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quagmire

macrumors 604
Original poster
Apr 19, 2004
6,870
2,292
Just got home from the apple store. They just got both the 17" and 20" imac G5's this morning. The 20" imac wasn't ready to be played with. They didn't get the software installed yet(that they wanted on there).

Ok, here is my review. For using it for 1 hour I can say it is the best imac yet. The computer screams even with the 256 MB of ram in it. You can see the effects of the 5200 in there. But, average Joe won't notice. The viewing angles are ok. The horizontial angles are great. But, the vertical angles are crap. The imac G5 is really that quiet. I can't even hear the HD spinning when I put my ears near it.( The store wasn't that noisy) The ports on the back are really make imac have a clean look. The cables were neatly put throught the hole and attatched. You only need 1 finger to tilt the computer back and forth. The aluminum stand is heavy so it makes the imac really sturdy. If I got mad at it and wanted to hit it,( like I ever will) it won't even budge. The extra space below the screens don't look that bad as people think. Sure the 20" looks better then the 17" because of the space below but, really it doesn't make the computer look ugly. The plastic does get a little hot but, not as much as my 12" Powerbook G4. Even cooler then the ibooks there. The only things that does suck about the imac G5 is the 5200 and the 256 MB of ram. But, that is because my uses require more. But, the average Joe will not care for the extra ram. If I had the money to buy it I would buy it in a half of a heart beat. In my opinion after looking at the imac G5 they are as good(maybe even better) then the imac G4's design.
 

JOD8FY

macrumors 6502a
Mar 22, 2004
633
0
United States
Thanks for the review! Glad to hear all those good things about it. How did you test out the GPU? Did you play a game? Thanks.

JOD8FY
 

quagmire

macrumors 604
Original poster
Apr 19, 2004
6,870
2,292
Sorry, I told someone that on my buddy list. He said it wasn't because of the GPU it was the ram. When I opened a program the black selection thing stayed there for 2-4 seconds. But, I stick with my statement about the ram. It is zippy with 256 MB and the average Joe won't notice it.
 

Manzana

macrumors 6502a
Jul 19, 2004
612
13
Orange County, CA
Saw it today @ Fashion Island, CA

...and it is a trend. This iMac is so much better in person, seeing it on the web and reading all the articles about it just don't do it justice it is that sweet.

They only had 1 out (17") with 512 RAM. I overheard that they had sold 4.

The back of the case was warm, but like the poster above stated, it's not even close to how hot my PB 15" gets. And if it wasn't for the fact that I'm hooked on portability thanks to my PB I would defenitely be looking for a way to get my paws on this.

I tried out the speakers, not impressive but serviceable for being out of the box. I would definitely have to hook up better ones. It was also very easy to tilt the screen and rotating it was a breeze. This iMac really takes up no space, when I would slide the keyboard under it, it was just tiny footprint.

I could feel the fans blowing when I put my cheek close to the back of it. This was rather embarrasing as there was always about 2-3 people trying to check it out.
 

JOD8FY

macrumors 6502a
Mar 22, 2004
633
0
United States
Manzana said:
It was also very easy to tilt the screen and rotating it was a breeze.

How do you rotate it? As in from side to side, not up and down. Does it do that? Is the footprint on some sort of rotating disc?

Thanks,
JOD8FY
 

quagmire

macrumors 604
Original poster
Apr 19, 2004
6,870
2,292
JOD8FY said:
How do you rotate it? As in from side to side, not up and down. Does it do that? Is the footprint on some sort of rotating disc?

Thanks,
JOD8FY

Well, you can tilt it up and down. But, you would have to move the whole stand to turn it sideways. But, it is very easy to do.

The speakers are very good. It is better then my 12" pbooks speakers.
 

crazzyeddie

macrumors 68030
Dec 7, 2002
2,792
1
Florida, USA
JOD8FY said:
How do you rotate it? As in from side to side, not up and down. Does it do that? Is the footprint on some sort of rotating disc?

Thanks,
JOD8FY

Theres already a third-party product that is a thin rotating base for the iMac.
 

FuzzyBallz

macrumors 6502a
May 2, 2003
977
0
Home of Al-Qaida
JOD8FY said:
How do you rotate it? As in from side to side, not up and down. Does it do that? Is the footprint on some sort of rotating disc?
Multi_Use_Rotating_Platform.jpg
 

quagmire

macrumors 604
Original poster
Apr 19, 2004
6,870
2,292
dswoodley said:
nice review, and congrats on your machine! I'm jealous!

any issues with dead pixels?

Note: I did not buy the imac G5 even though I would love to. I just test drove the 17" 1.6 Ghz G5 with 256 MB of ram for a hour.
 

MacPutz

macrumors newbie
Sep 16, 2004
8
0
Minneapolis
Thanks for the input! Me Thinks this machine will make a great companion to my Dual 2.0 G5, so my wife can surf and check email on her own machine in her office upstairs. Any theories on time to obsolescence for the 17" G5 iMac? Does anyone think its graphics card is its Achilles Heal?

I am almost ready to order one!
 

Manzana

macrumors 6502a
Jul 19, 2004
612
13
Orange County, CA
rotating

the wood surface that apple store has is not "slippery", but it was very easy for me to push the sides and it would rotate perfectly...like it was meant to. Must be because the center of gravity is so low???
 

Johnkb

macrumors newbie
Apr 30, 2004
20
0
I hear that the front plastic is a little too reflective. Any opinions on this?
 

XboxEvolved

macrumors 6502a
Aug 22, 2004
806
993
so if I buy an iMac G5 and get 256, and when I want to upgrade it with a 1gb stick will I be able to open it and not screw it up?
 

JOD8FY

macrumors 6502a
Mar 22, 2004
633
0
United States
XboxEvolved said:
so if I buy an iMac G5 and get 256, and when I want to upgrade it with a 1gb stick will I be able to open it and not screw it up?

That's it. Look at the picture above your post. On the right side, see that green stick? Just put another green stick in the slot next to that one and you're all set.

JOD8FY
 

Diatribe

macrumors 601
Jan 8, 2004
4,256
44
Back in the motherland
MacPutz said:
Thanks for the input! Me Thinks this machine will make a great companion to my Dual 2.0 G5, so my wife can surf and check email on her own machine in her office upstairs. Any theories on time to obsolescence for the 17" G5 iMac? Does anyone think its graphics card is its Achilles Heal?

I am almost ready to order one!

The 5200 in my powerbook plays UT 2004 all right. I'd say with the G5 you'd be able to play it without hickups even on large maps with dozens of people. But if you don't even play stuff like that and are not into video rendering, editing, etc. this mac will last a couple of years easily.
It always depends on what you want to do with it. I'd bet that the next Rev. has a ATI 9800 with 128MB VRAM at least as an option.
Edit: Although it should've been standard in the first place.
 
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