31 Aug 2004 | Charbel said...

Tres cool...I wonder if you can remove the stand and carry it with you just like a laptop...

31 Aug 2004 | ar said...

The graphics card is a bit dinky isn't it? In my opinion that has always been the weakest spot of the iMac lineup.

31 Aug 2004 | Dave Woodward said...

As always, there are other products that are similar, but Apple just blows them out of the water design-wise. Initially I thought the fat white lower bezel was kinda klunky, but it reminds me of a matted photo, just floating there...

31 Aug 2004 | DaleV said...

I never understand why people complain about the graphics card and other techie specs for the iMac . . . if you are a power user/gamer and want to upgrade, you buy a tower . . .

This will look fantastic in person . . they did a great job. I'm surprised that I am so impressed.

31 Aug 2004 | ar said...

It's amazing how bad that Sony Style logo is. Dave, I agree about the lower bezel, but I have concluded that it will probaby look better in person...

31 Aug 2004 | Jose Rui Fernandes said...

I don't like it and I think it will not grow on me.
No doubt it's superior to similar products but the elegance it's not there. The first iMac and the sunflower had a geniality I can't sense here.

31 Aug 2004 | Darrel said...

Dammit...they STILL have the ports on the BACK. If your mac is supposed to be some sort of hub, shouldn't the on-ramps be more accessible?

31 Aug 2004 | Jeremy Flint said...

Yeah, I really like what they have done here.

Charbel: It would be cool if they would release n iMac that did that. I think Viewsonic makes a monitor that can double as a tabletPC. But then you get into touchscreens and batteries.

31 Aug 2004 | Brad Hurley said...

Dammit...they STILL hae the ports on the BACK

I think that's in order to avoid the Medusa Effect.

31 Aug 2004 | DaleV said...

Ports in front? Not. Then I see and think about them every time I look at or sit at my computer . . . . I'd rather turn the screen a bit once a week . . . .

I am impressed that they didn't even put the speaker grilles on the front . . . it looks plain now, but in use, the design will just fade into the background and all that's left is . . . your work/play. perfect.

31 Aug 2004 | Jeremy Flint said...

I actually wouldn't mind seeing the ports on the side or bottom.

Maybe allow the monitor to hand from a wall if desired.

31 Aug 2004 | Bruno Figueiredo said...

I understand that for hardware limitations the ports shoud be near the motherboard, but what really would be cool would be these locations:

USB keyboard: back of the stand (the keyboard itself could have 2 ports on each side - to connect the mouse, flash disk, digicam...)

Phones and Mic: keyboard

Network, Phone line: back of the stand

Am I missing something?

31 Aug 2004 | JF said...

Maybe allow the monitor to hang from a wall if desired.

From Apple's site:

"The iMac offers the smallest footprint ever, but you can make that zero with an optional VESA mount. Hang it from the wall or swing it around on your desk."

31 Aug 2004 | Bruno Figueiredo said...

What would be really cool would be no cables at all (wifi and bluetooth) but we are getting close.

31 Aug 2004 | Unearthed Ruminator said...

Bruno, I think you can get down to just a power cable (you can put bluetooth and Airport in it) as long as you don't need to hook an iPod, camera, or something to it.

31 Aug 2004 | beto said...

The graphics card is a bit dinky isn't it?

So what? It's not like the iMac is geared at hardcore gamers anyway. I have been using one of its older "lamp" brothers for almost two years and it's been great for my wee requirements of graphics display power (coding, web resolution Photoshop and the occasional funny QT video/DVD)

I had some thoughts about saying this, but I'd say Apple has finally launched the perfect metrosexual, GQ-lifestyle computer :D

31 Aug 2004 | Darrel said...

Well, I have an iPod, FW HD, Sony Palm, DV cam, and a Digital Camera. I currently use my old G4 tower as my 'hub' and it's a complete PITA to walk around to the back of the desk each time I want to swap something. Yea, yea, I could/should get a hub, but I just see no practical reason to stick them on the back. Or, at the very least, give us a few on the front ala the new G5 towers.

Still, this is certainly a nice new machine. It doesn't quite give me the warm fuzzies as much as the older iMacs all did, but it's certainly sleek.

31 Aug 2004 | Brad Hurley said...

Gizmodo has posted a photo of a row of new iMacs in Paris.

