STATE OF THE ART A Computer With the IPod's Bloodlines
[size=-1]By DAVID POGUE[/size]
Published: September 16, 2004
OOD morning, and welcome to "Name That Apple!" Fingers on buzzers? All right, let's begin.
For 100 points: It's a compact rectangular slab that plays great-sounding music from a built-in hard drive. The front is shiny white acrylic with a screen at the top. The corners and edges of the back panel are gently rounded. Over all, the simplicity and purity of its design give this machine a calm, elegant beauty. Name that Apple!
Bzzzzzt! No, I'm sorry, "iPod" is not the answer we were looking for. The correct answer is: "the new iMac G5."
If you couldn't help noticing a resemblance between the two Apple products, though, you're forgiven; Jonathan Ive, Apple's chief designer, made the new iMac look so much like his iPod design, it ought to come with white earbuds. The new desktop computer was clearly designed to send a message to the world's four million iPod fans: "If you think our music player is great, you should check out our computers."
The most striking aspect of the new iMac, which is trickling into stores this week, is that its guts are completely concealed inside the tilting 17- or 20-inch flat screen. Only a thin anodized aluminum foot touches your desk, making it appear that you somehow neglected to buy the C.P.U. itself (on most computers, that's the big plastic box containing disk drives and connectors). But it's all there, hidden behind the two-inch-deep screen itself.
The large, empty white plastic expanse beneath the screen looks a little weird at first; no margin at all would have looked much more satisfying, if not quite as iPod-ish. Otherwise, though, the overall effect is very attractive, and the eyebrow-raising compactness of the whole thing makes the iMac G5 a comfortable fit for, say, a kitchen counter. It's a natural for schools, too, because you can move it from room to room so easily.
Nonetheless, the new design isn't nearly as radical a breakthrough as the first iMac (that translucent, colorful, all-in-one egg) or the second one (floating screen, white dome-shaped base). This time, Apple didn't break the mold; instead, it just cleaned up the mold of earlier guts-behind-the-screen computers from Gateway, NEC, I.B.M. and others. Most of those models flopped.
Still, Apple often succeeds where its predecessors failed, whether it's building an online music store, a chain of retail computer stores or a pocket music player. The devil is in the details, and this particular one-piece flat-panel machine got most of them right.
For example, the iMac's stereo speakers are invisible. They're built into the bottom edge of the screen, so that they bounce sound off the desk. Better yet, they're much more powerful than most built-in computer speakers. They don't exactly rattle the windows, but they nicely fill a small room with clean sound. (Any computer destined to be called the MacPod had better have good music playback.)
Apple's chief, Steve Jobs, has gone on record as loathing the noise made by computer fans (the spinning kind, not the human kind that show up at Macworld Expos). Considering the heat generated by its 1.6- or 1.8-gigahertz G5 processor, the iMac's silence is quite an achievement.
There are other niceties. The back panel is easy to remove when you want to install memory or a wireless card; the three screws involved don't even drop out, thanks to a merciful "captive" design. Apple also eliminated the ugliness of the "brick" that's a standard part of modern power cords. Only a slender white cable slips out the back to plug into the wall.
There's been some online griping about the placement of the new iMac's connectors (three U.S.B., two FireWire, Ethernet, modem, optical audio output, TV output and so on). They're arranged vertically on the back. "No wonder Apple's iMac photos never show anything plugged in, like printers, cameras or iPods," goes the complaint. "The dangling cords would destroy the futuristic purity of the hovering-screen look."
The cables do look pretty cluttery, but only from the side. From the front, you don't see them. Still, you can do your part to support Jonathan Ive's anticlutter campaign by ordering your iMac with the optional Bluetooth bundle ($100), which includes Apple's cordless keyboard and mouse. And an AirPort card ($80) means you can connect to a wireless network. (If you opt for Apple's $130 AirPort Express base station to provide that network, you can even get your printer and its cords out of sight. The AirPort Express has its own printer port.)
Truth is, Apple really muffed only one detail: even the top-of-the-line model comes with only 256 megabytes of memory. That's typical for consumer computers these days, but on a creative powerhouse like the Macintosh, it's not enough. Programs like Apple's creative suite (iMovie, iPhoto, iTunes, GarageBand and so on, all included) and Adobe Photoshop can run in 256 megs, but only barely; programs like Microsoft's new Virtual PC 7, which lets most Windows programs run on the Mac, don't open at all. In all cases, you're missing out on the speed potential of the iMac's G5 chip.
