G5 iMac Specs?

[Frobozz]

I am aware of cheaper monitor offerings. I've (annoyingly) become accustomed to the widescreen format. Which you pay an ever greater premium for than Apple externally. 🙄

And I don't think choosing an iMac over a PowerMac because of a "monitor issue" is a Bad Thing. What do you look at all day? I spend my day having code on one side of the screen and documents/visualisations on the other. The monitor makes the machine. My productivity is most closely tied to my ability to refer to things whilst coding at the same time. A PowerMac over an iMac would be *nice* for when I actually run code, but I can't afford it. I'm sorry if that sounds like it makes me a lesser student.

iMacs *do* represent excellent value when the base is coupled with the price of the monitor slapped on. Why is that value not passed onto the external monitors?

I think you should consider 2 third party LCDs. If you want decent space, get two 18 inch 1280 x 1024 monitors. You can probably have 2 nice ones (identical) for less than $1,100. Or, try out dual 1600 x 1200 monitors for about $1,700 (Dell or maybe Viewsonic).

The best part about the dual monitor setup is that you stick with the more expandable PowerMac and you can devote one entire monitor to your secondarily imporant apps. Think: monitors, debuggers, application palettes, etc. The main monitor can be used for your main application window like XCode, Photoshop, BBEdit or whatever.

The cost of 2 dual third party LCDs is less than one of Apple's. It's a good alternative if money is an issue, and it does offer some advantages to a single monitor setup.

 

[iBoris]

Welcome to the forum. Looks like you're looking at things objectively, which is something some of the more extreme posters should consider.

Thanks for the welcome Frobozz. 🙂

One last thing, I forgot to add.

Realy, if you want to play games (and this comes from a long time gamer) get a console. Any of the 3 consoles can provide a far greater game playing experience than the cost of a top line graphics card.

Pc games sales have been dropping steadily over the years and will likely continue to do so as console become more powerful.

It also means your kids don't tie up your computer when you need to use it.

 

[Lewisham]

I think you should consider 2 third party LCDs. If you want decent space, get two 18 inch 1280 x 1024 monitors. You can probably have 2 nice ones (identical) for less than $1,100. Or, try out dual 1600 x 1200 monitors for about $1,700 (Dell or maybe Viewsonic).

Mmm, this is something I have considered. Two monitors is real nice, I'd been running a CRT with my Powerbook before I sold it. It's pretty much the only way of coding full-screen apps. I've become accostomed to putting terminal readouts/chat windows/email on one monitor and code on the other.

Sadly, this might *just* be out of my price range. I'll have to do some mathmatics in the Apple Store in SF with the sales guys and see what figures come out. Then tell them how lovely they are and run off and order from the Apple Edu store 🙂

I'll figure out how to ship all my kit home in a year when the time comes 😉

We'll see I suppose 😱 The Chamelon case thing sounds interesting 😀

Thanks for your help man

 

[MrSugar]

16, that is the number of pages I got through on this thread before I got fed up and decided to post.

Are some of the specs on the iMac disapointing? Yes, the HD, RAM, and Gfx card are not what I would expect. That being said, I am completely suprised at the responses and lack of common sense being expressed by a large majority of the posts in this thread. Everyone is overlooking the fact that..... are you ready, the iMac comes with a large HIGH quality Apple LCD display.

STOP making comparisons to Dell's that cost $799, they are not in the same league. The Apple 20" monitor costs $1299 alone! Now for an extra $1000 you get a G5 machine with great style and ease of use. Has anyone else seem the current 20" imac up close? The display is beautiful, as are all apple displays. Even 17 lcd's (over the resolution of 1024, and less than a 40ms response time) are around $500. That is $500 that it seems like many of you are just throwing out the window.

If you think about it, take the top end iMac for $2200, remove $1299 for the 20" and you are left with a $900 G5. I really don't know how else to put it... it just seems like some of the apple users on this forum get greedy and overlook the quality of product that Apple provides. I am sure the new iMac will be amazing.

 

[haunebu]

I'm sure a lot of people would stop complaining, maybe even actually buy one, if Apple would just put a halfway respectable GPU in the thing. Sure, the screen is nice, as is the G5 processor, RAM can be upgraded cheaply - but that soldered on video card is by far the weakest link in the chain.

Make the new iMac able to play Doom 3, and they'll have a hot seller (and increase the incentive games developers have to develop for the Mac).

 

[Frobozz]

You already know Macs. Thats the difference. The question was and still is - how to convince PC users to switch. And if this graphics card crap comes true you will not find may. And believe me - most teenagers know what state of the art technology is. Sure they have no glue how to fix them. But they can compare and they do compare raw numbers.

