iMac G5 Porn Roundup

boredMDer writes "Apparently someone who has already recieved their iMac G5 has decided to take it apart. Stupid if only for the fact that he's just voided his warranty." pjcreath writes "Apple has posted official pages listing the components that are 'easy' to install (including the LCD!) and describing how to troubleshoot hardware problems using diagnostic LEDs inside the case. For the very curious, you can download the high-resolution TIFF (10MB) of the iMac's innards from Apple."

Comments

Didn't void the warranty

[halo1982]

This isn't an old iMac. Apple designed this one so that your grandmother could open it and replace its parts. This didn't void the warranty. It has quite an interesting inside. I like how they focused on the inside design as well (i.e. G5 heatsink that no one will ever see but still looks cool) as the outside.

Re:Didn't void the warranty

[MrLint]

This is more interesting than one might be lead to believe. If the parts are easy to replace then this saves on repair labor costs and it also makes nearly the whole unit a collection of field / user swappable parts. Being a PC field tech for a number of years this is really a radical shift for apple.

Now keeping this in mind i have seen many a screwless case come and go from both dell and gateway, and i would have preferred that they had screws as the mechanisms they used were so crappy it would have been easier to repair.

Re:Didn't void the warranty

[Necro Spork]

But I did void the warranty on this iMac. The plants are happy and you can see the blueberry glow from a good distance! The old iMacs like this one seem much harder to gut.
http://www2.hawaii.edu/~brandsbe/iPot.jpg

Re:Didn't void the warranty

[jargoone]

You completely missed the point. PCs that are done up like this are either modified by the owner to do this, or in certain instances done from the factory. The point is, if it comes like that from the factory, you CHOOSE to pay more for it. Apple doesn't let you choose. Cute heat sinks for everyone!

Re:Didn't void the warranty

[Tanlis]

Actually he did void the warranty. There are brass colored screws for all the pieces that can be taken off by users. Remove any of the others and your warranty is gone.

Re:Didn't void the warranty

[CountBrass]

Yeah I know: it really sucks to have Apple force me to have all that quality when I buy a computer from them.

If you want to buy a cheap pile of shit: buy a Dell.

Re:Didn't void the warranty

[c.emmertfoster]

The best part of those CRT + computer iMacs is how if you want to open it up to fix something, you can melt off an appendage on one of the capacitors.

I don't need any fingers, I have an adorable computer which I have named "bubbles!"

Re:Didn't void the warranty

[10Ghz]

Yeah I know: it really sucks to have Apple force me to have all that quality when I buy a computer from them.

You mean like chipping paint on Titanium Powerbooks, "Windtunnel" PowerMac G4's, logic-board failures on iBooks, failing lid-latches on Powerbooks, cracks on the Cube, overheating 12" PowerBooks etc. etc. etc.

Apple makes very nice machines, but they are not the Holy Grail of quality.

Re:Didn't void the warranty

[jcr]

Apple's finally catching up to the NeXTStation with this machine. Disassembling a NeXT slab required removing a total of four screws: one to hold the case closed, one for the disk drive bracket, one for the floppy drive, and one for the power supply.

-jcr

Re:Didn't void the warranty

[jcr]

Apple makes very nice machines, but they are not the Holy Grail of quality.

Maybe not, but it's been a long time since you could buy an x86 machine that lasted as long. Back in the early 80's, I remember HP and DEC PC's that would wear like a tank. Today, every x86 machine I see is flimsy as hell.

-jcr

Re:Didn't void the warranty

[10Ghz]

Maybe not, but it's been a long time since you could buy an x86 machine that lasted as long.

Sure you can. Well, I build my own machines and they last for a long time. And I have seen name-brand machines that are old, and still keep on working.

It just seems to me that people remember the Macs that last for a long time, but forget the ones that fail sooner. And when it comes to x86, they remember the ones that failed soon, and forget the ones that keep on working after years and years of use.

I guess it's because of the perception of the two: Macs are the expensive hi-end machines, whereas x86 is the cheap and crappy computer.

Re:Didn't void the warranty

[rogerborn]

Halo:

Actually 99 per cent of all Mac owners will never take off the back cover.

Is Apple's art wasted on them?

Nah. Its not art. It just excellent design.

If you design it correctly, it will always be beautiful, both on the outside and on the inside.

(Which is why beautiful women are beautiful all over - come to think of it, all women are beautiful)

!!! Whoops, sorry for that aside there - got sidetracted, or something...

Anyway, everything you see inside the new G5 iMac is perfectly designed for what it does, including the logo on the heatsink that helps focus where the heat goes.

It can't help but to look pretty, folks!

Roger Born
Columnist,
mymac.com

Re:Didn't void the warranty

[Big Sean O]

Amen brother...

As means of comparison, in Sept 2000 I got a Compaq laptop at work. The POS only lasted two years before pieces of plastic started breaking off. When I turned it in March 2003 I told my boss it was unusable because it was falling apart.

At the same time, my wife bought a tangerine clamshell iBook. She's still got it, it still runs and, except for the tangerine leaf in the lid of the case all the pieces are there and the computer still runs.

Re:Didn't void the warranty

[The Only Druid]

Ugh, iPods are NOT glued shut! You can open them quite easily with a thin flat object (i.e. the plastic spatulas you'll get with any of the variety of replacement batteries on the market).

Re:Didn't void the warranty

[jcostantino]

Actually you can do whatever the hell you want with your purchased equipment as long as any modifications you do to it don't cause other components to fail.

From working in an Apple authorized service center, it didn't matter if a machine with Applecare or Apple's 1 year warranty came in with modifications as long as those changes didn't cause other components to fail. IE: A CPU upgrade fried the motherboard or a HD replacement broke a component off the logic board. Disassembling your Power or iBook would be a huge mistake due to the sheer number of different screws but a careful end user could disassemble his book and put it back together without causing anyone to become suspicious.

If he disassembled the hard drive to take pictuers, then he would have broken a seal that would have voided his warranty. As it is, I'm sure his warranty is intact.

I don't know if the Magnusson-Moss warranty act is directly applicable but I don't see why it wouldn't be.

Re:Didn't void the warranty

[speleo]

"chipping paint on Titanium Powerbooks"

Never happened to mine. It's been dropped a few times and stepped on once or twice and it's bashed and bent and held together with duct tape, but it still works just fine.

""Windtunnel" PowerMac G4's"

I never understood the problem with these. The one I have is loud but it's no worse than your typical Dell PC.

"logic-board failures on iBooks"

Don't know about this one -- I never owned a iBook.

"failing lid-latches on Powerbooks"

Never had this problem on the 5 Powerbooks I have.

"cracks on the Cube"

Had two of these, one had small cosmetic cracks, the other didn't. Not a problem for me, but I can see how some folks would. Nice design, though; wish I still had 'em and didn't give 'em away.

"overheating 12" PowerBooks"

My wife has one of these -- she uses it all the time and hasn't had a problem with overheating. I don't think it gets any hotter than the 15" Powerbook I use everyday as my primary machine.

Now, I'm not saying these problems don't exist. But I personally own a lot of Macs (about 10 in current use around the house right now) of nearly every model and I've had very few of the problems folks complain about. YMMV.

Re:Didn't void the warranty

[bitswapper]

You have a piece of shit Mac just for fun, and 3 PCs that probably do the real work.

