“Much has been made of [the] new iMac G5’s family resemblance to the iPod. Yes, it is white, minimalist, with a rectangular elegance that, even after a week’s engagement continues to impress me,” Garry Barker writes for The Age.
“Walt Mossberg, of the Wall Street Journal and doyen of US technology writers, called it ‘the most elegant desktop computer I have ever used, a computer that is not only uncommonly beautiful but fast and powerful, virus-free and surprisingly affordable,'” Barker writes.
“The design and engineering are impressive. No more a bulky CPU. Everything, from the two drives to the internal digital speakers is contained in the crystalline white panel surrounding the screen… Using a VESA mount, the G5 can be hung on a wall and the tangle of cables removed by using a wireless keyboard and mouse, Airport Extreme and some Airport Express units. My Canon i950 printer operates flawlessly through Apple’s Rendezvous networking software and an Airport Express. So, too, iTunes and my powered speakers,” Barker writes.
“This third-generation iMac is clearly the best yet. Jonathan Ive’s clean design sets it far above the tediousness of Windows boxes and Apple’s Mac OS X operating system is arguably at least a generation ahead of Windows XP,” Barker writes. “As we now expect from Apple, everything works and is logical and friendly. Like all Macs, the new G5 is a pleasure to be with; comfortable to use and fun, even for work. Oh yes, and in 10 days, during which time the machine was never switched off, and while I made a movie, created and burned a DVD project, played games, wrote stories, played music, Photoshopped images and surfed the net, there was not one flicker of a problem.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Imagine you’re a Windows-only personal computer user. After your shudders subside, can you imagine what you’d think after reading this article? Would you be able to believe it? Would you simply dismiss it out of hand? What would you think?
The best iMac sofar. And maybe the last iMac design ever. I’ll buy one next year.
Way more than a generation…
All of these features have been copied from Longhorn!!!
So now the truth comes out!
Not one flicker of a problem, eh? Garry, get off your soapbox and start posting here. Looks’ like you’ve graduated.
re: MDN take: My father in law did all those things, even while we stood in front of one at the Woodfield Apple Store. He doubted as we walked out with his new computer. He doubted as we set it up. It is now 3 weeks later, and he is the proud owner of his “Best Christmas Present Ever.”
just ordered my 12″ powerbook. yeah yeah, i know, new ones will be out in january…i don’t really care. if it saves me the hastle of windows now, then i think its worth it. anyways, the first generation pb g5’s will be buggy.
i can’t wait to throw my wintel notebook off a building…just kidding, its going on ebay…hmmm, anyone want an windows notebook…didn’t think so!
can’t wait to be a part of the great mac community.
So on the one hand, OS X Panther is a generation ahead of Windows XP, but on the other hand, Thurrot is claiming that OS X Tiger is ripping off Windows Longhorn – neither of which are shipping.
I think it’s the MSFT apologista who really are the ones squirming – how to present their FUD bile in the face of the increasingly obvious fact of the Macs simple superiority.
yeah yeah… we know…..
They called it WinDoze 2000 … we called it Mac OS 8…..
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And in other news….
With the success of the Apple “U2-iPod” … other “artists” are scrambling to release a “signature” iPod of their own..
Some of the latest ones announced can be found ..here
</joke>
It’s really nice to see a journalist not only comment on how great the box looks, but also give much deserved props to OS X which is really the main reason we all love our Macs so much anyway. Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad that Apple makes the best looking hardware out there, but would you love it as much as you do if it ran Windows? I know I wouldn’t. Sometimes I wish they’d come out with a beige box again, just so the OS would get the attention it deserves.
Welcome to the club Scott. You’re gonna love it.
And when Tiger comes out it will be 4 generations ahead of Windoz….
I think Mack yoosers are crazy-heads. Its just a computer u no. Mac has like no market share. don’t you no dat apple taste good?
I am tired of ignorant people thinking that the crappy way they do things is the only way. I mean, why would we be struggling with PCs if there was a better way?
Mac isn’t the end-all of computers, but until that day comes, Mac OS and Mac hardware is the best deal going. Sometimes the software and hardware work together so well it’s enjoyable and that kind of experience is very hard to come by in our market-saturated society.
Would that be the Pepsi generation?
Indeed: “I am tired of ignorant people thinking that the crappy way they do things is the only way. I mean, why would we be struggling with PCs if there was a better way?”
