“With its new iMac G5, Apple Computer has once again come up with a unique package of design, power and ease of use. But will it be enough? No. Apple has missed the opportunity to stay way ahead of its PC manufacturing competitors by not including Wi-Fi as standard and by failing to catch the early-adopter personal video recorder wave by including a TV tuner card,” Paul Jackson, senior analyst for Forrester Research, writes for CNET. “Better still would have been a software option to turn this machine into a full Wi-Fi access point: Intel’s Grantsdale chipset already promises this functionality for PC owners. The lack of this connectivity means that Apple has missed an opportunity to build on its AirPort Express foundations and rule the roost in bottom-up networking.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: If you want Airport, you can easily add it. Why make everyone pay for it on a desktop unit, when everyone won’t use it? Ditto for Jackson’s TV tuner gripe. As for turning your iMac (or any Mac with an Airport Card) into a Wi-Fi access point, Jackson is wrong, it’s already included by Apple:
Sharing your Internet connection with other computers using AirPort: If you have an AirPort Card installed in your computer and you are connected to the Internet, you can share your Internet connection with other computers.
1. Open System Preferences, click Sharing, and click Internet.
2. Select how you would like to share your Internet connection, then click Start.
If you select “Share your Internet connection with AirPort-equipped computers,” click AirPort Options to give your network a name and password.
If you are sharing your Internet connection with Windows or other wireless clients that require an equivalent network password, you can use an ASCII (quoted) or hexadecimal (hex-escaped) password. For example, you can specify “apple” or “applecomputer” as an ASCII password, and $0102030405 or $010203… (26 hexadecimal digits) as a hexadecimal password.
You can share your Internet connection as long as your computer is connected to the Internet. If your computer goes to sleep or is restarted, or if you lose your Internet connection, you need to restart Internet sharing.
First they complain because the iMac is an all in one unit. Then they complain because it doesn’t have everything in one unit. Can’t seem to win 🙁
Not Aluminum
The iMac has always been a home-friendly, easy to clean, plastic. White looks better in the family room than an industrial brushed aluminum. The brushed aluminum G5 tower is nice for impressing your clients.
Not as a TV
Even though many computers can play a DVD. Do you really? How many movies have you rented from Blockbuster and played on your computer rather than your $69 DVD player from WalMart, where you can sit back in your comfy chair and snuggle with someone special? Granted my iMac has a much better picture than my TV, but it is no where as convenient. This is because I watch TV casually, and I use my computer interactively (sit up and leaning forward). Why then would you want to watch any other TV content on your computer?
Not as a Wi-Fi Base Station
My friend started with his and his roommate’s iMacs being linked via internal Airport cards (the cheap route), but this soon became very tiresome as he always had to be careful about how he used his computer. Every sleep or restart would knock his roommate off line. This aggravation multiplies as you add more users. They spent the extra $199 for an Airport Base Station, attached the mutual printer to it, and they now feel it is very well worth the investment. A single computer as a base station is a very bad idea! Just try it.
my hd cable box has 1394 -firewire plug- if only apple would pay my cable bill so i could have all the channels
Hey, Macs already do WiFi Base Station, and TV. Base station is built in to Mac OS X and wi-fe cards from Apple.
As to TV, obviously, NOT everyone wants it so why put it in?
http://www.mac360.com/index.php/mac360/more/review_el_gatos_new_eyetv_16_firewire_usb/
Nice review of ElGato’s EYE TV for the Mac. Only for the Mac.
Viridian,
In the UK you need one licence per household, so if you already have a colour TV you don’t need another one.
Regards,
1281
The iMac that needs the TV Tuner is the one that has the LCD sliced off the front so I can put the computer in my home entertainment center and connect it to my big-screen TV. I currently have a trusty B&W G3 with EyeTV doing that for me now. If Apple could sell that for $500, I’d buy 2 today.
IT _guy said: “If you manage to squeeze your bagel/bread through the slot-loading CD-drive, then browse on safari (read MDN comments) for 10 minutes, the computer will generate enough heat to toast the bagel/bread. Just press the eject button on the keyboard, it pops out. Sorry that you missed this feature.”
Are you sure you’re not thinking of the G4 Cube?