3 PCs to play games, you mean. Real work.

Re:Didn't void the warranty

[Slurms]

While reading the parent and your reply I reflected that we have had similar sorts of problems with 100 or so Dell and Gateway laptops that we have at work over the past 2 years.

Then it occurred to me that the Dells and Gateways are so anonymous and forgetable that people really don't seem to remember the problems.

The Apple laptops tend to be memorable and more interesting. So I wonder if it is jut that people remember their problems more readily than they do when they have similar sorts of problems with more generic computers?

Re:Didn't void the warranty

[pi radians]

"Have you wrestled with removing the case cover from a ... Beige G3 Desktop?"

Why yes, all the time. Easy as pie. Two latches (basically two big buttons buttons to push up) on the front panel, then you pull the cover towards you. The rest unfolds easily giving you easy access to the PCI slots, RAM, and videocard. I little work to remove or add HDDs or CD-ROMs, but nothing worse than your average PC case.

I think you may have it confused with another Apple system...

Re:Didn't void the warranty

[magarity]

but we can tell 90 % of the time weather someone has been in their machine or not

Umm, this is a logical contradiction. If you can't determine some of the people have opened their computers, it's impossible to say what percent you caught doing it.

PS - Weather is whether or not it's raining.

Re:Didn't void the warranty

[Squishy Eyeball Jeff]

On a serious note: yeah, Apple isn't the holy grail, but so what. They are the best at what they do.

Amen to that, brother -- Apple is indeed the best at making Apple computers.

Re:Didn't void the warranty

[Slurms]

Actually we only have 3 Apples at work. We haven't had any problems at all with them.

I was just reflecting on the world at large, that people see problems with more generic (commodity) laptops as the cost of doing business, while a problem with an Apple laptop is newsworthy.

Re:Didn't void the warranty

[Baseclass]

PCs don't just go bad, components go bad. The quality of any given PC can be determined by the quality of the components therein.

Apple has complete quality control of their hardware, whereas with x86 PCs any manufacturer can throw together whatever crap meets their bottom line, throw it all in a 'cool' case, print a bunch of big numbers on the outside of the box and watch the lemmings flock bearing their wallets.

If you want a quality PC then you need to spend the equivalent you'd spend on a Mac or hand pick each and every component and build your own like I do.

Re:Didn't void the warranty

[badasscat]

Apple makes very nice machines, but they are not the Holy Grail of quality.

Maybe not, but it's been a long time since you could buy an x86 machine that lasted as long.

When I read this, the little false logic detectors I have installed behind my left inner ear duct went off...

How do you know how long today's x86 machines will last? And how do you define this, anyway? The period of time before one single component fails? Or the period of time before the system becomes completely unusable?

How do you measure the actual lifespan of a PC you've just bought? Sure, the QA testers at Dell or HP or whatever do stress tests that are meant to simulate a period of years of normal use, but that doesn't always translate to the real world (as Apple, with all its defects and recalls, should know as well as anyone).

Right now I am typing on an IBM Thinkpad manufactured in 1999. That's five years, and I've beaten this thing to all hell and back. When, exactly, would you pinpoint as the time after which you could not purchase an x86 that lasted this long? 2001? How would you know yet? 1998? My PC's proved you wrong already, and anyway by implication you're saying that older x86 machines are built better. So your statement just isn't logical.

Today, every x86 machine I see is flimsy as hell.

Some are, some aren't. Apple loyalists generally seem to look at the lowest of the low and assume all PC's are built the same way. Thinkpads are tanks, including the new ones, and so are a lot of other PC laptops. I don't know why you'd need a desktop to be a tank but if you really care about a strong case, just buy a Falcon or any number of other brands using Coolermaster cases. One advantage you do usually get with a manufacturer like this is a good power supply, which is almost a universal issue among the major PC makers. But it's not hard to find a well-built desktop PC.

And since they all use pretty much standard components (just as Apple does), component life shouldn't really be more of an issue with one brand than any other.

People need to realize that Apple is one maker, and one brand. You can't compare "Macs" to "PCs" in terms of build quality. You can compare Apple to HP or IBM or Dell or Falcon or Alienware or the guy building white box PCs in his shop down the street. When you buy a PC, you're not buying a computer made by every PC manufacturer out there; you're buying a PC made by one manufacturer (albeit out of a lot of different parts from different manufacturers, but this is no different than Apple). Maybe Apple builds better products than some of those makers. But maybe some of those makers build better products than Apple.

Apple makes some decent hardware but so do a lot of x86 PC manufacturers. No, not all of them, but you don't have to buy from the bad ones.

Re:Didn't void the warranty

[macslut]

I managed one of the largest Apple authorized service centers for a few years. Sure, sometimes we could tell that it looked like *someone* had been in the Mac before, but that doesn't mean the person was the customer. It would be one thing if we sold the Mac to the customer and they come back later that day or something, but if it was purchased at another store, we have no way of knowing what the actual history was.

To be honest, we didn't really care much. If it was obvious that someone who didn't know what they were doing had done something that violated the terms of the warranty, and it resulted in damage, then we would start asking questions...but this was actually very rare...usually the customer would admit what they did because it was so obvious (like a broken ribbon cable).

The bottom line (which most customers don't/didn't believe) was that it was always in our interest to go in favor of the customer. Apple *paid* us for warranty repairs and in our case, they paid us more than what we charged customers for the same jobs. We would really push the evelope with Apple warranties in terms of what we could get away with and what was ethical.

YMMV

Re:Didn't void the warranty

[fmaxwell]

Magnusson-Moss makes it illegal to tie the use of manfacturer-provided parts and dealer service around scheduled maintennance to warranty coverage.

Incorrect. It has nothing to do with "scheduled" maintenance. It can be consumables like brake pads, windshield wipers, or vacuum cleaner bags. It can be repair parts. Suppose I break the antenna on my car. If I go to Walmart and buy an aftermarket antenna, my car dealer cannot legally refuse me warranty service for the engine siezing, the transmission ceasing to shift, or the air conditioning failing. The only thing that he could refuse to fix under warranty would be something broken by the antenna (e.g., poor radio reception) or by my installation of same (e.g., stripped threads where the antenna screws on).

Now, if Apple offers free CD-R blanks and you use Sony brand CD-R blanks, then Apple can refuse you warranty service -- because they offered the item for no charge.

It tends to get projected onto other things frequently, where it really isn't applicable. (Aftermarket car parts is a prime example, where it in fact doesn't protect warranty rights in the slightest).

From the Specialty Equipment Manufacturer's Association (SEMA) web site:

The Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act may also be helpful. Under this federal law, you can sue on breach of express and implied warranties. The main point of interest here is that the Act says warranty coverage may not be conditioned upon the use of only the vehicle manufacturer's parts unless the parts are provided free of charge. In other words, use of a non-carmaker product should not void your warranty unless it caused the problem.

I can, of course, pull plenty of additional references to prove my point, but I think that you know how Google works, too.

In this case, Apple would, in fact, be perfectly within their rights to void the warranty, even if in your experience they wouldn't.

You are completely wrong about this. The only way that they could legally refuse you warranty service is if you damaged your system through the act of disassembling/reassembling it.

