Apple today unveiled the new iMac G5.

2 inches thick integrated widescreen 17 inch and 20 inch displays and of course either a 1.6 or 1.8 G5 processor.

All starting at £919

http://www.apple.com/uk/imac/

 

I hope that means the old 32bit ones go cheap, they're still going for bucks at the moment!

 

You will be lucky, some old G4 towers are still fetching well over £600 on ebay

 

I know, been after a G4 for a while, I am using eMac at work, and they're pretty good, but small screen!

 

So how will this new iMac compare against a dual 1.8 g5 tower?

They are about the same price but then you have to add £200+ for a 17" TFT on the G5 (or use a crappy old 17" I have kicking around)

 

Obviously the Dual PowerMacs will be much more powerful and expandable than the iMacs. But your average Joe won't notice the differences unless they are running apps like Photoshop or Final Cut Pro.

The single 1.8 will be way more than enough for 90% of people.

 

Angrynorth - I will be getting either a new iMac or the dual PowerMac. I want to speed up my work in Photoshop, but I only use it for basic photo editing, converting raw files etc, so do you think the new iMac is fast enough for this?

 

It will be quick enough to handle all that but, RAW file conversion in Photoshop is optimised for multiple processors, so you would see an improvement in the speed with a PowerMac.

I suppose its a tricky decision really, the PowerMac will be quite a bit quicker in PS and other MP optimised apps, it is also much more expandable. But then the iMac comes with a screen and takes up no desk-space. Tough decision really.

 

Must say I'm rather impressed with the new iMac.

G5 in an iMac is a great idea. The enclosure looks pretty good too.

Tempted? well, possibly, but I'm not sure if I'd rather have an iMac or a Dual G5 tower, for what I'd use it for, the iMac would probably do, plus it just looks so very nifty, as is the theme of Apple's products.

Interested to see how the new Apple displays match the iMac

 

I don't like it I prefer my "old" 17" G4 iMac, with the front-loading superdrive. Wouldn't say no though, but I still prefer my slow old Cube over both

 

an - thanks for your advice, think i'll go for the iMac, as long as the speed difference isn't night and day (anything's better than my G3 iMac!). The price difference will pay for a decent A3 printer

 

So how can we find out what apps are optimised for multi processor macs?

I want to run mainly development stuff, databases, write java code and compile it, some basic photoshop stuff. Sounds like it is more mainstream stuff where the multiprocessor will shine...
Hmmm....

 

Daryl, I've no doubt it will blow your G3 out of the water, that I am certain of. I really want one of these now too, must restrain myself

Rich, most of the websites for software will state whether it is optimised for multi processor. Most pro applications are built this way but there are quite a few normal apps that are also optimised.

 

Just ordered 20" iMac

...ships in 3-4 weeks

 

Jealous now, lucky bugger!

 

The whole OS is MP aware, apps don't need to be rewritten these days. It's just that some tasks are more parallel and easily split between CPUs.

On the subject of the new iMac, the lower price is welcome but I just can't get excited about it from a design point-of-view. But this is probably a good thing, hopefully a lower price and much improved specs (especially FSB) will lead to many more sales in mainstream outlets (eg. PC World).

It looks very much like an LCD TV, perhaps we will see some more Mac compatible TV tuners. Good to see that the HDD is now more easily removable, I wonder if the graphics card is now on a daughterboard too?

 

Will probably order one myself tomorrow as as much as I love my cube its just as bit old now.

I would really love to see onbe as I'm very curious as to the screen quality but if its anything like Apples normal all in ones it will be class leading.

Interest has been very high with lots of customers trying to place orders today.

Well be ordering several hundred units tomorrow to keep up with demand whihc we reckon will be very very high

Hopefully they may even have one at the next corporate event MacWarehouse is hosting at Lords Cricket ground on the 17thn of September. I hope they do !

AllanB

 

Know what you mean, hopefully it looks better in the flesh

 

I've got some more pics of it in a real world perspective, and for once the publicity shots do not do it justice. Its a real nice piece of kit. My initial worries about the white lip at the bottom being too large are wrong.