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My point with the aluminum is that if the stand is going to be aluminum, the make the whole thing aluminum… if you have to do the white face, then do the stand in white.. To my eye it looks weird to have the brushed aluminum and then the white face.
1281,
Thanks much for the clarification. I was wondering about that, because a per unit license seemed a bit onerous to me.
Cheers
Video card….
wow… compare a G4 iMac with a weak graphics card to a new G5 iMac with a little better video card and I would expect those results. It is the G5 processor that is making the huge % leaps. Not the weak 5200 video card.
I guess that is why I am keeping my G5 tower and not selling it for an iMac; that and my recently acquired PCI TV card, and multiple HDs, and dual displays (without firmware hacks), and more memory.
But like I said before….. for the money… the iMac rocks. Has a value that is hard to beat. Would be nice to see an BTO option for a better video card though for even higher FPS on demanding games like Halo and UT 200X, and other video card intensive processes.
The Dude abides.
I was hoping it’ll come with a tray type cd for my coffee. At least they could of added a foldout drink holder and a foldout candy dish (I like peanuts, when I compute).
Think Different! add an insulated drink holder w/cooling and heating capabilities and a menu item “Set Temp..” then it woud outdo my Pentium class drink warmer (minium settable temp – 50 degrees C – not good for Jolt but ok for coffee)
Actually, Viridian, in the UK you don’t need to pay a new licence fee for every additional television – there’s just one licence payable per television-watching household;
(From the BBC website – I checked because I wasn’t 100% sure of the situation):
What your licence provides:
The BBC is paid for directly through each household TV licence. This allows it to run a wide range of popular public services for everyone, free of adverts and independent of advertisers, shareholders or political interests. 98% of the UK population used the BBC every month in 2003/4.
The BBC provides 8 interactive TV channels, 10 radio networks, over 50 local TV and radio services and bbc.co.uk. These provide local and national news, documentaries, arts, drama, entertainment, live music and children’s programmes. The BBC also runs social action, education and minority language programmes. Its considerable investment in British programmes supports production and craft skills throughout the UK.
BBC World Service is funded by Government grant and not your TV licence. Profits from separate BBC commercial services help to keep the licence fee low.
How to pay and other information:
The colour TV licence costs just over �10 per month – about 33p per day for each household. It is free if you are over 75, half-price if you are registered blind.
The annual cost (set by the Government) is �121. A black and white TV licence is �40-50. There is no radio licence. Other regulations govern second homes, residential homes, hotels, students or special situations.
At least the beter and best models should have come with more RAM. As shaitan pointed out, where’s the cup holder?
Baron,
Thanks for the detailed info about the licensing, and how it supports the Beeb. Very interesting actually. As I noted to 1281, I thought a fee for each television sounded a bit out of kilter. Thanks also for the correct spelling of “licence” (the noun) as opposed to “license” (the verb). What can I say? I guess I’m just a pedant
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Viridian,
Being a pedant is okay, just so long as you “don’t do it in the street and frighten the horses”, as they say!
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GOOD ON YA MDN! GIVE AWAY MY PASSWORDS NEXT TIME!!!!!!!
Although most of you are right on the money about apple not adding airport (read wifi for non mac users) into the new iMac G5 (which will save people who don’t use it some money), the boat they missed out on is the bluetooth option.
It would most likey only cost them an additional $10 to the total production cost (maybe less). With bluetooth included, they could inlcude a promotion to get buyers to trade in the brand new wired keyboard & mouse and pay another $100 for the bluetooth keyboard & mouse.
Ed: good point. Another *blues* on the bluetooth I just learned is that the module can only be added at the factory. So you better decide you will NEVER use bluetooth with the iMac otherwise you’ll have a sore blue spot.
I hope it is a rumor otherwise some customer will be some day pissedoff when the Apple rep will tell him s/he cannot get bluetooth: too late.
yes the mac can share an internet connection via airport. However it needs to be running. The way I remember the feature of the new Intel chipset, it does is even when the computer is off or asleep. This is not software feature as it is on the mac.
Even if BT is only a factory installed option *internally*, you can always (should you ever decided BT is what you need) add a BT USB adapter. They’re about $30 and take about as much room as your thumb.
And the iPod mini will never sell because it’s too expensive!