A week with the new iMac G5
I've had my iMac G5 for a week. Here are some
thoughts and observations.
I ordered my iMac G5 on the evening of Oct
13. To my disappointment, the order information said it would ship on or before
the 27th. And I chose the free "5 day"shipping, so it wouldn't have come until
Halloween at the earliest.
Well, you know that didn't happen. On Wednesday the 19th, I got the notice that it had shipped. All the same, the 5 day shipping all but assured that the iMac wouldn't get here until Monday the 24th. According to the Fedex site, it sat in Shanghai for the next day or so, and then started moving with a vengeance. It left Anchorage, Alaska at 3:53 PM, cleared international shopping at 2:23 AM, left Indy at 4:12 AM, arrived in LA at 6:22 AM, left LAX at 7:51 AM, got to Hawthorne at 7:59 AM, was on the truck at 8:10 AM and was here at 8:43 AM (all times local, not necessarily PDT).
I was very good, and worked a full day before coming home to open and set it up. I used the relatively new (new since the last time I got a new Mac, anyway) Apple Setup Assistant which copies your accounts and files from your last Mac, and set up the iMac G4 in Target disk mode. It did a fine job of pulling my old files over. Though it took around 2 hours., I'm pretty sure that all my old stuff is over here.
The screen is enormous (I got the 20"), much bigger that I have been used to at home with my 15" iMac G4. I run with two 17" LCD screens at work, so in terms of total real estate, I have less here, but I can deal with that. If I get confirmation that the two screen iMac hack works with this, I have another 15" LCD I'll slap on here. But for now, this is just fine.
Some neat touches. There is a power light that comes on when you turn it on, but it fades out as soon as the screen comes on. It also comes on when the screen goes to sleep, but likewise fades out when the screen wakes up. Of course, it pulses when the computer is asleep, but the intensity of the light is directly proportional to the ambient light in the room. In other words, if the room is dark, the light doesn't pulse as brightly. Very nice touch.
The remote can also be used to put the Mac to sleep, a touch I appreciate very much. When it does that, the screen is faded out and a simple picture of the remote is displayed in the middle of the screen with "z"s pulsing out of it. ANother nice touch.
Speaking of the remote, the IR sensor is not behind the Apple logo as was originally reported. My experience has shown that you can point the remote at the logo all day with no results, while the Mac responds nicely if the remote is pointed at the camera area. My experience was confirmed by someone who has access to the service manuals. The IR board is behind the logo, but the IR cable is unified with the camera cable.
I was concerned at first that the camera took pictures with a blueish tint. My first iChat/login picture certainly was certainly blueish. But the picture I took this morning
certainly isn't. Likewise, the picture I took last night (see my Halloween costume), doesn't have a touch of blue.
Speaking of PhotoBooth, Steve Jobs called the second set of filters the "teenager effects." I really don't know why. He's over fifty, and looked to be having fun with it, and I myself am 54 (today is my birthday!) and I had a ball. We had friends over last night, and they (also 54) laughed like crazy at the effects. So, maybe they're boomer effects. Or maybe age just doesn't matter.
The machine is obviously much faster. I haven't had a chance to do much more than some web editing, Quicken, web browsing and email (oh yeah, and PhotoBooth, iChat...), but I can tell it's faster. I really want to get into GarageBand, but that just hasn't happened yet.
Overall, I am very pleased with this machine. I just hope I don't get used to the screen size and speed too quickly!
Well, you know that didn't happen. On Wednesday the 19th, I got the notice that it had shipped. All the same, the 5 day shipping all but assured that the iMac wouldn't get here until Monday the 24th. According to the Fedex site, it sat in Shanghai for the next day or so, and then started moving with a vengeance. It left Anchorage, Alaska at 3:53 PM, cleared international shopping at 2:23 AM, left Indy at 4:12 AM, arrived in LA at 6:22 AM, left LAX at 7:51 AM, got to Hawthorne at 7:59 AM, was on the truck at 8:10 AM and was here at 8:43 AM (all times local, not necessarily PDT).
I was very good, and worked a full day before coming home to open and set it up. I used the relatively new (new since the last time I got a new Mac, anyway) Apple Setup Assistant which copies your accounts and files from your last Mac, and set up the iMac G4 in Target disk mode. It did a fine job of pulling my old files over. Though it took around 2 hours., I'm pretty sure that all my old stuff is over here.
The screen is enormous (I got the 20"), much bigger that I have been used to at home with my 15" iMac G4. I run with two 17" LCD screens at work, so in terms of total real estate, I have less here, but I can deal with that. If I get confirmation that the two screen iMac hack works with this, I have another 15" LCD I'll slap on here. But for now, this is just fine.
Some neat touches. There is a power light that comes on when you turn it on, but it fades out as soon as the screen comes on. It also comes on when the screen goes to sleep, but likewise fades out when the screen wakes up. Of course, it pulses when the computer is asleep, but the intensity of the light is directly proportional to the ambient light in the room. In other words, if the room is dark, the light doesn't pulse as brightly. Very nice touch.
The remote can also be used to put the Mac to sleep, a touch I appreciate very much. When it does that, the screen is faded out and a simple picture of the remote is displayed in the middle of the screen with "z"s pulsing out of it. ANother nice touch.
Speaking of the remote, the IR sensor is not behind the Apple logo as was originally reported. My experience has shown that you can point the remote at the logo all day with no results, while the Mac responds nicely if the remote is pointed at the camera area. My experience was confirmed by someone who has access to the service manuals. The IR board is behind the logo, but the IR cable is unified with the camera cable.
I was concerned at first that the camera took pictures with a blueish tint. My first iChat/login picture certainly was certainly blueish. But the picture I took this morning
certainly isn't. Likewise, the picture I took last night (see my Halloween costume), doesn't have a touch of blue.
Speaking of PhotoBooth, Steve Jobs called the second set of filters the "teenager effects." I really don't know why. He's over fifty, and looked to be having fun with it, and I myself am 54 (today is my birthday!) and I had a ball. We had friends over last night, and they (also 54) laughed like crazy at the effects. So, maybe they're boomer effects. Or maybe age just doesn't matter.
The machine is obviously much faster. I haven't had a chance to do much more than some web editing, Quicken, web browsing and email (oh yeah, and PhotoBooth, iChat...), but I can tell it's faster. I really want to get into GarageBand, but that just hasn't happened yet.
Overall, I am very pleased with this machine. I just hope I don't get used to the screen size and speed too quickly!
Posted: Sat - October 29, 2005 at 04:24 PM
Quick Links
Calendar
| Sun | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat |
Categories
Archives
XML/RSS Feed
Search
Statistics
Total entries in this blog:
Total entries in this category:
Published On: Jun 10, 2006 05:40 PM
Total entries in this category:
Published On: Jun 10, 2006 05:40 PM