The purpose of the Magnuson Moss Warranty Act is to protect consumers. It prevents dealers and manufacturers from getting a monopoly on parts and service, since that would lead to much higher prices for the purchasers. It keeps a viable aftermarket of service and parts available. It keeps Hoover from charging you $10 per vacuum cleaner bag (since you can get an aftermarket bag for $1.50). It keeps your dealer from making you pay $140 per tire because Walmart will sell you suitable tires for $59. It keeps your dealer from charging $200 for an oil change because you can get one for under $30 elsewhere.

That's why Apple can't refuse you warranty service when you elected to service your own system earlier (perhaps to add RAM, figure out what kinds of upgrades might work, etc.)

Re:Didn't void the warranty

[tgd]

I'm not going to argue this. SEMA is wrong, their position is contrary to case law. You too can use google, if you wish, to dig the references up.

The "warranty void if removed" stickers on consumer electronics, including computers, have been tried in court and held to be legal. SEMA's position has also been tried in court over aftermarket modifications on cars and in every case its been found SEMA's position is wrong.

95% of people who argue the Magnusson-Moss relavence online seem to do so out of information they've read online from questionable sources, or in the case of car modders, wishful thinking. In the case of the car modders, I've known quite a few people to learn five-figure lessons on that one, not counting the fees they've paid to lawyers.

As an aside to your oil change example, one of the reasons free scheduled maintennance is included on so many high end cars now is it frees the dealer from most of the points around Magnusson-Moss. There have been a number of cases of engine warranty cases being denied using a 3rd party oil change as the reason, because the manufacturer pays for the required ones.

Either way, I have no intent on arguing it any more. I've had that arguement far too many times, and people who so strongly take your position tend to not want to sway their opinion anyway.

Do what you want, hopefully it won't bite you. A lot of people aren't that lucky.

Re:Didn't void the warranty

[fmaxwell]

I'm not going to argue this.

That's your choice.

SEMA's position has also been tried in court over aftermarket modifications on cars and in every case its been found SEMA's position is wrong.

In every one of the cases that I've seen, there was reason to believe that the failure was caused by the aftermarket parts or labor.

95% of people who argue the Magnusson-Moss relavence online seem to do so out of information they've read online from questionable sources

Like the Federal Trade Commission's web site, which explains the act as follows:

"Tie-In Sales" Provisions
Generally, tie-in sales provisions are not allowed. Such a provision would require a purchaser of the warranted product to buy an item or service from a particular company to use with the warranted product in order to be eligible to receive a remedy under the warranty. The following are examples of prohibited tie-in sales provisions.

In order to keep your new Plenum Brand Vacuum Cleaner warranty in effect, you must use genuine Plenum Brand Filter Bags. Failure to have scheduled maintenance performed, at your expense, by the Great American Maintenance Company, Inc., voids this warranty.

If the hypothetical Plenum company cannot void your warranty for use of aftermarket filter bags, what makes you think that GM can void your warranty for using an aftermarket air filter? I don't think so.

Either way, I have no intent on arguing it any more. I've had that arguement far too many times, and people who so strongly take your position tend to not want to sway their opinion anyway.

Have you even read the Magnuson Moss Warranty Act? Have you read the interpretations by the FTC? I have.

Hosed already

[be-fan]

Brilliant idea. Post a page of high-res shots to Slashdot...

For those not using Macs...

[GrodinTierce]

an unpacked version of that TIFF would have been nice.

Re:For those not using Macs...

[Unordained]

well, winzip opens it just fine ... i'd guess it's not the only tool out there that can?

Re:For those not using Macs...

[bbdd]

i found that winzip de-compresses it as well.

funny thing is that the compressed .hqx file is 10,316 KB, but the decompressed .tif file is 7,582 KB.

as the new G5 suggests, those apple folks are sure good at packing a lot of hardware into a tight space. but looks like they still need some help packing the software...

Re:For those not using Macs...

[706GL]

I have no idea how, but Firefox took care of it for me when I downloaded it. After downloading it, it had the name 04imac_inside.tif.hqx.tiff and it opened fine.

Re:For those not using Macs...

[Phroggy]

and for those not using windows and winzip?

StuffIt Expander is available for Linux/x86, Solaris/Sparc and Solaris/x86.

Re:For those not using Macs...

[Anonymous Coward]

The point of hqx isn't compression.

hqx does two things. First, it allows the resource fork of a file to be transported along with the data fork (remember that all Mac files can potentially appear as two files to the file system). Second, it then allows for the resulting mess to be sent over systems that can only handle the low 7-bits of a byte.

Think of it as a way to uuencode two files into one.

I'm so happy I'm using Linux today.

Re:For those not using Macs...

[Xyde]

HQX is not a compression scheme, it's an encoding scheme. 7 bit binary, IIRC. It's called binhex. (I still don't know why they used it on a .TIFF file.)

Re:For those not using Macs...

[Nermal6693]

StuffIt Expander is free.

Re:For those not using Macs...

[jherekc]

600KB JPEG, looks just as good as the original TIFF.

Have Fun!

http://dubious.kicks-ass.net/~jherek/04imac_inside .jpg

AAAaaAAArgh...

[still_sick]

Putting the word "Porn" in the headline when no actual pr0n is involved is just CRUEL.

Re:AAAaaAAArgh...

[TheBurningDog]

The problem is that 95% of /. users won't be able to tell the difference anyway. And just like real porn... lusting over a mac will leave you alone and feeling ashamed afterward.

Re:AAAaaAAArgh...

[trewornan]

Pr0n is like porn but involves goats.

Great news for Bearded Terminal Hackers

[SlashdotMirrorer]

The new IMac presents a wonderful new opportunity for those of us stuck on the old terminal hacking mode of operation to get with the program. This article even shows that the innards of this machine can be beautiful and may win some appreciation among the Linux and GNU crowd. Despite some of the issues with sound, hopefully this will result in the development of more software for the currently undersupported Mac X OS.

The Monitor is for the new iMac!

[rogerborn]

Actually, he didn't void his warrantee by doing this. The new G5 iMac is extremely easy for customer troubleshooting, upgrading and generally messing around inside the thing. This is way better than even the big G5 PowerMacs.

Regards
Roger Born
writing.borngraphics.com
"These are my principles. If you don't like them, I have others."

Re:The Monitor is for the new iMac!

[KitFox]

I suspect most PC owners here would not buy a machine from a manufacturer that prohibited the opening of the case.

Actually at least -some- PC manufacturers definitely void the warranty based on opening the case. Anything from those funky self-destructing stickers to case intrusion switches can detect this, and they make way too much use of them.

I'm looking at this computer here at work. Not sure what brand it is, as that information has all been removed *Grr*. Might be an off brand. But it has a big sticker on the back of it that reads: "WARNING: All guarentees and warranties are void if case is opened or main BIOS settings are modified in any way. This system contains modification-detection technology. NO USER SERVICABLE PARTS INSIDE. Please contact your dealer for service." This sticker has not one, but THREE little holographic self-detsructing fingers sealing the main siade of the case up, and there are two on the backside side of the case, and two on each side of the case between the front cover and the sides.

Admittedly, this is a system bought by the US Federal Government, but still. I've done work on computers in private homes that had the same deal. It's scary to think about.

At the same time, it makes sense. Most PC Owners honestly wouldn't know a DIMM from a CF card, let alone how to safely change even a PCI card. The vast majority of them are more likely to break something in trying. They just want a computer that works for what they want it to do, and not have to worry. Plus, if the manufacturer can convince people that they -must- return it to their service shops for service, then they can make a killing on labor.

