Review of my new iMac G5
I have been using my new iMac G5 for a few weeks now, and it is going pretty well. I am quite smitten with this machine. The display is large and bright (much brighter than my PowerBook). The 16:9 aspect ratio was a little jarring at first, because I don't have any other monitors that are that "widescreen". The unit itself has some surprising heft to it (I believe the iMac is listed at 22 lbs.), yet the motion of the display on the stand is nice and smooth.
The fit and finish of this machine also stands out, as with all of Apple's machines these days. The machine feels solid as I carry it back and forth between my bedroom and the dining room (for Urban Terror sessions with Kevin). I installed a 1Gb DIMM in it, which demonstrated the lengths that Apple will go to in order to achieve their design. The one free RAM slot is in such a position that Apple had to invent two ring-tabs, so that you can eject the memory once it is in the slot. Also, the included ambient light sensor works as advertised -- the glowing sleep light doesn't bother me a bit when I am sleeping.
Some other random notes about this computer:
- Built-in Speakers - The built-in speakers sound great! I was quite surprised by the quality of the sound that was being generated from this machine. Without a doubt, this is the best built-in sound of any computer that I have ever used. Even though I have my Bose 301's in a position where I can drive them from the iMac, I find myself still using the built-in speakers on occasion.
- IR Remote / Front Row - The IR remote is great. It is easy to hold, and simple to use. This is the one "big new feature" that I use all the time. My ergonomic keyboard doesn't have any volume controls, nor play/pause controls (and I am too lazy to find some hotkey software to expose those sorts of things with control key combinations). But now, I can just lay my hands on the remote, and pause iTunes or change the volume at will. This is super-handy, and really well-implemented on Apple's part.
Front Row is nice, but I haven't used it that much. The integrated movie trailer stuff works very well, and is quite slick. I can see myself using the iTunes part when I want to use the iMac as a stereo, which I want to do when I'm cleaning my room. Unfortunately, I almost never clean my room, so I'm not sure how often I am going to use this part of Front Row. :)
- Noise - Unfortunately, I can hear the fan in the iMac. And I'm not sure if it is the 10.4.3 update or some piece of software that I am running, but the fan is almost always on now. That is not to say that this is an end-of-the-world thing. By far, this machine is the quietest that I own (right up there with the PowerBook). It is just that I would like the fan to only run when I am doing intensive things.
- Performance - Boy, it sure is nice to have a G5 and a desktop hard drive again. The slow HD in my PowerBook was really beginning to wear on me. The G5, coupled with the fancy ATI graphics card, has no trouble running the Quake III engine at full speed, or scrolling lots of images in Mac OS X. So far, I have managed to make each Mac purchase double the speed of the machine it was replacing (from 600Mhz G3 iBook to 1.25Ghz G4 PowerBook, and now from the PowerBook to the 2.1Ghz G5 iMac). I can definitely feel the speed difference over my PowerBook.
Do I wish that I had a dual-core G5 CPU in this baby? Hell yes! It is one of the biggest letdowns for me. But apparently the dual-core G5's just dissipate too much heat for the thin iMac design.
- Mighty Mouse - I am glad that Apple is including the Mighty Mouse now, as it gives me a chance to play with it without spending $50. Overall, I would say that the Mighty Mouse is just okay. For desktop use, the built-in scrolly-trackpointy thing is amazing. It is really easy to scroll left to right and side to side, and the button is easy to push as well. But electrostatic left/right buttons sometimes get confused, so my left click gets interpreted as a right click. Even worse, the side buttons are nearly impossible to hit, rendering them useless. Oh, and forget about using this mouse for gaming. If you are holding down the "right" button, and then want to click left (to fire your gun, say), that second click won't be registered.
I would say that all-in-all, I am satisfied with my purchase. The only disappointments are the fan noise, and the fact that the new iMac as a whole is less servicable than the model that it replaced. Not only can't the parts be easily serviced by end-users anymore, but the stand doesn't come off, rendering VESA mounts (and nifty travel cases) out of the question. But I can live with those small complaints, while I enjoy all of the other great benefits of this machine.
-Andy.
Posted by andyr at November 18, 2005 11:56 PM