And all those switchers saying: “Oh my, I could not believe it is so much better” – they are all paid by Apple, let me tell you.
It is not possible, it is a plot for sure. If it was so much better we would all be on Macs by now! Right? right. Huhmm, why suddenly all those Ph.D.s on campus have all Powerbooks? Could it be…. Nahhh. one has to be an idiot to study toward a Ph.D. That’s it: only idiots are on Mac, thank God idiots in the world are the vast minority… uh? ohhh, maybe not. Wasn’t exactly the opposite?
Never underestimate the power of lemmings and corporations to deny the truth. The iMac, a good as it is, won’t dent Windoze PCs market – the droids have too much invested to even contemplate a switch. I read a just read letter in InfoWorld that said the same tired old crap – Macs have no software, are too expensive, and – my all out favorite – have only one button on their mice. My Mac’s mouse seems to have 4 buttons…
sigh
There is an interesting issue not touched on. Sure, the Mac is great. Sure, OS X is great. But …. what would happen if people stopped buying Microsoft, and bought Mac’s instead? I mean, say Apple had the dominant market share? Would their products always be better than the competition? Or would they sit around and take 5 years to develop a hokey OS requiring 10 times the hardware than the last one? I guess the argument could also be turned around and asked as “Is Microsoft driving Apple to innovate more, just to get attention?”
ps there was an error – Garry’s mention that they come with 512Mb base memory is incorrect. The Oz Apple site lists it with 256Mb standard, like the US.
notatotalsucker..
to answer your question..
MS proposes a platform that can be run on almost any PC in the world.. what makes their stuff so crappy is that.. well.. this is a very very difficult proposition..
Apple’s proprietary stuff makes their work easier.. so they can go faster.. innovate faster.. sell Macs by bundling a great OS with the Mac..
So to answer your question.. the only problem with Apple is that.. well..can you imagine a world where, like 1984, every computer, or most computers, were Macs? One company made almost all computers? Windows on every computer isn’t that incredible because developers will push for it.. having a single platform to write apps for.. and with each marketshare gain, more and more Devs join the dominant platform..
The iPod has grades.. different styles of iPod.. ranging from 249-599.. as does the Mac.. eMac -> PowerMac
For some reason, it’s very hard to imagine a world with ONE dominant PC maker..
You can toss the old Economies of Scale argument.. because Apple could just keep opening factories in the long run if volume was a problem.. you know.. demand for Macs.. but really, it’s hard to imagine a world where demand from one Computer Company is unanimous..
I suspect Steve Jobs would agree.. that’s why they won’t lisence the Mac OS X…
Maybe people will demand Macs if they must get a Mac to run OS X.. and then they’ll get over the fear of one big company…delivering everything..
So in conclusion.. proprietary is always gonna be EASIER to work on and therefore the innovations will come faster.. but how do you trick people into not feeling like they’re buying into 1984.. the iPod comes in different flavors so it ‘feels’ like you’ve got your own unique iPod.. you can get skins for it and engrave it etc etc..
The less people feel like they’re creating a monster, the more they will allow proprietary solutions to work.. aka… Mac OS X running ONLY on Macs.
notatotalsucker, when we got my father-in-law’s computer, we learned that the “wireless” iMacs come with 512 mb RAM. I didn’t notice if he said in the article, but it appears that the author has that set-up.
notatotalsucker…. Most Mac fanatics do very much want Apple to have more market share. The question is, HOW much more… there is a point, probably similar to the “just noticable difference” theory that we subscribe to. We love our little club/cult/tribe we live in, but if there were too many of us, it wouldn’t be as much fun or as exclusive. Most of us believe that the 3% marketshare that we thrive in is the upper 3% and that the 97% below us are all sub-standard troglodites. We certainly wouldn’t want to have our elite gene pool watered down, so to speak. (I’m only half kidding here.)
To Scott: Hey Scott! I just purchased my iMac in November. I switched to the Mac from Windows XP. You’re gonna love it. My favorite thing about the Mac (well, one of MANY things) is the ease with which you install programs. Most programs I have downloaded are disk images and you just drag and drop them where ever you want! It’s awesome! No more Windows fricken registry and obnoxious installation routines!!!! Even the applications that do have install routines, they are greatly simplified. Everytime I installed a Windows application I felt like I was overhauling the entire OS!