitching.

Apple will start selling a VESA mount adapter for the new iMac in October which opens up all kinds of mounting possibilities. The only thing that it can't do is hang flush against the wall, due to the power connection and ports (unless you modify the wall behind it to accommodate those).

~Philly

Re:Apple devotees a little miffed

[aluminumcube]

There will be a wall mount available on the Apple Store for the G5 iMac in October. It complies with the VESA spec and will cost $30.

As to the cable issue, I don't see how it's going to matter that much- cables in the base or cables from the side, your still going to end up with a bunch of wires sticking out the back of your computer any way it goes. For $220, you can upgrade to the Bluetooth mouse+keyboard AND get an AirPort Express which includes a USB port so you can print wirelessly.

In a way though, having the plugs where they are makes perfect sense though- My mom's G4 iMac was tucked back into her desk and it was always a PITA to move everything off the desk to pull it out and get to the ports when necessary. With people plugging and unpluging devices often (which a lot of people do in my experience as the family tech support guru), it makes sense to place accessability over aesthetics.

Or let me put it to you another way- Apple is an exceedingly anal retentive company when it comes to design. I for one would trust that they explored every option on where to put the ports and they decided that the side was the best solution. That isn't to say they are right, but I am willing to bet money there were more then a few pound-the-table arguments about that issue.

Most of us?

[Udo Schmitz]

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.

Diagnostic lights

[CaseyB]

There are even four indicator lights on the motherboard that an Apple Care person will tell you to look at the lights, and depending on what's lit up, can tell you the state of different sub-systems.

But first they force you to admit that there are actually five lights.

Design is a regression, but a progression in cost

[adzoox]

One thing that was mentioned at Expo Paris that isn't mentioned in this article:

The design was carefully thought out to save weight. [and therefore shipping/distribution costs] The previous sunflower design was costing almost as much as an eMac (with a heavy CRT) to ship because the base needed to be counterweighted. This was a "design flaw" of the sunflower iMac.

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.

What a lot of people don't understand about the new unit is that with the stand - this unit actually takes up a little more depth than the eMac and carries NO side to side rotation - like the swingarm from the previous design did. If you add in this element - it actually takes up 40% more deskspace. One must have all of that area clear on the desktop to turn the display. [new iMac is much more static]

Re:Warning to iMac customers

[krray]

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.

Think iPod

[Infonaut]

Apple is very strongly tying the new iMac to the iPod. The idea is to leverage the tremendous success of the iPod to show Wintel users that Apple also makes great personal computers.

While the original iMac, G4 Cube, and Luxo iMac were impressive feats of design, they also screamed out, "This is an Apple product. I'm different!"

The new iMac is elegant and well-designed, but it takes a much more subtle approach. It is less of an ad for Apple. I think the reason is that Apple wants to provide Wintel users with a computer that is like the iPod - elegant, highly useful, and understated.

Whether they'll say it or not, many corporate and small business customers have stayed away from Apple hardware for years because since the advent of the bondi blue iMac, Macs have been just too "different'. It makes a lot of people uncomfortable to go too far away from familiar design.

Apple is taking a very measured and cautious approach with business customers, and they probably will never come out and directly say it, but the new iPod-inspired design is likely intended less to appeal to traditional Mac users than it is to entice Switchers.

I think Apple will sell boatloads of the new iMac, and I'm very tempted to snag one of the 20" versions myself.

iLike it...

[MsGeek]

Since 1999, I have had a Blue-and-White G3 minitower. It's been lovely...no hardware problems yet. I upgraded it once, to add RAM and a bigger HD.

Since then, there have been no compelling reasons to get a newer Mac. The Blue-and-White was by-and-large a "future proof" machine, like it was advertised to my bosses at the Dot-Com I used to work at. The machine was loaned to me for telecommuting and when the company went bust I was able to buy it from them at fire-sale prices with part of my last paycheck.

The new iMac is the first Mac that has really screamed "UPGRADE TO ME!" in a while. My Blue-and-White is getting long in the tooth now, and even with 512MB RAM it struggles a little.

Do any of you realize just how hot this machine will be once the first 64-bit version of MacOS comes out???? No, I don't mean cooling problems, I mean hot as in bitchen. Agreed, they should have gone with a better Nvidia video chipset, (but I suspect the 5200 is a choice for power draw and heat as well as low price) and it should have come standard with more RAM, but dig: it's still pretty good.

And let me point out something else. Compare this all-in-one machine to the 32-bit Gateway Profile 4, which is no longer a production machine and is selling through Gateway's site as a refurb. Los Angeles Valley College has a computer lab full of these low-end machines, bought when they were still new.

Even as a refurbished machine, this is selling for $1,200 US. This is with Windows XP Home (not Pro, Home) and Works (not Office) pre-installed, a basic tray-load CD-ROM, Intel "Extreme Graphics" (anyone who's worked with it knows how laughable this term is) and 10/100 Ethernet.

Now look at the iMac G5's specs. The low-end machine is only $100 US more expensive new than the refurbed Gateway Profile 4. For this, you get a CD-RW/DVD-ROM combo drive, Firewire to go with your USB, (and I don't know whether the Gateway POS has USB2 or USB 1.1 USB ports) and a wide-screen 17" TFT as opposed to a regular 4:3 17" TFT. Spend $200 more and you get a DVD-/+RW "Superdrive."

Yes, you pay a premium for Apple products. However, as you can see, the premium isn't very much at all. This is a 64-bit xNIX workstation we are talking about here. For only $300 more than a steaming cow-flop from Gateway. (I know from whence I speak about the Gateway: I have seen too many of those Profile 4 machines in the computer lab with "out of order" signs taped in front of them.) Apple builds things, by and large, to last. And yes, they design them to look pretty damn cool.

Maybe next June I can convince the remainders of my family to chip in on one of these as a grad present.

This is the easiest iMac to access

[mr_rangr]

Of the three styles of iMacs, this one is by *far* the easiest to work on. Loosening three screws lets you remove the rear panel for full access to the entire system. Here is a diagram of its insides.