Good that you stay with Macs anyway.

Your premise is sound but your logic is flawed. I just don't see how you can correlate a teenager knowing how to compare numbers to knowing what state of the art is. That simply isn't a valid arguement. You have a great point about how to get people to switch when all they can do is compare numbers, though. I think it's extended by the fact that people are, more often than not, exposed to more PC's. A lot of people will consider what is comfortable to them, and price. Those that can afford more will consider style or save up their money to afford style and comfort-- like getting a Mac.

That's why the Apple store is so great. You're never going to get people who don't want to spend money to buy a Mac, but you WILL get people who see the value in a better experience if they are exposed to it.

 

[Frobozz]

I'm sure a lot of people would stop complaining, maybe even actually buy one, if Apple would just put a halfway respectable GPU in the thing. Sure, the screen is nice, as is the G5 processor, RAM can be upgraded cheaply - but that soldered on video card is by far the weakest link in the chain.

Make the new iMac able to play Doom 3, and they'll have a hot seller (and increase the incentive games developers have to develop for the Mac).

Yes. I agree. As much as I think the iMac would be great for consumers, it sure wouldn't help Apple's game sales or give incentive for game makers to push the limits on games.

I have defended the gfx card choice a lot, but I have to conceed that Apple would be missing the opportunity to make it a great game machine. For example, why not offer a iMac gamer edition with pimped out specs? I doubt that would cannibalize PowerBook or PowerMac sales, since they are such different goals (for the most part.)

 

[Frobozz]

Thanks for the welcome Frobozz. 🙂

One last thing, I forgot to add.

Realy, if you want to play games (and this comes from a long time gamer) get a console. Any of the 3 consoles can provide a far greater game playing experience than the cost of a top line graphics card.

Pc games sales have been dropping steadily over the years and will likely continue to do so as console become more powerful.

It also means your kids don't tie up your computer when you need to use it.

Agreed. I compliment my mac gaming, which I find to be very satisfying, with a PS2. Couldn't be happier.

 

[isgoed]

16, that is the number of pages I got through on this thread before I got fed up and decided to post.

Are some of the specs on the iMac disapointing? Yes, the HD, RAM, and Gfx card are not what I would expect. That being said, I am completely suprised at the responses and lack of common sense being expressed by a large majority of the posts in this thread. Everyone is overlooking the fact that..... are you ready, the iMac comes with a large HIGH quality Apple LCD display.

STOP making comparisons to Dell's that cost $799, they are not in the same league. The Apple 20" monitor costs $1299 alone! Now for an extra $1000 you get a G5 machine with great style and ease of use. Has anyone else seem the current 20" imac up close? The display is beautiful, as are all apple displays. Even 17 lcd's (over the resolution of 1024, and less than a 40ms response time) are around $500. That is $500 that it seems like many of you are just throwing out the window.

If you think about it, take the top end iMac for $2200, remove $1299 for the 20" and you are left with a $900 G5. I really don't know how else to put it... it just seems like some of the apple users on this forum get greedy and overlook the quality of product that Apple provides. I am sure the new iMac will be amazing.

That is exactly the problem. The screen is great, but why attach all that secondrated hardware to it. In two years, the New iMac will come out and you can throw away a $1299 screen. These specs are just not future proof.

Furthermore it is a very weird business approach. For the same $1299, I can buy THREE high quality 17" screens. Consumers will notice it and most of them rather spend that money on making their iMac future proof. Wouldn't it be nice if there were "buy to order options" to get a 2.5Ghz G5, a geforce 6800, or 2Gb of ram?

 

[MrSugar]

That is exactly the problem. The screen is great, but why attach all that secondrated hardware to it. In two years, the New iMac will come out and you can throw away a $1299 screen. These specs are just not future proof.

Furthermore it is a very weird business approach. For the same $1299, I can buy THREE high quality 17" screens. Consumers will notice it and most of them rather spend that money on making their iMac future proof. Wouldn't it be nice if there were "buy to order options" to get a 2.5Ghz G5, a geforce 6800, or 2Gb of ram?

Yes, I completely agree!!!

 

[stuepfnick]

GFX board WOULD BE BIIIG CRAP!

