iMac G5 17", loves and hates?

Yup got my iMac G5 not too long ago and I love it! My only dislike is the fan (which is louder than I've expected), but I'm used to it now.

Yeah, I thought my iMac was a little louder than expected but my other Mac is an iBook so pretty much everything sounds loud next to that.

excited too

i bought my iMac G5 17inch with 250gig hd ... I can not wait to open it up! I am on vacation and the computer was shipped home. I will get to open it up in about a week!

fan noise is something i hear about as a complaint too... but, i haven't had the opportunity to witness that.

Plastic Avatar said:

I got the stock upper-tier 17" with Superdrive. I added a GB stick o' RAM, though =)

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thats exactly the one I got about 2 weeks ago, and I added 1 Gb of RAM too... we have the EXACT same machine! I love it as well.. The fans do ramp up when I do anythign processor or GPU intensive, but othewise its not so bad. Much better than the FRANKENSTEIN PC I built/ was using prior to this. I dont see any better value that these machines right now... you are basically getting a low end powermac, with a free LCD monitor in a super-slim package that is pretty much portable, for hundreds less than a powermac.

So far, day two with my iMac G5 20" and no noise complaints about the fan. I wish my eMac were this quiet!

My gripe? Wish it had dual processors!

Yeah, I got the same model you did, Plastic, and it's a real nice looking machine (especially to these switcher's eyes). Yes, the fan noise is noticeable, but it is much quieter than my old windows desktop and my toshiba laptop. Only gripe is that the fan really gets spinnin' when I download images and whatnot from the web, like within a web page. Can't figure out why, I have the 2 GB RAM and I did a clean install right out of the box. Other than that, perfectly content.

Chip NoVaMac said:

My gripe? Wish it had dual processors!

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Same here, or at least dual-core.

I'm in love with my new iMac (see below) - haven't had any fan or sleep issues so far (these seem to be the major complaints I've seen). However, it's less than three weeks old, so as far as I'm concerned, it's still in its "burn-in" time. I'll see what happens when I run a bunch of sound editing software all at once, or let it sleep for an entire weekend or so...

Actually, I was reading an old thread about iMac memory and the G5 - currently, the Apple Developer Supplement for the iMac indicates that its maximum RAM, No Matter What, will be 2GB. However, there are 2GB PC3200 memory chips out there - if ones that meet the iMac specs were to be made, could they, would they, might they work? This would mean you could possibly fit as much as 4GB of RAM in an iMac - something that would certainly extend its useful lifetime.

Knowing Apple has done this before with its previous computers - namely stating that their maximum RAM is the size of the maximum amount of chip slots times the maximum size of the chips currently available on the market, is the Developer Supplement stating the TRUTH, or the truth from a certain perspective? Might there be a firmware update (that may or may not be needed) in the future that could make an iMac G5 accomodate two 2GB PC3200 chips in its memory slots? Or, is the onboard memory controller fixed in stone with regard to how much it will ever see? This I wonder about...

Also, even though the VRAM is 128MB, which since I never play games should last me till the end of time, I kind of wish could be a user-servicable upgrade versus soldered to the Midplane. But that's just wishful thinking...

I hate the white area on the bottom of it.

mrzeve said:

I hate the white area on the bottom of it.

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Why? It is a great place for post-it notes.

I've had mine for 6 days now, by far the best computer I've had yet. I love that it has airport built right in, I could just plug it in and I was on my network in no time. The two things that sold me on the rev b iMacs were the built in wireless and the 128mb of VRAM. They really are the best deal out there for a new computer.

As far as the white area under the screen, I don't even notice it anymore. When I first say the iMacs released, I didn't like the look at all, I thought they looked like a pizza box. But when you sit right in from of one, they have such a clean look and with a wireless keyboard and mouse, I have no wires on my desk.

I've had my 17" since November, and have upgraded it to Tiger.

Great all-around computer, not too noisy (nothing iTunes can't cure, especially considering mine only gets noticably loud when I am running Classic or something). The built-in speakers are kind of weak, but I solved that with a 2.1 system off the computer it was replacing.

The unit itself is as small as a Dell Ultrasharp LCD from late 2002 that I have on another computer, except it has the computer inside it instead of on the floor.

Very convenient -- especially in an already cluttered computer area.

wwooden said:

I've had mine for 6 days now, by far the best computer I've had yet. I love that it has airport built right in, I could just plug it in and I was on my network in no time. The two things that sold me on the rev b iMacs were the built in wireless and the 128mb of VRAM. They really are the best deal out there for a new computer.

As far as the white area under the screen, I don't even notice it anymore. When I first say the iMacs released, I didn't like the look at all, I thought they looked like a pizza box. But when you sit right in from of one, they have such a clean look and with a wireless keyboard and mouse, I have no wires on my desk.

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I too did the BT keyboard option. Love the keyboard. The mouse is just OK. Now if Wacom would just come out with a graphics pad that is BT, I would be happy. I just got my Treo to work via BT, one less cable hanging around.

Plastic Avatar said:

Duals.

That would rock, but then they'd have to switch to aluminum cases so they wouldn't melt

I keep hearing 20" owners say the fan noise is significantly less compared to the 17". I don't have a reference 20" I can sit down next to my 17" for comparisons, though it would be nice to measure the difference.

Have you had a chance to do photo manipulation on your 20", Chip?

I'm going to play with that tomorrow

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Not as of yet. But I am Folding, doing bit torrents, and having Mail running; so the system is running under a load.

wwooden said:

and with a wireless keyboard and mouse, I have no wires on my desk.

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Hehe, look at my desktop

The fan noise really doesn't bother me that much, probably because I'm used to the noise of my old desktop PC, the only thing about the iMac I don't like is its design. Cll me weird, but there was something about the old design which I really liked, as for performance and just about everything else, the iMac is a star (even though it still has the same 512 ram as when I bought it).

I'm pretty happy with my iMac - but am having major problems with awaking from sleep. I can't even deactivate sleep in my Energy Saver preferences and external drives are a real hassle.

But I'm hoping this is more of an issue with 10.4.1 - maybe a future update with help sort things out ... (definition of an optimist )

1.5 GB of RAM in my new iMac. I just wish the resolution was a little higher on the screen. Oh well...I wish I had the money for the 20" iMac but I'm a starving college student.

Eidorian said:

1.5 GB of RAM in my new iMac. I just wish the resolution was a little higher on the screen. Oh well...I wish I had the money for the 20" iMac but I'm a starving college student.

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The $300 difference is well worth in long run IMO. It is a matter of choices and budgeting for students.

Chip NoVaMac said:

I too did the BT keyboard option. Love the keyboard. The mouse is just OK. Now if Wacom would just come out with a graphics pad that is BT, I would be happy. I just got my Treo to work via BT, one less cable hanging around.

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Have you been snoozing? Wacom DOES have a Bluetooth graphire tablet, it's really great.

http://www.wacom.com/graphire/bluetooth.cfm

shazammy said:

Have you been snoozing? Wacom DOES have a Bluetooth graphire tablet, it's really great.

http://www.wacom.com/graphire/bluetooth.cfm

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Guess I have been.

Chip NoVaMac said:

The $300 difference is well worth in long run IMO. It is a matter of choices and budgeting for students.

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I was able to cough up enough for the SuperDrive tthough. I NEED my ability to burn DVD's.