If you intend to buy this computer, therefore, consider an upgrade to at least 512 megabytes a nonnegotiable extra ($75 installed by Apple, $50 to do it yourself).
A Computer With the IPod's Bloodlines
Published: September 16, 2004
[size=-1](Page 2 of 2)[/size]
The iMac's sleek design may be its most attention-grabbing aspect. But if Apple succeeds in luring iPod fans into the cult of Mac, the feature that will ultimately make them happiest has nothing to do with quiet fans or thin power cords. In the long run, they'll benefit most from the iMac's stealth feature: Mac OS X.
Not only is this operating system rock-solid and, for a first-timer, much easier to understand than Windows, so far it's also 100 percent free from viruses, Trojan horses, spyware and all the grief that comes with them. This month, Microsoft is rolling out to the much larger Windows XP audience an 80-megabyte bundle of security patches called Service Pack 2. Mac maniacs are fond of pointing out that most of the new Windows security features were built into Mac OS X from Day One.
(As a bonus, the new iMac introduces a new start-up process that offers to import all of your programs, e-mail, documents and settings from an older Mac.)
Apple's slogan for the new iMac is "From the creators of the iPod." From a certain perspective, it's a little depressing that this is how Apple chooses to bill itself, considering it also made standard components of the mouse, CD-ROM drive, laser printer, wireless networking, Bluetooth and so on. It certainly looks like Apple is trying to boost the Mac's small market share by capitalizing on the iPod's tidal wave of popularity.
On the other hand, the marketers have a valid point; anyone who's captivated by the iPod should try a Macintosh. In this case, you won't even pay the fabled Mac price premium. The iMac models' prices range from $1,300 (17-inch screen, 80-gigabyte hard drive) to $1,900 (20-inch screen, DVD burner, faster chip, 160-gig drive). That's actually less expensive than comparably equipped guts-behind-screen PC's like the Gateway Profile 5 (which costs $125 more). Sony's V310P costs $50 less than the G5, but has only a 15-inch screen.
Of course, considering that you can pick up a starter Dell box for only $450, $1,300 is still a lot of money. When you buy a computer that incorporates a gorgeous flat-panel screen and the miniaturized, more expensive components of laptops, that's the way the ball bounces.
The iPod experiment has proved, however, that in the right circumstances, people will pay for Apple elegance, beauty and simplicity. The MacPod may not have the radical design of the first two iMac generations. But with its appealing combination of power, portability and panache, the iMac G5 may be just radical enough.
E-mail: [email protected]
AAA
[size=-1]By DAVID POGUE[/size]
Published: September 16, 2004
For 100 points: It's a compact rectangular slab that plays great-sounding music from a built-in hard drive. The front is shiny white acrylic with a screen at the top. The corners and edges of the back panel are gently rounded. Over all, the simplicity and purity of its design give this machine a calm, elegant beauty. Name that Apple!
If you couldn't help noticing a resemblance between the two Apple products, though, you're forgiven; Jonathan Ive, Apple's chief designer, made the new iMac look so much like his iPod design, it ought to come with white earbuds. The new desktop computer was clearly designed to send a message to the world's four million iPod fans: "If you think our music player is great, you should check out our computers."
The most striking aspect of the new iMac, which is trickling into stores this week, is that its guts are completely concealed inside the tilting 17- or 20-inch flat screen. Only a thin anodized aluminum foot touches your desk, making it appear that you somehow neglected to buy the C.P.U. itself (on most computers, that's the big plastic box containing disk drives and connectors). But it's all there, hidden behind the two-inch-deep screen itself.
The large, empty white plastic expanse beneath the screen looks a little weird at first; no margin at all would have looked much more satisfying, if not quite as iPod-ish. Otherwise, though, the overall effect is very attractive, and the eyebrow-raising compactness of the whole thing makes the iMac G5 a comfortable fit for, say, a kitchen counter. It's a natural for schools, too, because you can move it from room to room so easily.
Nonetheless, the new design isn't nearly as radical a breakthrough as the first iMac (that translucent, colorful, all-in-one egg) or the second one (floating screen, white dome-shaped base). This time, Apple didn't break the mold; instead, it just cleaned up the mold of earlier guts-behind-the-screen computers from Gateway, NEC, I.B.M. and others. Most of those models flopped.
Still, Apple often succeeds where its predecessors failed, whether it's building an online music store, a chain of retail computer stores or a pocket music player. The devil is in the details, and this particular one-piece flat-panel machine got most of them right.