I will post the pics shortly. As a note it also looks pretty spectacular in the QT stream on the Apple site

 

Great to see Phil doing the keynote, standing in for Jobs following his surgery. Next CEO?

 

Real life pics here...
http://homepage.mac.com/morgan68/App...toAlbum31.html

 

At last Apple have delivered....

Got tons of interest and pre orders from clients already on these babies so guess it is a success already!!
Being a mac dealer and fan, it is hard to knock the imac, but please oh brushed steel in white...install more ram you tight gits
I know, i know it is so people can install their own memory and at cheaper prices than apple store, but it would make our sell so much easier.
Anyway looks good, looks cool as usual and will probably shift by the bucketload.
For all you guys who have been holding off getting one, PM allenB for your orders now and if he runs out give me a shout and we may be able to help.
Now the only question remains..does the 17" fit in my normal dinn socket in my scoob and will it work as a SATNAV screen..only kidding!!

P.S I see that longhorn is shedding functions like a snake sheds it's skin just so it can meet its 2005/6 launch..LOL a good time to be on the mac platform or what??

Swiss

 

Some more pictures for you, gives a slightly better perspective

I agree with you Tony, I think Apple have hit the nail on the head with this one. Once people have a play with it in a shop I think many will decide to just get one.

The idea of having it work with any VESA compatible mounting bracket is genius, how cool would it be to have one of these wall mounted in the living room as a DVD, Music and moving picture frame Controll it with Salling Clicker and or a BT mouse and keyboard. Or you can put it on a desk and have a zero footprint desktop PC.

Very cool. And like you say with MS stripping Longhorn down to Win 3.1 people are going to get very tired of it.

 

http://www.apple.com/imac/video/

 

Cables! You'd think something that looks like that would have a nice remote mouse and keyboard for full minimalist effect.

Otherwise nice (apart from it being a mac )

PC manufacturers are really missing a trick here. And Apple really need to illustrate to the public that the mac runs ms office (which is why I reckon many people don't move over as they percieve macs to be a lot different to windows which, in the whole scheme of things for a home user, it isn't) and it's 'just like' on the normal pc then people will move away from them and get macs instead.

Oh, and make them a lot cheaper would help too.

 

There is a bluetooth mouse and keyboard available. Don't think that they could do owt with the power cable though

About the MS Office thing, I did notice that on these display models it shows the Office Icons in the dock (the W, X and the P) which must mean they want to push the fact it runs office a little more.

Price wise these are great for what you get, included with Apple's quality and product longevity it makes great value.

 

So how long before dual proc iMacs are about?

How long before the G5 laptop is about?

Just about to get something and scared that the day I order it something better, cheaper, faster and sexier is announced....

Is the dual 2.5 worth spending £900 more over the top spec iMac?

 

Dual iMacs are a definate no. We will see dual core dual chip PowerMacs way before we see that.

Powerbook G5's are probably in the not too distant future (early next year).

And yes the dual 2.5 is worth every single penny over the iMac if you need power and expandability.

 

Your answer on G5's powerbooks

A PowerBook G5 isn't ready for market yet, Apple said yesterday.



Speaking to Cnet News.com, Apple's vice president of product marketing, Greg Joswiak, said: "The challenges of cooling a G5 in a PowerBook are significantly greater."



Power and heat dissipation has been a major challenge for Apple as it utilised IBM's new PowerPC 970 and 970FX processors, leading the company to employ a complex cooling system in its PowerMac and Xserve lines.



The new G5 iMac employs a highly-designed but complex cooling system of its own. It has an air intake hole just near the speakers and integrates three fans.



Speaking in November 2003, Apple's director of product marketing for portables and wireless Dave Russell warned it "would be a while" until Apple delivers a PowerBook G5. Apple has previously pointed-out that it took the company three years to achieve a G4 PowerBook.

 

well I would be interested in getting a deal on g4 imac now