31 Aug 2004 | sloan said...

2 inches thick is just sick. That is incredibly thin for a whole machine, even if it isn't a powerbook. The ports on the back I can understand, but putting them all in a row like that makes them really difficult to get to and manage. Even spacing them out a bit would make life easier. The powerbutton on the back is the part that threw me a bit... hopefully you have some kind of tactile feedback to a) know where it is and b) know if you've actually hit it. I guess they don't want people to use it? I use mine to put the thing to sleep... why hide it?

While hanging it on a wall sounds like a great way to save desk space, this would make it even more difficult to access the ports on the back and would require some scrunching of cables I would suspect. (Or am I totally off on that?) Hanging it on your wall with a wireless keyboard and mouse? That sounds like a great desktop setup.

31 Aug 2004 | Sara said...

Amazing - Apple does it again. When the original flat panel iMac was released in 2002, I thought that there was no way Apple could possibly top the design, but I was obviously wrong. This design might not be as earth-shatteringly original as the previous one, but it's so simple and beautiful that originality just isn't an issue. I love the space-saving design, which will be a definite plus for someone with a small or crowded desk.

31 Aug 2004 | bbr said...

umm.... why not get a laptop???

31 Aug 2004 | ek said...

DaleV, I totally agree with you on your speaker comment every other company would have put the speakers on the front and it would have killed the elegance of the design (would have made it look like a cheapo appliance).

To bbr, there are a few compelling reasons to get a new iMac vs. a laptop:
+ G5 processor it's going to be a while before one is available in a laptop
+ Screen size and resolution there will almost certainly never be a laptop with a 20" screen (wouldn't be a laptop any more)
+ Cost 20" iMac with a G5 costs $1,899; 17" Powerbook with a G4 costs $2,799.

Of course, if you need portability there's no comparison, but if you don't, a desktop product like the iMac is still pretty compelling.

31 Aug 2004 | sloan said...

a 17 inch laptop starts at $2799 and only has a G4 (from apple anyway) and no one makes a 20 inch laptop and the largest HD you can get (last I checked) is only 80 GB at 5400 RPM and a less powerful video card. from the other viewpoint, it weighs 18 pounds and is 2 inches thick compared to 1 inch thick for a laptop. i think the fact that it is so thin that you are comparing it to a laptop kind of says it all.

31 Aug 2004 | Nick Finck said...

"from the creators of the iPod..." very interesting way to market it... I guess it's all the same audiance to them... iMac, iPod, iBook.

31 Aug 2004 | indi said...

Nice, I wouldn't kick one out of bed for eating crackers ... as for the ports in the rear, at least they made the hole in the back of the stand large enough to thread a good number of cables through ... on the other hand it will be interesting to see how those cables running to the ports will work with the tilt feature.

01 Sep 2004 | Paolo said...

Form and Function. This is just function IMHO. In other words, I don't like it. Of course this makes it about what's on the inside that counts and I won't bitch about that.

I'm totally with bbr on this one. If it was all about making a really sleek G5 that took up little space then why not just make a really kick-ass laptop. At least then you could take it around town with you.

This? This is just ugly. It might have had my vote if it had the iPod touch-sensitive Apple Click Wheel and no wires. But the laptop design would have been smarter. Isn't this the direction we're all headed in anyway?

01 Sep 2004 | RS said...

But the laptop design would have been smarter. Isn't this the direction we're all headed in anyway?

*runs and hides from deluge of counterfactuals*

I don't know what direction everyone is headed in, but I don't want to use a laptop every day. I don't work on my lap; I work on a desk. And on that desk, I want a nice big hi-res display at eye level with a detached keyboard. :)

01 Sep 2004 | Scott said...

I so much prefer the previous design over the new one. Yes, it looked a little funny, but that was mostly due to the white half-dome, not the arm and screen, which is what was so fabulous about it, aesthetically and functionally. The new one goes against everything Apple claimed was the reason they designed the previous model.

Wow...this new model tilts one direction!

Why does Apple take something and nearly perfect it...then just do something else entirely that makes less sense? A power button that doesn't have to be hunted down (previosuly in the front of the CPU as well as on the keyboard) is another example.

Innovation is one thing...just doing something different is something else.

01 Sep 2004 | Mathew said...

I very rarely use a power button on a desktop anymore - It is all handled by the software.

01 Sep 2004 | Mark G said...

"What would be really cool would be no cables at all (wifi and bluetooth) but we are getting close."

I think we're already there

01 Sep 2004 | Darrel said...

Innovation is one thing...just doing something different is something else.

I wonder if the new iMacs use any of the guts of the iBooks? Might be a plausible path to take in manufacturing savings.

As for a powerbutton...anyone using OSX rarely, if ever, needs to turn of their machine.