Honestly, it's VERY nice to see a computer of any type that ENCOURAGES ease of opening and meddling even for the people who are not completely tech savvy.

Re:The Monitor is for the new iMac!

[KitFox]

This "you open the case, you have no warranty" belief is an urban myth.

If you have a warranty contract that states that intrusion into the system voids the warranty, then what is the situation then? Where precisely is it REQUIRED for them to warrant their equipment? It's not here. If they said "you are buying this 'As Is'", then there would be no warranty anyway, with the exceptions of implied warrantee (Such as in product specifications, claims, etc.) Because a lot of places do not legally require warranties. (These are usually noted in the Warranty text as "Warranty void if ... except in or other places where prohibited by law.")

It seems that you also come from AU, or are possibly thinking of that country, which likely has differnet laws in effect than other places. In the US, they can and do legally say "We will warrant this as long as you don't open it." So overall, it has a huge dependancy on where you buy it.

It's right up there with the popular belief that stores have the right to search your bags just by sticking up a sign "a condition of entry is that we can search your bags". Nope. They still can't search your bags. They can't negate your right to privacy with a sign.

Again, you seem to have forgotten difference in laws. It depends on whether 'search of personal property' requires implicit or explicit permission. In many places, it requires only implicit permission. As such, by entering a store with a PROMINENTLY placed sign stating "By entering this property, you give us the right to search your bags" or anything of the sort, then you have effectively given them permission to search your bags.

In all cases, the permission issue is the key. If asked for permission to search your bags, and you give this permission, then you have just given up the right to privacy within your bags. You cannot then watch them search it, and say "How dare you search my bags!?" and sue them, since you directly gave permission. heck, this is even apparent with police officers, who, without due cause, cannot search your person. That is why they ask "Do you mind if I pat you down?" or somesuch, with the understanding that MOST people will just agree, which then means you have relinquished your right to privacy in that specific case. You -DO- technically have the right to say "I do not want you to search me." (Though of course this will make them suspicious of you, and could make matters worse in the future.)

The other consideration is that if they require you to allow a bag search upon ENTRY, then they have another thing to go by. You cannot just walk in, refuse a bag search, and then expect to still be allowed in the store. They are private property, and they have the right to require you to waive any waivable rights (Right to privacy is a waivable right) you have in order to gain access to their private property. Failure to comply can and WILL result in denial of access to the property. And if you insist, then the owner or any agent thereof can have you arrested for trespass.

I used to work at Fry's Electronics in California. Believe me, we were seen as the Gustapo just because we had signs like you mention, and because we looked through all outgoing bags. Now the funny thing is that the PRIMARY meaning of "By entering this premises, you agree that we have the right to search all bags" was for the shopping bags that were leaving the store. But we occasionally had to search backpacks too. When somebody objected (99% of the time they had stolen something if they did), we would simply place them under citizen's arrest and call the police. By entering the store, and staying in it with no intent to actually allow search after giving implicit permission advised by the prominent sign, they were trespassing. With the police present, they were given a choice. May we search your bags, or do you want to go to jail on charges of trespassing? The 1% that ddid not steal anything would generally allow a bag search at that point and be released, albeit g

Re:The Monitor is for the new iMac!

[Epistax]

I'm surprised he needed a screwdriver. I thought those things would open on the user's sense of elitism alone.

Re:The Monitor is for the new iMac!

[lidocaineus]

I don't know what kind of backasswards Fry's you were working at, but every other one I've been to has NEVER had that sign (and I live in a VERY LARGE metro area). While they do check your receipts at the door, there is NO WAY they can force you to comply after you've paid, unless they accuse you of shoplifting... and since you worked there, you should know exactly what kind of can of worms that entails to run the risk of falsely accusing someone (slander, kidnapping, and lots of court time).

I never show my receipt. I walk out the door despite their constant and increasingly malevolent protests, but they are obviously told to never touch a customer, nor mention "stealing" when they don't know for absolutely sure. What I'm doing is not illegal, because I never gave permission, implicit or otherwise, to search my person, *especially* after I've paid for it (the property is now mine).

Linkey to the blog

[Gentlewhisper]

http://www.kodawarisan.com.nyud.net:8090/imacg5/im acg501.html

This is one server that really won't survive a slashdotting too well, so better use the CDN!

Coral cache link

[p0]

Save the guy's website! Use this coral cache link instead

mirror of images

[Anonymous Coward]

mirror of images here

Re:Coral CDN

[Twirlip of the Mists]

You're kidding, right? This is Apple, the company that runs the long-running movie trailer site and the iTunes Music Store. They've got more bandwidth than Jesus.

Since the server is already busy...

[sokoban]

Apple has had some high res pics of the iMac insides for a while. Here (http://www.apple.com/pr/photos/imacflat/04imac.ht ml) they are.

Come to think of it

[gotr00t]

It's not suprising when you realize that they are one of the few companies with a class A network block (17.*.*.*)

Natrually, you would expect their bandwidth to have at least some relation to this fact.

iMac Pr0n and loss of cooling of sweaty feet.

[a3217055]

I was quite suprised at the Porn heading... and yes it was cruel. But carrying on looking at the box, it seems very tightly fitted. Looks like a really well thought system. I wish the guy could show some more important images of the system like how well it sucks in air and removes it. But the most amazing thing about the iMac is the price and technology. A nice PPC chip with a Nvidia 5200 board all sounds great. It would be great if Apple made the system such that you could just use it as a media center. It plays DVDs like that, even though a MAC out of sleep mode does not take too long ... But the Broadcom ethernet chip is a real bad one. Broadcom runs hotter, they should've got the Intel Pro 1000. They also supposedly run at higher MTUs. But how many people are gonna run these boxes on a gigabit network. But definately a nice thin client is very appreciated. I use my workstation's fans to cool of my sweaty feet. Over all a great system I give it 4 out of 5. Kind of pricey, and loss of sweaty feet drier :). ( but a G5 with a dual FPU is nice, and that PPC architecture kicks ass. ). But thin clients are the way to go for the home. So much easier to move around and easy for that 2 year old to knock around. :)

pr0n?

[riceslimbo]

I'm gonna void your warrenty allll night long!

Title

[Hypharse]

HAHA. When I first read the title I thought it said G5 Porn and thought it was funny because you know "HAHA it looks like porn". Then I looked at it the second time, saw that it still said G5 porn. Then instead of laughing I conjured up images some of the mac zealots in my college closing the door, turning off the lights, and lubing up usb port. Now I can't get it out of my head. Someone shoot me.

Re:Coral CDN

[Anonymous Coward]

Technically, Akamai has more bandwidth than Jesus. I know Apple uses them for their movie trailer site; they probably use them for everything else too.

Very nice

[Chris Pimlott]

I was wondering around my local Microcenter the other day when I saw one of these. "Funny," I thought to myself, "I've never seen this style of Apple flatscreen. I thought they were all styled in the Cinema line." Little did I know it was a full computer! Very impressive.

Mirror

[markclong]

http://slushdot.org/mirror/apple_imac/imacg501.htm l

Just in case it gets slashdotted, here is the text

[Anonymous Coward]

Image Use Agreement
Important Image Use Information

By copying or making any use of the image below, you acknowledge that you have read and understand, and agree to, the Image Usage Agreement below that governs your use of the Image. If you do not agree to the Agreement's terms, do not copy or use the Image in any way, unless you have written permission signed by Apple.

