The Associated Press’ Matthew Fordahl blows it: incorrectly states Apple iMac G5 lacks video output

20 years ago

Matthew Fordahl reviews Apple’s new iMac G5 for The Associated Press, writing of the included Front Row software, “Front Row doesn’t display live TV and, more significantly, it can’t output anything – videos or pictures – to an external display such as a big-screen plasma.”

MacDailyNews Take: That’s an inexcusable, glaring error that makes one wonder just how much time Fordahl spent with the iMac G5. In fact, one wouldn’t even need to spend a nanosecond with the new iMac; just visit Apple.com’s iMac webpage where it clearly states, “Treat your friends to a slideshow of your latest vacation photos right on TV. All iMacs offer a mini-VGA port so you can use the Composite/S-Video adapter to mirror your iMac display on television. You can also mirror your creative output to an external projector via the Apple VGA Display Adapter. Just click this link to the Apple Store and click “Mac Accessories” then “Cables” and you’ll find the Apple Video Adapter (US$19.00) and the Apple VGA Display Adapter (US$19.00) ready to buy. This is very sloppy work by Fordahl, especially considering that this AP article will probably be picked up by thousands of media outlets worldwide.

You’d think that Fordahl, if he’s too lazy to conduct a proper hands-on review of the machine, could at least spend 10-seconds to read Apple’s iMac webpages first to get the basic facts right, especially as he knows that what he writes will be syndicated verbatim worldwide. Anyone who reads this article as it stands will think all media is trapped in the iMac and that’s completely incorrect. (Somewhat as an aside, we have read thousands upon thousands of Apple-related articles and reviews, and where mistakes are made, they are almost never in Apple’s favor. Instead, such mistakes almost always shortchange the Apple product. Why is that? And are they really just mistakes? Call us conspiracy theorists if you must, but we can’t remember having to correct any article that incorrectly described an Apple product as having more than it offered. Such “mistakes” never seem to be made. Unfortunately, we have to correct plenty of stupid mistakes such as the one Fordahl’s made above.)

Fordahl continues, “Those missing features certainly make it less functional than a Windows Media Centre PC. But, at the same time, the new iMac bundle excels at what it can do. Sometimes, less is more. There’s still plenty that, as it evolves in future releases, could end up send the designers of Microsoft’s Media Centre back to the drawing boards. Once Front Row is launched by pressing the ‘Menu’ button on the remote, four options are available: Play a DVD, listen to music, watch a video or view photos. They appear on an invisible, virtual lazy susan that’s completely controllable by the remote.”

“The entire program is actually just a shell that makes it easier to control the Mac’s underlying programs from a distance with the remote. Each option opens up an underlying library from iTunes (music and video downloads), iPhoto (pictures) or iMovie (home movies),” Fordahl writes. “Throughout, the display is both simpler and pleasing to the eye than the Media Centre shell.”

“Unlike a Windows Media Centre PC, however, Front Row never dumped me in a position where I had to leave the couch and pick up the keyboard. The machine also doesn’t have the nasty habit of turning itself back on after it’s been put into standby mode – a problem I’m currently having on a Media Centre PC I’m testing in my bedroom,” Fordahl writes.

“But even if you don’t ever use Front Row or touch the remote, the iMac G5 is an excellent computer. Like previous generations, it’s an all-in-one with all the guts of the computer elegantly contained in a white display that’s mounted on a silver base,” Fordahl writes. “Of course, the all-in-one design and lack of a video output seriously limits the expandability – and means you’ll be stuck with a dorm- or studio apartment-friendly display even if Apple someday introduces TV capabilities in Front Row.”

Full article here.

MacDailyNews Take: Again, Apple’s iMac G5 does not lack video output. Get it right before you write. And the all-in-one design doesn’t limit expandability for the consumer buyers who’d consider an iMac, either. That’s why iMac G5 offers the two FireWire ports and five USB ports. The whole “all-in-one design limits expandability” concept is a canard. A very small percentage of people ever open their computer cases; if you’re a customer who needs to add cards and internal drives, the Power Mac G5 is made for you. Overall, the review is positive for the iMac, as are pretty much all iMac G5 reviews we’ve read, but Fordahl’s effort is destroyed by his botching of basic, readily- and freely-available facts.

As soon as possible, The Associated Press should fix the blatant mistakes in this article and issue a correction regarding iMac G5’s capacity to output to any screen a user so desires. Matthew Fordahl can be reached via email here: mfordahl@ap.org and the AP can be reached via email here: info@ap.org

[MacDailyNews Note: iMac, iBook, and eMac owners should also be aware of Screen Spanning Doctor which will allow for many consumer Mac models to allow extended desktop screen spanning, in addition to their default mirroring capability. Pro Mac models such as Power Mac and PowerBook already support screen spanning out-of-the-box.]

[UPDATE: 9:01am EST: The AP article has been rewritten by Fordahl. The lines described above have been changed to read, “Front Row doesn’t display live TV, though it can be connected to a TV to mirror what’s on the computer… Of course, the all-in-one design seriously limits the expandability — and it means you’ll be stuck with its built-in display if you choose to hook it up to an external TV.”]

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