The education iMac is probably fine the way it is but I think the other 2 new iMacs should be as follows:

• 17" widescreen display
- Single 1.6GHz G5 Processor
- slot-loading Combo drive (SuperDrive optional)
- 80GB Serial ATA hard drive (160, 250GB optional)
- 512MB of DDR SDRAM (4 slots up to 4GB)
- 512K L2 cache
- NVIDIA GeForce MX 5200 Ultra w/ 64MB of DDR vram
- VGA video output, S-video and composite video output
- 56K internal modem
- 10/100/1000BASE-T Ethernet
- two FireWire 800 ports
- three USB 2.0 ports
- two USB 1.1 ports on the keyboard.

• 20" widescreen display
- Single 1.8GHz G5 processor
- slot-loading SuperDrive
- 160GB Serial ATA hard drive (250GB optional)
- 512MB of DDR SDRAM (4 slots up to 4GB)
- ATI Radeon 9600 XT w/ 128MB of DDR vram
- All other features will be the same as the 17-inch models.

Nono no and NO! It needs this to get me buy one:

• 17" Screen (20" is too expensive to be lost with my next buy again!)
• 1.6 (or better 1.8 Ghz)
• 256 MB DDR RAM (or whatever - doesn't matter - RAM upgrade is cheap - max. 4 GB would be good)
• 80 GB HD (not important as well - have 160 GB FW Disk, but want S-ATA!)
• Superdrive (don't want to downgrade!)
• Radeon 9800 with 128 MB or GeForce 5700-5900 with 128 or a changeable card or BTO otions for this! (this is most important! - I want a good card for games, motion, core image/video, etc.)
• all Video outputs mentioned
•*Audio-In (maybe video in too)
•*10/100/1000 Ethernet (but only 100 MBit won't be a big problem)
• 2 Firewire 400 (1 firewire 800 too can't be harmful)
• 3 USB 2.0 ports (don't need the 2.0 at all - but firewire is extremely important to me - video, harddisk, ipod, etc.)
• Pro Speaker again or at least the connector

That for a reasonable price and I will upgrade!

I now have an iMac G4/800 17" with 512 MB SD-RAM with GeForce4MX-32MB, 80 GB HD, Superdrive, Apple Pro Speaker with iSub

The new specs sound really fully ok, except of the extremely weak graphics chip!

The FX5200 is not really an upgrade to mine. It has Vertex and Pixel shaders, but it has a slower! memory bandwith, etc. it has about the same fillrate as my card, etc.

So I got this in 2002, I want something better in 2004, can't you understand this?? I really love the screen and when I change to a G5 Tower I'll have to go with a CRT and a lot of power usage, etc.
A single G5 with a (at least half way) decent graphics card would suffice! So I can afford the bundled 17" widescreen display. BTW: I will never ever buy any non-widescreen TFT anymore! Thos are real crap, compared to 16:10...

But I'll wait... a 17" iMac G5 with at least a Radeon 9600XT with 128 MB, I'd buy, everything below not! I don't just want a new processor and keep the rest the same of the old imac (nearly)!

Also time has come to get something a little decent for the powermacs, it could move up one step in GFX boards:

Dual 1.8 Ghz: Radeon 9600 XT 128 MB - standard
Dual 2.0 Ghz: "–"
Dual 2.5 Ghz: Radeon 9800 XT 256 MB - standard

Also they could speed bump the 1.8 and 2.0 models to 2.0 and 2.2 Ghz, so there is space for the new iMac with 1.8 Ghz and 2.0 Ghz single processor.
And they could introduce PCI-Express to use Ati's new line-up, up to the ATI X800.

I really wonder how many of this crappy Nvidia GeForceFX5200 cards Apple bought 2 years ago, when they where released....

btw: the cheapest GFX board to buy is: GeForceFX5200Ultra with 128MB!! for about 50$, it is very hard to get still a card with only 64 MB these days!

 

[aidamahn]

Agreed. I compliment my mac gaming, which I find to be very satisfying, with a PS2. Couldn't be happier.

I do the same thing. It is cheaper in the long run becuase a console will not be outdated for years. video cards have gotten crazy recently.

--Jeremy

 

[NusuniAdmin]

I do the same thing. It is cheaper in the long run becuase a console will not be outdated for years. video cards have gotten crazy recently.

--Jeremy

definitly.

Thats interesting...my name is jeremy and i also live near syracuse....hmmm...