Usage Agreement:

Subject to the terms of this Agreement, you may use the Image solely in whole for editorial use by press and/or industry analysts. This right to use is personal to you and is not transferable by you to another party. The Image cannot be used to promote or sell any product or technology (such as on advertising, brochures, book-covers, stock photos, t-shirts, or other promotional merchandise). You may not alter, or modify the Image, in whole or in part, for any reason.

As between you and Apple, Apple is and shall remain the sole and exclusive owner of the Image. You will not delete, alter, or obfuscate any proprietary legends relating to the Image, and each use will be accompanied by the applicable proprietary attribution shown next to the Image.
The Image is provided by Apple on an 'as is' basis, without warranty of any kind, including non-infringement or ownership. You, not Apple, are responsible for your use of the Image. Any misuse of the Image or breach of this Agreement will cause Apple irreparable harm. Apple is either an owner or licensee of the image, not an agent for the owner. We understand that you will give our company a credit line as follows: "Courtesy of Apple " and also credit the photographer if noted.

I have read and understand, and agree to, the Image Usage Agreement.
(Image will immediately begin download)

I disagree and would like to return to the Apple PR site.

--

Interesting but somewhat oblique story

[DNS-and-BIND]

Voided the warranty? Nah, just get another one of those sealing stickers. Assuming that's what they use, no idea really, just wanted to relate this story.

Fella I know is an exporter in China. One time, they were exporting sunglasses. My friend wants to know, do these have UV protective coatings? After several confused back-and-forths through the translator, the Chinese factory rep finally lights up, and says, "Yes! We have sticker!"

True story.

G5 is aliiiive

[jupo]

No disassemble G5, NOOOO!!!!

Taking apart

[philoticjane]

I took apart a 20" iMac G5 today. It took 45 minutes to take it 100% apart (well, at least 100% as far as under warranty replacement parts are concerned) and put it back together.

Easy as pie, as long as you don't strip the screws like an idiot.

Plus, the midplane isn't very heavy or awkward at all, I'm not a burly geek girl, and I could handle it all by me onesy.

iMac G5 Diagnostics

[SeaFox]

Does anyone else find the iMac diagnostic page's instructions a little interesting?

If you follow the instructions exactly as specified, nobody is going to be able to diagnose their iMac.

It says in step one to turn off the machine and remove all cables. Then in step seven it describes how to read the status LED's. The problem is the instructions never tell you to plug the computer back in and turn it on while it is open, so none of the LED's are going to function.

Re:iMac G5 Diagnostics

[CountBrass]

Why can't we mod posts stupid?

Lucky for you we can't.

Re:iMac G5 Diagnostics

[SeaFox]

Could it be that the LEDs are run of the clock battery? A couple of LEDs don't take a lot of power.

You didn't read the article it seems:

7. Locate the large white arrow in the middle of the computer.

Above this arrow, you'll see four LEDs:

* LED 1 indicates that trickle voltage from the power supply has been detected. This LED will be ON when the computer is turned off and your power supply is working correctly.

* LED 2 indicates that the main logic board has detected proper power from the power supply when the computer is turned on. This LED will be ON when the computer is turned on and the power supply is working correctly.

* LED 3 indicates that the computer and the LCD display are communicating. This LED will be ON when the computer is turned on and video signal is being generated.

* LED 4 lights only if the computer detects an over-temperature condition. This LED will be OFF when the computer is turned on and running at the correct temperature.

Now which of these LED is going to light up when the power supply is disconnected?

Haiku Porn

[andy55]

"They say porn!", I shout.
Only circuit boards I see.
But wait, slot loading?

Why were you surprised at the porn heading?

[commodoresloat]

This is what you wrote:

But carrying on looking at the box, it seems very tightly fitted.... I wish the guy could show some more important images ... like how well it sucks .... But definately a nice thin client is very appreciated.... my sweaty feet... I give it 4 out of 5. ...sweaty feet ... ass. But thin clients are the way to go for the home. So much easier to move around and easy ... to knock [up]. :)

Forget diagnostics...Apple to the Rescue!

[flaneur]

LED diagnostics? That's way too complicated...

I think THIS Apple tech note is much more helpful.

Thanks for the tip!

Re:That is fucking cool

[System.out.println()]

Ok, let's turn the 17-inch iMac into a laptop. First, the thing weighs 18.5 pounds, compared to the already weighty Powerbook G4 at 6.9 pounds. Second, the iMac's weight is entirely in the screen - assuming you'd want to put it on your lap, it would fall over backwards. Third, it would be hideously un-portable as the computer is bigger even than the 17" screen (note the chunk at the bottom). Throw in a battery of some sort and you've got either a 30-minute laptop or a 3-inch, 25 pound machine.

Yes, that's a 'no'. I want a G5 laptop too, but turning an iMac into one is far from a good idea.

Re:iMac G5 Porn Roundup

[Tezkah]

It is robot pornography. See Futurama.

Re:Another limitation

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes, there's only one HDD, but it's actually not that big of a deal since the iMac ships with USB 2.0 and Firewire 400 ports. Simply add an array of firewire drives if you need more storage. I personally have two 250MB LaCie D2 drives connected to my mac laptop via firewire and it's an ideal solution an extremely convenient. Yeah, it may add to desktop clutter, but the iMac has an extremely small footprint so it's not a huge deal.

I do, however agree with you on the GPU. If it were upgradeable, it would be okay, but since it's soldered to the logic board, Apple should have at least thrown in an ATI 9600XT or even a 9700/9800 Mobility if heat were an issue. I know I'm dreaming, but I keep hoping the next iMac will feature the new mini PCI-e slots ATI and NVidia are developing... As for people recommending Macs for hardcore gaming, I really don't know who you talk to. Most avid mac fans would probably say that gaming is adequate, but if you're a hardcore gamer you'd be better off buying a console or designated PC since it takes forever to get games ported.

When will we...

[KitFox]

Combine a G5 type thing with a Wacom Cinteq so that we can have some seriously scary tablet computer stuff for artists? I mean, the G5 is almost completely a Tablet computer, it just lacks a way to point directly at the screen. So why not do overkill? The only problem is that if you straight out combine the prices, it gets pretty sick.

Re:When will we...

