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iMacs Freshened with 2.0 GHz G5, Bluetooth, WiFi
amichalo writes "Apple has updated the popular consumer level Mac, the iMac G5.
So better support the now standard Mac OS X Tiger, Apple has made significant improvements to all standard configurations including 512MB RAM, Radeon 9600 128MB graphics, and on 2.0 GHz models (17" and 20"), a slot-loading dual-layer 8x SuperDrive is standard. The 1.8 GHz 17" model includes a slot-loading Combo Drive.
Also standard are Apple's AirPort Extreme 802.11g WiFi and Bluetooth. Pricing remains at $1300, $1500, and $1800 respectively for 1.8 GHz 17", 2.0 GHz 17", and 2.0 GHz 20", though 2.0 GHz models include additional upgraded features.
These improvements are significant as this line has not seen a refresh in about a year and the upgrade to a Radeon 9600 graphics card will allow the new iMac to take better advantage of Tiger features such as Core Image, which is significant because the video card cannot be upgraded. Lastly, Apple is continuing the interactive chat and QuickTime support program for the iMac G5."
just to clarify.
they've also update the emac
Creationists are a lot like zombies. Slow, but powerful and numerous. And they all want to eat our brains.
I ordered my iMac in September and it arrived in October. I wasn't the first, but I wasn't far off. OK, it may be 7-8 months since the line has been introduced, but isn't that statement a little 'glass-half-empty'?
Scared of flying, pointy things snce 1979!
Expandability?
I would agree that the low end Powermac is abit... MMhhh weak, but then the advantage of it is that you can expand it more, another HDD, GFX, more memory.
So for a "family" the Powermac really isn't the right machine but if you need an entry level Workstation for grafic work I'd say the Powermac is still the way to go.
If you want to e-mail me, use my PGP Key.
I'm very pleased to see they have finally started shipping 512 Mb RAM as standard as this has to be considered the minimum to see OS X in its full glory. The prices to go to 1GB are much better, $125 extra for 1GB using up both DIMMs and $175 for the memory in one stick, leaving you free to buy the additional elsewhere (if you need it on this level machine).
It leaves me puzzled why they are still shipping 256 Mb on the Power Macs (why, why?). However, this looks like a very sensible feature improvement which should provide the perfect all in one home machine and stop the iMac from having their sales canibalised by Mac Minis at the lower end. Sadly my previous generation iMac, which is now 4 years old, is still running perfectly, especially now it has Tiger, so this may still be a hard sell to buy this year.
Yes, with that video card. You don't need an X800 to run Photoshop and InDesign. They won't even take advantage of it if you have one.
http://cse.stanford.edu/class/sophomore-college/pr ojects-00/risc/risccisc/ this is probally what your refering to.
also try http://www.osnews.com/story.php?news_id=3997
When doing these comparisons, everyone always forgets one BIG cost: Windows.
Windows XP Home: $199 Windows XP Professional (Much closer to OSX): $299
So, now your $1095.00 computer just became $1394. Add in the other little things you forgot such as bluetooth, gigabit ethernet, and case and you've got a machine about on par with the Powermac.
Actually if you go to the site you will see that XP Pro is 159 and XP Home is 99. The quoted motherboard does have gigabit ethernet, and the case was included. So all you need is a bluetooth adapter if you really want one.
Sorry, teleporters just kill you and then make a copy. A perfect, soul-less copy.
Now Apple needs to do something about the Mini. 256MB of ram is an insult, especially if they start shipping them with Tiger in the near future. It wouldn't suck to update the video to the 9600 too so CoreImage can be better utilized. Go ahead and leave the drives smaller and the CPU 2.0, but at least take care of the memory issue.
A "sub $500" mac looses it's luster real quick when you have to stuff memory on top of it just to get decent performance. When they almost never leave stock 1.25/Gh/40Gb models at 256MB in the Apple stores, Best Buy, and Comp that says something about the performance.
This is a common problem:= 665&pid=25 29
http://www.sudhian.com/showdocs.cfm?aid
I don't think they were using "quality" capictors.