01 Sep 2004 | Chris said...

umm.... why not get a laptop???

Well, for one, what's the price difference for a 17" PowerBook and a 17" iMac G5??

Two, there isn't a 20" PowerBook...

I suppose you wouldn't get a PowerBook because you don't need mobility and you want to save $$. Isn't that obvious?

01 Sep 2004 | Brad Hurley said...

I'm going to make a prediction, which I hope turns out to be wrong but I wouldn't be surprised if it comes true:

Apple will sell a ton of these and make lots of money. And then within a year they'll lose most of it in warrantee repairs and product recalls. The G5 iMac will develop a reputation as a lemon.

I sure hope that doesn't happen, but I've had my share of hardware problems with the last three Macs I've owned and I don't think Apple has a good handle on quality control yet. There's a lot of new technology in the G5 iMacs, and a lot of opportunity for things to go wrong.

01 Sep 2004 | sandor said...

My favorite part is the built-in Post-it Note space underneath the screen. They should include a stack of Post-its with every purchase.

01 Sep 2004 | Scott said...

Geeks and Power Users may not turn off their machine...but consumers do. Sure, you don't HAVE to shut down OS X, but it sure doesn't hurt. The only real reason I've heard not to turn the computer off is to save wear and tear on the power supply...which by the way, I've never heard of being an issue with macs...ever.

Just because you CAN drive your car across 5 states on one tank of gas, doesn't mean you don't turn it off when you get home at night.

Even being a relative power user myself, I still turn my copmuter off at night, for many reasons:

--Less chance of corruption if there is a power failure
--Less chance of memory leaks being an issue (which I've experienced)
--The drives will occasionally try to spin up even when asleep for a second
--On a powerbook at least, the machine does stay warmer asleep than if its off

Plus, I would still want to use the power button accessible to restart or put the machine to sleep, instead of some stupid "Ctrl-Eject" key combination.

02 Sep 2004 | pb said...

I never turn my PowerBook off. I would dislike waiting for it to start up everyday.

02 Sep 2004 | Mike said...

It seems Apple designed this iMac with me in mind.

I'm going to Antarctica in February. I'll be there nine months at a research station. I had intended to buy a PowerBook. . . until I saw this. I'll remove the stand, toss it in my luggage with the keyboard, and carry the iMac on the plane like a laptop (in part to keep it safe, and because we're allowed very little luggage.)

I'll get the best of both worlds, and be the envy of every penguin.

My point is that this design opens new options for people (including the VESA mounts) which give it a unique place in Apple's lineup.

I ordered mine the morning it hit the web site, with the $99.00 Bluetooth bundle (bluetooth + keyboard + mouse).

02 Sep 2004 | ar said...

Mike - will you be studying Lake Vostok? Let me know if you find any dinosaurs. I have been amused by some really "x-file" type articles written about it in the past.

02 Sep 2004 | Don Schenck said...

Mike, you mean to tell me you *voluntarily* go to a place where it's colder than ... well ... where it's sooooo cold?

You, sir, are a hero in my book. More power to you.

Seriously. All The Best.

02 Sep 2004 | Mike said...

Don,

No hero, just lucky. Raytheon received 50,000 resumes seeking work there this year. Many people long for desolate places devoid of cell phones:) 200 of us will be wintering over, twice the usual number.

Thanx though. I am extremely excited.

AR, I wish I were studying Lake Vostok. In truth, I'm an X-Navy man heading to McMurdo Sound to build a power station for the scientists. I do fancy myself an amateur paleontologist however. Thanx for the link, very interesting.

Maybe Apple could hire me as a Mac missionary. I'll convert all the scientists to OSX during the 6 months of darkness:)

02 Sep 2004 | Brad Hurley said...

Well, if the fans malfunction and your iMac threatens to overheat, at least you'll have a handy way to keep it cool.

04 Sep 2004 | tom sherman said...

Like laptops, I'm sure this "desktop" will be very cost-effective to upgrade.

07 Sep 2004 | Gene said...

Heh, when was the last time you heard this much talk over a wintel/pc box? Apple is the best there is, hands down... shut yer flapping and get out yer credit cards....

07 Sep 2004 | Darrel said...

Mike, is there an Apple store down there yet?

07 Sep 2004 | Mike said...

Not yet Darrel:)

But I found out just yesterday that my iMac G5 won't be the first iMac on the Ice. There's a "five flavors" model at South Pole Station used to store digital pictures.

Tell you what. . . When I get there I'll put up a poster that reads "Apple Store coming soon" and take a picture of it.