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm sorry that would sux.
Tablet computers for drawing sound nice in principle but when you actually try to use them you realise that they are absolute POS. The reason is quite simple although hard to explain. When you draw on a format you never actually really look at what you are drawing instead you measure out how things should look: either in real life or in your minds eye and trace that image onto the format.
When you draw 90% of your time is spent looking at the object you intend to render and you only tend to look at the paper when you need to realign your pencil to the edge. You might get a dialog happing - example you could draw a cool looking wing so you might draw it from another angle (rotating it around using your minds eye). However in general thats how is works.
To illustrate - you might start by selecting a one object, say the head of a naked girl, then you lay out the rest of the drawing depending on that object, her tits may be three "heads" down and five heads from the edge to the painting etc. and after a while you master work comes out like a puzzle.
Basically the story is that you need a nice stable format with a good amount of tactile feedback - a 90c sketchbook just own's in this regard and this ain't going to charge. Personally, I know people who have trouble going from A4 to Legal sizes because their image starts to warp, leading to that tragic situation where you realise that halfway through a job you have to start over because you got the shape of one of the eye's wrong or whatever.
I have a Wacom Tablet which I use to trace out images which I have drawn and I can just about use the thing to draw directly onto the computer if I pretend that the computer monitor is a viewfinder but I would get seriously annoyed if I was forced to draw directly onto the screen, It just wouldn't work for me.
I heard a rumour on a slashdot post that Gabe who does penny-arcade uses tablets but since the guy posts dumps from his sketchbook I image he just uses them to save time like I do with my Wacom.
In short, there probally is a use for tablets outside of yuppie toys (DVD players perhaps?) but drawing directly onto the screen is not one of them in my opinion. Sorry to be harsh but people act like this is some killer feature that is going to sell tablets when it just isn't the case. I'm also getting a bit sick of this POV getting posted on almost every apple article whining that apple won't release a tablet saying that it would be cool for artist and getting modded up as interesting. Poor slashdot for showing its demographic. Seriously dude some of the colour schemes on this website are crap.
It's like me saying that speech command is a killer feature for programmers because 90% of the time they use a shell along with a editor and since using a shell is just like telling the computer what to do they will be more productive because they don't have to switch to the shell to do stuff (emacs jokes aside). Sorry but this argument is bollocks and has no connecton with reality.
Only people who think they are artist will buy tablets for work. The rest of use who can actually draw will hang onto our 90c sketchbooks.

Cruel?

[Pan T. Hose]

Putting the word "Porn" in the headline when no actual pr0n is involved is just CRUEL.

This is not only cruel but also quite dangerous as it has just caused Slashdot to be firewalled here in my lab. Not that it would be a bad idea productivity-wise... Maybe whitelisting it wasn't so good idea after all.

Flamebait my ass

[c.emmertfoster]

Companies that mass-produce computers usually operate on a razor-thin profit margin.

That's a valid point.

If money is no object and you're willing to pay extra for something that you might never see like a heatsink as a casual computer consumer, then you are purchasing a luxury item.

Please! His points were accurate. If you are HP or Gateway or Dell, then that statement is wholely true. The differences are trivial and end-cost is a hugely important factor. This is not flamebait, merely a statement of why purchasing apple is a status symbol!

Re:Flamebait my ass

[CountBrass]

Personally I think you're talking out of your arse.

Sure some iMacs are probably bought to pretty up a reception area. But most are bought by people who want: A Unix-like with a usable GUI, a computer that just works, a computer that does take hours of frustrating effort just to plug in a standard peripheral, etc etc etc.

If you don't want to pay for an Apple, fine stick with your Dell. I decided not to have a Porsche Boxster as my company car (yes, I really had that option) I decided to have extra cash and a Ford Focus. But you don't hear me bitching about how a Boxster is overpriced because it has a pretty engine (it has).

Re:Flamebait my ass

[Trespass]

"What sort of fool chooses a Focus instead of a Boxster?"

One with a functioning penis and a full head of hair?

Re:Flamebait my ass

[Rasta Prefect]

Sure some iMacs are probably bought to pretty up a reception area. But most are bought by people who want: A Unix-like with a usable GUI, a computer that just works, a computer that does take hours of frustrating effort just to plug in a standard peripheral, etc etc etc.

As someone who spends a most of his time supporting Macs (College thats all-Mac for faculty and staff) I have to disagree. The majority of Macs are bought by people who have always bought Macs and aren't going to buy anything else, damnit. That said, I'd say that their _new_ market growth is about half techies who like OS X and about half artistically oriented types who like the new look. (Based totally on my personal experience)

Re: Coral CDN

[Omniscient Ferret]

Technically, Akamai has more bandwidth than Jesus.

Really? What does Jesus have?

Important Part of Aesthetics

[SpootFinallyRegister]

It sure looks nice, but looking at the picture of the fans and how tightly everythign is packed, I'm curious as to how this sounds. Anyone know?

To me, a pretty computer ceases to be pretty when it sounds like a vacuum cleaner.

Re:Important Part of Aesthetics

[CountBrass]

It's literally quieter than a whisper. All those fans are there so that the Mac can turn on only the ones it needs for the bits that need cooling at that moment. The PowerMacs have something similar (although on mine it's spoilt by the crappy, loud fan on the 9800pro video card.)

Re:Pomp and circumstance...

[ender81b]

While they aren't the first in alot of things they are usually the first to perfect a concept, or make it usable to the vast majority of people.

Por ejemplo, these all-in-ones have been around for a few years. They have also universally sucked. We got a chance to demo two models (one from Omnitech now MPC and another from Gateway) back in June. Each one was nearly 40 pounds. They were *beasts*. Each was constructed mainly of plastic and felt very flimsey - the gateway model had a few little plastic panels that fell off while we were demoing it (yeah, we're gonna buy this for University students to use...). In addition, each one had a - basically - notebook cdrom drive with a tray. Ever try putting a cd in a tray that's sideways? It sucks. Apple realized this and came out with the nice slot loading concept. There were also a lot of little things wrong with them (buttons placed on the front that weren't very easy to read at a distance, ports on 3 sides left, right, front, etc).

Basically every single thing wrong with the all-in-ones we demo'd apple fixed. *Directly because of this* for the first time in forever we are going to add apple's to our public rotation of computers. Good job apple!

Parts left over?

[panda attack]

Question is how many bits did he have left over when he put it back together?

You always end up with a few spare widgets, I think they put them in just to confuse you.

Re:Another limitation

[serviscope_minor]

Is it just me, or does that thing only take 1 HDD? If this is the case, how do you upgrade?

1 connect a USB or FireWire drive.
2 Go out on a limb and *replace* it.

Seems like in some ways, Apple clearly favours form over function.

In some maybe, but not all. Form _is_ function in other ways. The iMac is quite and requires a small amount of space. That is being functional without intrusive.

My current, beige-box PC has 4 hard drives... if I run out of space, I just slap in a new one for $50-$200 depending on what size I need and how rich I am. As far as I can see, if you run out of space on the G5 iMac, you have to buy a new iMac or at least replace your hard disk with a new one.


1 Your beige box is noisier, takes up a lot more space and probably has a rats-next of wires coming out the back.
2 4 Hard drives ?! That must be noisy as sin. I used to have 3 and that was bad enough.
3 Well, you can just slap in a new one too, as long as you "slap out" the old one first. So, your point is...?

But the 5200 is not exactly a sizzling card. Meybe that's why they chose it -- for thermal reasons.

Re:That is fucking cool

[CountBrass]

"good" and "dell" in the same sentence? What are you smoking?

I'm typing this on my work Dell Latitude (yes they put a gun to my head:( ) and let's see:

• Work Dell: the case is super-cheap plastic;
• My Powerbook: shiney aluminium.

• Work Dell: Cheap keyboard that flexes.
• My PB: Metal keyboard that does not flex.

• Work Dell: Comes complete with not 1, not 2, not even 3 but 4 mouse buttons. Well 2 pairs of 2 really. One with the nipple and the other with the trackpad.
• My Apple: only comes with a trackpad and one mouse button (wait for it...)

• Work Dell: Of the 4 mouse buttons NONE work reliably (2 don't work at all). The nipple is unreliable to the point of being unusable. The track pad works but is small and cramped.
• My PB: Trackpad works flawlessly, every single time, and so does the button.

• Work Dell: Bluetooth radio: doesn't work. At all. With any of my BT devices.
• My PB: Bluetooth works seamlessly with all my BT devices including my MS mouse & P900.