I also have an entire series of imacs where I work that almost every one has had a hard disk failure. Granted they are 5 years old, purchased in 2000 and are only 400mhz. But started failing one by one after we purchased them, 1 or 2 every month until almost all 60 had hard drives replaced.
Both Xserves I had purchased has had bad slot loading cdrom drives that I had Apple replace. I tried the firmware update that supposidly fixes the problem, but the drives still did not work.
Powerbooks with the same type cdrom seemed to be having similar problems. Ended up sending the drives in to be replaced.
We have had several other Macintosh Computers that could not keep time even after firmware resets and battery replacements.
I have had lots of bad memory, capicitors, and power supply failures -- much higher than all other computers combined (PCs, PPC IBM Servers). Failure has increased with newer models.
Apple used to produce quality computers back in the early 90's that would last for years. Now they are on par with emachines or packard bell.
We purchase many computers and it is not uncommon to see entire series of Macintosh Computers to have to same failure again and again. That does not mean a consumer can see this because he or she may have the "lucky" computer that is not the lemon.
APPLE, PLEASE GET BACK TO QUALITY!
Actually, no...
This is a marketable point given that the 9600 will take full advantage of Quartz 2D extreme GUI acceleration, whereas the video card below this one will not. So it's a matter of Quartz 2D Extreme support or not. Quartz 2D extreme should make a very large difference in GUI speed, which being a place that OSX has lagged, is a big deal.
macgamestore.com, there are several other games. I read this piece of news from mac world this morning.
There is a spark in every single flame bait point.
Keep in mind that there are only so many parts in the iMac G5 - you can basically break it down to: SATA drives, PSU, Midplane, Inverter, Display (+ memory). Things that are separate parts in many machines but not the iMac G5: video card, speakers, bluetooth, antennae, modem, fan(s), cables, and sometimes even the processor(s) and ports.
Considering that drive and LCD failures are unlikely to be heavily seen in any computer's first 6 months on the market, it's not surprising that most of the failures we hear about are the Midplane or PSU. PSU is an easy one - "won't power on/won't stay on." Inverter typically presents itself as a "no backlight" issue. That leaves a laundry list of problems that all reside on the midplane: Fans stop spinning, unit overheats. Fans spin too fast constantly, too loud. No AirPort signal. Bluetooth not recognized. Video scrambled. Ethernet port not working. Memory not recognized. Kernel panics on startup. Bad FireWire port. No sound. ALL of these require replacing the midplane.
My point? Not all iMac midplane failures are equal, and unless they are all failing for the same reason at the same point, there is no larger issue. Apple simply chose to put "the whole computer" on the midplane, so yes it gets replaced more frequently than many other parts (there are hardly any other parts to replace!), however from a customer service standpoint it makes repairing your own computer a heck of a lot easier. There are really only so many parts to go bad in an iMac, and surprise, a few of them have. Also realize that this computer has been flying off the shelves since day 1, so there's going to be a larger number of reports than usual. Add to this people who were shipped a PSU to replace and really needed a midplane, or vice versa, but consider the problem a 'dual failure' because both parts ended up being replaced (I've seen this case a lot online). This was a failure on Apple's support end to accurately identify the problem, but nonetheless does not constitute a dual-failure epidemic. The iBook G3 logic board recall, on the other hand, represents a specific widespread failure that manifests itself in the exact same way every time.
Sorry to go on a bit of a tirade, but I really feel that - like with the iPod 'battery issue' - the majority of iMac owners are happily enjoying their purchases and the fact that anyone with a sad story and no technical knowledge can post to a website really tends to have a run-away effect in the Mac community. It would be nice to see more people address these failures with some consideration for how the thing is built.
http://www.apple.com/imac/specs.html Looks like it is still 400
No, I'm a true ./'r! If you want facts and statistics , I am afraid you are in the wrong place. May I suggest you buy a Mac mini and try it out for yourself. If it's not true for you you can always sell it on ebay.
You can add a new HD to an iMac, and upgrade the RAM. Both are user installable parts. As is the airport card if you don't already have one.
And yes, the HD and RAM are standard parts, not proprietary Apple stuff. The Airport card is proprietary though.