 

[Surreal]

Graphics card is the only thing i REALLY want changed. (if this is true)

not even a complaint. i may buy it anyway. i don't game heavily, BUT the card IS old. and outdated. while some people are complaining a bit much considering this is just a rumor, i understand that BECAUSE THE CARD WILL NOT BE REPLACEABLE, they have a higher interest in what card is chosen.

it makes sense.

if they were told that they could replace it, (even better would be an empty agp slot..2 cards?), some complaints would remain about price (imac+card) but it would be much less fevered.

but, i think all you like minded complainers should get together and pose one argument...so that there are less posts for me to read 😉

 

[TWinbrook46636]

The problem is that this is supposed to be an entirely new generation model yet many of the specs are unchanged. The graphics chip, memory size, hard drive size and optical drive are all unchanged. There are minor improvements under the hood but it really seems like someone is just taking guesses based on the current lineup. Take a look.

 

[Bonnie]

It IS a bit disappointing. I have owned many iMacs in the past, but this new model's supposed form and specs just lack the Wow factor that previous models had.

I'm really hoping it's wrong.

And what is with Apple putting that NVIDIA GeForce FX in their higher end machines? Is it so people purposely order BTO and shell out extra cash?

This is just yet another reason I haven't bought a revision A product in a long time. It seems like they purposely limit the specs so they will eventually have a spectaculary revision B. Plus who KNOWS how the G5 will do in this new form factor.

Sounds to me like Buyer Beware. I'll believe this rumor when I actually see it. 🙄

 

[aidamahn]

definitly.

Thats interesting...my name is jeremy and i also live near syracuse....hmmm...

hmmm... do you like macs too?

😛

 

[JonathanIve]

Jonathan Ive's Confidential Sketches, Obtained!!!

I can not say how I have come in to possession of the first drafts of what will be the new iMac G5. This is an exclusive first look at the design of the iMac G5, and I can assure you that it is legit. It may not be on the message boards for too long, as it will be probable that Apple will order a legal cease and desist over these sketches.

PS. These sketches are the same ones that this forum alluded to having possession of earlier in July.

Enjoy.

These are the first drafts of Ive's work, done in graphite, brainstormed and brought straight from his mind to the paper. The actual design may very SLIGHTLY from these photos. I have a close relatioship with the source of these photos, it took many months of heavy persuasion tactics before he relented and let me have them.

 

[Doctor Q]

I can not say how I have come in to possession of the first drafts of what will be the new iMac G5. This is an exclusive first look at the design of the iMac G5, and I can assure you that it is legit. It may not be on the message boards for too long, as it will be probable that Apple will order a legal cease and desist over these sketches.

PS. These sketches are the same ones that this forum alluded to having possession of earlier in July.

These are the first drafts of Ive's work, done in graphite, brainstormed and brought straight from his mind to the paper. The actual design may very SLIGHTLY from these photos. I have a close relatioship with the source of these photos, it took many months of heavy persuasion tactics before he relented and let me have them.

Excuse me for being a bit skeptical.

By the way, why would you betray your close friend?

 

[quagmire]

Excuse me for being a bit skeptical.

By the way, why would you betray your close friend?

Don't believe him. He said at another forum his friend drew it. He is a bad bad Messiahtosh.

 

[JonathanIve]

Don't believe him. He said at another forum his friend drew it. He is a bad bad Messiahtosh.

Quagmire is full of it, believe me. The reason I betrayed him? 15 minutes of fame, man. I hate knowing this famous guy, then have to go pick up YOUR trash, as I am a sanitation engineer.

 

[quagmire]

Quagmire is full of it, believe me. The reason I betrayed him? 15 minutes of fame, man. I hate knowing this famous guy, then have to go pick up YOUR trash, as I am a sanitation engineer.

Full of it. Sure I am full of it. You can not deny proof.

http://forums.applenova.com/showthread.php?p=22430#post22430

PS: He is the 7th to last post on the last page. His user name is Messiahtosh. His friend drew it. As so he claims.

 

[Converted2Truth]

Don't believe him. He said at another forum his friend drew it. He is a bad bad Messiahtosh.

...and apparently a bad artist as well 🙂
We shall all see soon enough what this new iMac looks like. Hopefully however, they'll have enough time to go back and drop a different GPU in it. I don't know anyone with a brain that will buy one of these with that 5200 p.o.s.. And with that recent rumor about what qualifies an apple display for replacement when it has pixel anomylies(sp)(i.e., dead pixels)...

I wouldn't buy an apple display from them without testing it first now. This new iMac sounds more and more like a gamble every day... but hey! i've not even seen it yet. ahhh!

 

[o1b2]

humm?

about time they past up the G4 chip there. Nice to see the G5 processor making it way into more of there machine, like to see it in a laptop.
One pieace design, humm? any thing should look better than the borning design of the current imac.

 

[FYA]

C.R.A.P.O.L.A

These specs are crap, thank god it's a rumor.

PowerBook G5, soon ? 🙄