• Work Dell: Comes with XP. worst. operating. system. ever. (yes I think it's worse than ME).
• My PB: Comes with OSX. best. operating. system. ever.

So you can understand why I laugh in the face of anyone that describes any consumer computer made by Dell as good. They're not. They are the epitome of why Wintel PCs are shit.

Thanks :(

[rooijan]

Instead of quietly dragging yourself into a corner and drinking away the pictures, you had to share that charming piece of mental imagery with all of us. Now we can't get rid of it either.

Thanks for everything. I'll be sending my therapist's bill shortly.

Messianic Connectivity

[Farley Mullet]

[Apple's] got more bandwidth than Jesus.

Unlike Xerox, GE, IBM, Ford Motors, Halliburton (what the fuck?) and, yes, Apple, Jesus doesn't have a Class A NetBlock. Plus, alongside seemingly half of the Fortune 500, Apple has it's backend provided by Akamai, and frankly, that sort of setup wouldn't ever need resurrection, because it'd never go down.

However, Jesus does have the edge in RFC 2629: Delivery of Packets via Archangel and Shepherd.

Photo of the 20 inch version here.

[Amiga Lover]

I've seen many photos of the 17" iMac, from Apple's own documentation (the 10MB tiff) to some other disassemblies, but This spymac image is a picture of the insides of the 20" version.

The fans are laid out differently, the HD and inverter in a slightly different position, and looks like there would be room for a dual CPU if apple were so inclined.

Re:Back in the day

[danieleran]

*Boggle*

What's a MAC 2E?

An Apple IIe? Mac SE/30? Mac IIcx? Mac LC III?

And what's a HYPERDRIVE? Macs had what Apple called a "SuperDrive," but that was a high density 3.5" floppy. Recently the same name got applied to a DVD-R drive.

I charge plenty of PC owners $100/hr to fix their Windows crap.

I have to wonder about clients who think they are saving $300 on a cheaper no name PC from Costco, only to spend a couple years on a crappy machine that runs poorly, has flakey software bundled with it, and requires expensive repair time when users plug it into their DSL, fire up IE and saturate their machine with viruses and malware.

If they bought a Mac, they could pay me to teach them useful things like learning Photoshop or AppleScripting their workflow instead of bailing out their Windows problems.

Arrgh!

[C0rinthian]

My eyes! The goggles do nothing!

Rackmount this

[Arcady13]

This looks like a great form factor motherboard to place in a nice 1U rack. It would make a great entry-level server. If you get rid of the LCD, there would be plenty of room to fit it all in. The only thing that would need work is the ports which would end up facing the top, but that could be solved with right-angle connectors that run to a new backplate.

If anyone at Marathon is listening, I'd buy a rack kit in 2 seconds. Include a power supply to install in the iMac case and power the LCD, plus add a DVI port, and you end up with a great rackmounted Mac and a nice display to use on some other Mac.

I wonder if I can order all the parts except the case and LCD, and get the computer cheaper that way. Probably not.

Re:Geforce FX 5200 Ultra?

[cgadd]

I wasn't trolling, just very suprised that a machine that looks like it's intended to be fairly high-end would use a very weak video processor....

The Geforce FX 5200 processors, while supporting the latest features, are slower than the previous generation Geforce Ti4200. Lots of people in the PC world were suckered into buying a 5200 based card in the recent doom upgrade craze, only to find out that they are amazingly slow.

I guess any comment that points out a shortcoming must automatically be a troll.....

Re: Coral CDN

[NoMaster]

Technically, Akamai has more bandwidth than Jesus.

Really? What does Jesus have?

More importantly, what would he do with it?

A theory as to why it's BinHex-ed....

[edw]

You're right. BinHex II (.hqx) is a format from the early days of the net and online services. Back when people would e-mail programs to a repository, get them through FTP-mail getways, or using Kermit. In this case, as someone else noted, all you're getting is the file meta-data, including icon.

The file was probably made available as a .hqx simply because its intended use is to be downloaded and used in Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign, Freehand, Quark, or other design tool. Making it an .hqx file has the virtue of making it go to your hard drive, not perhaps a browser window. As a son-in-law of a graphic designer, I can say that the overhead of the BinHexing the file is more than worth not having to explain how to save an image in a browser window, especially if a designer's browser shows nothing but a broken image icon, because it can't display TIFFs.

Dragging and dropping as well as right- or control-clicking are, sadly, not techniques used extensively by many people. Of course a designer is dragging and dropping all the time in e.g. Illustrator or Photoshop, but the idea that you can drag a picture from a browser window to your desktop or to a folder can be mind blowing.

So tiny, what is there to see ?

[billcopc]

I just "accidentally" visited the apple wwwstore a few days ago and needed all of my restraint to not call Visa and extend my credit a couple G's :) Those tiny G5's are damn sexy, and if they didn't cost so much I think I'd crack one open as well. I have a hunch they're using notebook technology in there. Heck, my P4 notebook is bigger than this G5 =)

Re:Pomp and circumstance...

[Udo Schmitz]

Por ejemplo, these all-in-ones have been around for a few years. They have also universally sucked. We got a chance to demo two models (one from Omnitech now MPC and another from Gateway) back in June. Each one was nearly 40 pounds. They were *beasts*.

For everyone to compare here are pics of an iMac G5 and a Sony Vaio all-in-one:

http://www.macbase.de/Xchange/vaio_vs_imacg5.jpg

From a site called Sonystyle:

http://www.sonystyle.com/intershoproot/eCS/Store/e n/imagesProducts/MoreImages/PCVV100G_4.jpg

And a sideway tray-loading CD-ROM:

http://www.sonystyle.com/intershoproot/eCS/Store/e n/imagesProducts/MoreImages/PCVV100G_7.jpg

Thanks! Now my wife's iMac is safe ...

[Titusdot Groan]

Thanks for posting this!

Now when ours arrives tomorrow I'll be able to resist the urge to open it up and see what's inside.

Well, hopefully.

Damn slashdot effect...

[flimflam]

I saw the first couple pages, but the server died before I got to the porn...

New Mac User Replacable Parts?

[Opalima]

Back in the annals of yesteryear our department maintained a few MAC's. Being a PC tech at the time I knew sweet little about the little beige boxes, but when they did break I always offered a hand to see if I could fix what was wrong.

An external floppy drive at one point died on the unit (which was out of warranty). I verified that it was indeed toast and called our local Apple shop to source a replacement.

They gave me a price and we were in the middle of processing the order when the slipped in a By The Way.

"We need the old drive back"

I told them No You Don't. The machine isn't under warranty. I'm buying a replacement part - this isn't a warranty service.

They pushed the point and said that they couldn't sell me the replacement drive unless I gave them the old drive back.

At that point I hung up on them and bought the replacement drive through an online vendor.

Is Apple still as anal these days about dispensing replacement parts for out of warranty repairs?

Re:New Mac User Replacable Parts?

[Warlock7]

You're speaking of this as if it were a long time ago. Yet you are also saying that you were trying to get service from an Apple retail store, which have only been around for a few years now and which don't do any in house service. The very first Apple retail location has only been around since May of 2001.

It's an interesting story, but I just have to question the veracity of it. As far as I can recall, Apple hasn't made their own external floppy drives since they made them for the Apple II and early Macintoshes, if that's what you are referring to then it would be way out of warranty. That and the "beige boxes" that you refer to had internal floppies, the internals were discontinued back in 1999, just a bit after all the colorful machines started being produced.