For example, the iMac's stereo speakers are invisible. They're built into the bottom edge of the screen, so that they bounce sound off the desk. Better yet, they're much more powerful than most built-in computer speakers. They don't exactly rattle the windows, but they nicely fill a small room with clean sound. (Any computer destined to be called the MacPod had better have good music playback.)
Apple's chief, Steve Jobs, has gone on record as loathing the noise made by computer fans (the spinning kind, not the human kind that show up at Macworld Expos). Considering the heat generated by its 1.6- or 1.8-gigahertz G5 processor, the iMac's silence is quite an achievement.
There are other niceties. The back panel is easy to remove when you want to install memory or a wireless card; the three screws involved don't even drop out, thanks to a merciful "captive" design. Apple also eliminated the ugliness of the "brick" that's a standard part of modern power cords. Only a slender white cable slips out the back to plug into the wall.
There's been some online griping about the placement of the new iMac's connectors (three U.S.B., two FireWire, Ethernet, modem, optical audio output, TV output and so on). They're arranged vertically on the back. "No wonder Apple's iMac photos never show anything plugged in, like printers, cameras or iPods," goes the complaint. "The dangling cords would destroy the futuristic purity of the hovering-screen look."
The cables do look pretty cluttery, but only from the side. From the front, you don't see them. Still, you can do your part to support Jonathan Ive's anticlutter campaign by ordering your iMac with the optional Bluetooth bundle ($100), which includes Apple's cordless keyboard and mouse. And an AirPort card ($80) means you can connect to a wireless network. (If you opt for Apple's $130 AirPort Express base station to provide that network, you can even get your printer and its cords out of sight. The AirPort Express has its own printer port.)
Truth is, Apple really muffed only one detail: even the top-of-the-line model comes with only 256 megabytes of memory. That's typical for consumer computers these days, but on a creative powerhouse like the Macintosh, it's not enough. Programs like Apple's creative suite (iMovie, iPhoto, iTunes, GarageBand and so on, all included) and Adobe Photoshop can run in 256 megs, but only barely; programs like Microsoft's new Virtual PC 7, which lets most Windows programs run on the Mac, don't open at all. In all cases, you're missing out on the speed potential of the iMac's G5 chip.
If you intend to buy this computer, therefore, consider an upgrade to at least 512 megabytes a nonnegotiable extra ($75 installed by Apple, $50 to do it yourself).
A Computer With the IPod's Bloodlines
Published: September 16, 2004
[size=-1](Page 2 of 2)[/size]
The iMac's sleek design may be its most attention-grabbing aspect. But if Apple succeeds in luring iPod fans into the cult of Mac, the feature that will ultimately make them happiest has nothing to do with quiet fans or thin power cords. In the long run, they'll benefit most from the iMac's stealth feature: Mac OS X.
Not only is this operating system rock-solid and, for a first-timer, much easier to understand than Windows, so far it's also 100 percent free from viruses, Trojan horses, spyware and all the grief that comes with them. This month, Microsoft is rolling out to the much larger Windows XP audience an 80-megabyte bundle of security patches called Service Pack 2. Mac maniacs are fond of pointing out that most of the new Windows security features were built into Mac OS X from Day One.
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Apple's slogan for the new iMac is "From the creators of the iPod." From a certain perspective, it's a little depressing that this is how Apple chooses to bill itself, considering it also made standard components of the mouse, CD-ROM drive, laser printer, wireless networking, Bluetooth and so on. It certainly looks like Apple is trying to boost the Mac's small market share by capitalizing on the iPod's tidal wave of popularity.
On the other hand, the marketers have a valid point; anyone who's captivated by the iPod should try a Macintosh. In this case, you won't even pay the fabled Mac price premium. The iMac models' prices range from $1,300 (17-inch screen, 80-gigabyte hard drive) to $1,900 (20-inch screen, DVD burner, faster chip, 160-gig drive). That's actually less expensive than comparably equipped guts-behind-screen PC's like the Gateway Profile 5 (which costs $125 more). Sony's V310P costs $50 less than the G5, but has only a 15-inch screen.
Of course, considering that you can pick up a starter Dell box for only $450, $1,300 is still a lot of money. When you buy a computer that incorporates a gorgeous flat-panel screen and the miniaturized, more expensive components of laptops, that's the way the ball bounces.
The iPod experiment has proved, however, that in the right circumstances, people will pay for Apple elegance, beauty and simplicity. The MacPod may not have the radical design of the first two iMac generations. But with its appealing combination of power, portability and panache, the iMac G5 may be just radical enough.
E-mail: [email protected]
AAA
