Apple makes the box smaller
Wednesday September 1, 2004 at 11:20 pm | Filed under Mac
iMacs are an interesting breed. They’re the smaller, usually less powerfiul version of Apple’s computer line-up desktop. This is the model line that lies between the Powermacs and the eMacs. The eMacs being the budget line and the Powermacs being the fastest thing in the known personal computer world. The iMacs always seem to be the models that get the most style in their design. That is to say that no computer in the lineup exhibits 
the simplistic style that Apple has become known for quite like the iMac does. Yesterday, Aug 31, Apple introduced a new iMac model line at the Apple Expo in Paris. It’s the smallest all-in-one desktop computer there is.
This thing is gorgeous. It’s like they took the eMac and chopped off the back of it, then tripled the horsepower! I’m not entirely sure how they made it so small. Where’s all the stuff?
Now on to the opinion. The new iMac is perfect for those of you who don’t do that much fiddling with the insides of your computer (outside of the occasional Memory upgrade). the great thing about a mac is the way that it holds is value and doesn’t need to be replaced every 2 years like Windows computers do. This is a machine that will last you 4 years, easy. More if you don’t get the itch to upgrade. Some would say that being an “all-in-one” model you’re playing with fire that if the monitor goes out then you’re screwed. Tell that to laptop owners–but I will get to a downside of the size and form factor in a second. To sum up the target audience, at least in my opinion, would be people who don’t care what the inside of their computer looks like, they just want the thing to boot up and do what they tell it to do. Casual web surfers and e-mailers generally fall into this category, but trade professionals can fit this mold too. This is a G5 we’re talking about (again, how the hell did they get it in there?) so this thing is no slouch when it 
comes to running pro software. When you pair the simple style with the intuitive and easy to use Mac OS, the iMac comes out being the best out-of-the-box computer you can buy. Go buy your mom one!
Would I want one for myself? Yes, but not as my main machine. I like being able to add hard drives (not to say you couldn’t with an iMac, it’d just have to be external) and not paying a lot more for my add-ons just because they’re smaller and fit in my itty bitty computer. That’s a downside of laptops and small all-in-ones, you’ll pay more for memory, removable media drives and external devices. But I’ll tell you, if I had a bunch of money, I would have bought an iMac (last generation, lamp style) for Monique. But we had to settle for an old Powermac (which is just about 4 years old and running strong, BTW).
I think it would be cool to be able to slide a DVD into the side of my monitor though. That’d be cool.
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Arlen Says:
September 2nd, 2004 at 7:12 amI think they’re pretty cool too. There’s a streaming Quicktime video (over 90 minutes long) at apple.com, from the Paris expo, that shows the insides of the new iMac. Also shows some amazingly fast animation rendering demos, and real-time editing of moving video, with no stutter. These were done on a dual-G5. Even without the top computer, though, the new OS X looks very cool. I’m glad that “Launchbar” will be included (as “Spotlight”)–I feel like I’m being rewarded for not having bootlegged Launchbar!
If I had a bunch of money I wouldn’t mind getting a 20-inch iMac . . .