Porn. Porn?!

[ayeco]

Poor use of the word. How silly. What is this, Fark? Surely you geeks could come up with a better headline / summary.

Main Entry: pornography
Function: noun
Etymology: Greek pornographos, adjective, writing about prostitutes, from pornE prostitute + graphein to write; akin to Greek pernanai to sell, poros journey -- more at FARE, CARVE
1 : the depiction of erotic behavior (as in pictures or writing) intended to cause sexual excitement
2 : material (as books or a photograph) that depicts erotic behavior and is intended to cause sexual excitement
3 : the depiction of acts in a sensational manner so as to arouse a quick intense emotional reaction
- pornographic /"por-n&-'gra-fik/ adjective
- pornographically /-fi-k(&-)lE/ adverb

Can anyone tell if the processor is removable?

[adzoox]

I can't tell from the kodawarison take apart or the Apple diagrams if the processor itself is on a daughtercard this time.

If so, I wonder how long it will be before PowerLogix or Sonnet can come out with a faster CPU.

I've also wondered about the GPU (Graphics card) since the educational units have such a different graphics card - I wondered if they were making motherboards specifically for education for the new iMacs or whether the GPU was simply on a card that easy to replace.

Re:porn roundup

[magarity]

Duh, people porn is people with their covers removed. Computer porn, in this case iMac porn, is a computer with its cover removed. This should be stunningly obvious. Please feel free to think before posting for a change.

NeXTstation still beats them all

[green pizza]

The NeXTstation slab was built with the precision of a swiss watch and the strength of a bulldozer. The 4 screws were just about perfect -- they kept tool-less folks from poking around inside, and the prevented the need for cheap "easy to use" latches and such.

Still, my favorite part of the NeXTstation was the airflow design. Air was pulled in through a row of holes across the top of the rear of the case, flowed past the CPU heatsink, pushed out via a downward-facing fan near the front of the case, then back under the case past the power supply heatsink, and finally out the lower left rear of the case.

The NeXT keys and mouse were awesome too -- control key where it belongs, no traditional "caps lock" key. Full size power, brightness, and audio keys above the arrow keys. And the best part? The keyboard and mouse were surrounded by a thin rubber bumper to muffle any plastic "clump" sound that would otherwise be made if the mouse were to bump into the keyboard.

Oh, and the price matched the engineering! :)

It isn't just perception

[ianscot]

You think the evidence is anecdotal, and to support that you provide your own anecdotal evidence. Let's look at yours: you build your own machines, plural, and they last a long time? How many can you possibly have built to know this? Big sample? How can that be, if they last so very long? How old are you? ;-)

There are numbers out there about the longevity of Macs in workplaces, both in terms of their not breaking down and in terms of how long they're usable for their task. The Gartner Group has done some, I know.

The evidence isn't just anecdotal, but it is muddied by stuff like the fact that OS X has actually been getting noticably faster for older machines. (Ars technica: "Here's another way to look at Panther's performance. For over three years now, Mac OS X has gotten faster with every release -- and not just "faster in the experience of most end users", but faster on the same hardware. This trend is unheard of among contemporary desktop operating systems.") That's not just a physical measure of the machine, it's to do with the whole set of end-to-end stuff that Apple can control in its little proprietary world. And yeah, it's a high-quality market niche, and nope, that's not just an imagined difference.

It's a choice you can still make, but it's not an illusory choice. Some people drive a Kia, some people drive a BMW, and some people drive a Subaru. Even met someone who was religious about their brand of cars because it had been so dang reliable?

Actually...

[MachineShedFred]

While I see where you are coming from on this (I build every non-Apple box I use), some of the perception probably comes from the software that they run.

For example, I've had this PowerBook for two years, and I've had to reinstall the Mac OS once and that's only because I wanted to start fresh... there was nothing wrong with it.

However, the reference-platform dual Xeon workstation that I have in my home office has had four reinstalls of Windows 2000 and XP during the same time period, due to irrecoverable failures of the OS.

With that track record, I would say that my Mac lasts for a long time, where the x86 box fails sooner.

However, if I mix in Linux on that x86 box, we're in a whole new ballpark...

Re:porn roundup

[TheGatekeeper]

I dunno, I always thought of computers and people with their covers removed as simply being 'in the nude', and it's not actually 'ponr' per se, unless of course the subject is turned on at the time.

This leads to the dubious example of situations in which the subject is likely not actually turned on, but made to appear so in order to increase the appeal of the picture.

Granted the line between nudity and porn is a thin one, and in America one might construe mere nudity as porn, but in more progressive nations actual Software EXchange has to be taking place to be classified as pornographic.

Re:porn roundup

[LikelyStory]

For probly the best example of what inspired the "porn" moniker, see http://www.billnoll.com/g5/

This guy's "photo essay" of his then-new cheesegrater G5 borders on the obsessive. He's a pro photographer, so...

For the flavor, his opening caption reads:
"If beauty is only skin deep, nobody told the industrial designers at Apple - the new Power Mac G5 is stunningly gorgeous - both inside and out. I used a Sony DSC-F717, handheld with available light, to capture the metallic textures and elegant curves...."

Actually, some nice shots!

Re:That is fucking cool

[atriusofbricia]

Yeah, as much as I hate to admit it, I have to agree. As bad as XP is, it's better then ME. It's a less revolting pile of shite.

He says from his government mandated Dell XP machine.

DAMN DELL!!

warranty, schmarranty...

[capsteve]

you all noticed kodawarisan is japanese, and fearlessly, he tore into his brand new imac g5, without a care for the warranty...

culturally, the japanese have a fetish for "brand new" things (a.k.a. atarashii), so breaking the "seal" on a new product, even if it voids the warranty, is not a threat. the worry is to be embarrassed by having old things, almost counter to american ideology that old/vintage is cool... to the japanese old/vintage is shameful and embarrassing, not to be flaunted at all.

kodawarisan will probably get new imac in the next 12 months.

Ahhhh rats I thought

[JohnnyGTO]

it was about that little anime vixen finally loosing that skimpy little blue suit!!,br>

Re:porn roundup

[d474]

Porn? It's more like Surgery, I think.

Porn is like when the CD tray "ejects" a CD in your girlfriends face, or you "insert" a 3.5"er firmly into the warm, purring disc drive.

Nifty

[dchamp]

I have to admit, the G5 iMacs look pretty nifty. Not that I'm going to buy one... but my main complaint would be that the video processor is imbedded on the mainboard... so there's no way to upgrade it a year from now when it won't play the latest / greatest games any more.
Some laptops (like Dell Inspirons since it Inspiron 8000) have the video card on a seperate (but proprietary) daughter card. While it's not officially supported by Dell, you can purchase a newer / faster video card for them.
Too bad there isn't a "standard" mini-agp, or mini-pci-x video card for laptops and all-in-one units like the G5 iMac.

Re:Nifty

[dchamp]

Oh, crap... there is such a thing as mini agp

Stupid?

[Cloud K]

"Apparently someone who has already recieved their iMac G5 has decided to take it apart. Stupid if only for the fact that he's just voided his warranty."

What kind of attitude is that for Slashdot?! The first thing *any* true geek does with a new piece of electronics like that, regardless of warranty or expense, is take the thing apart and take a look around!

Tsch, kids nowadays. Don't even know they're born!