Cool Day To Be a Mac User
- August 31, 2004
- 1 comment
I’m sure by now, most people have heard about and seen the new iMac G5. It’s been completely redesigned from the ground up by the same team that did the killer iPod.
To be honest, I’m not sure if I like the new design yet. At times, I like it, and other times I don’t. Of course, I felt the same way about the previous “lamp” design, but I own one of those now. Maybe the design will grow on me more as I see it?
One thing that seems to be a step back is it seems like the monitor isn’t as flexible as it was. With my iMac, I can not only angle it like the new one, but left to right and raise it up and down too. You can’t do that with the new one. I probably move my monitor several times a day as I shift my position at my desk. Sometimes I work sitting normally, other times I’ve got my feet propped up on the desk and the keyboard on my lap. It seems like with the new design you’d have to shift the base to get it to turn left or right.
One thing I REALLY like about the new design is the tech specs. A fast G5 is great, but it now has a 600MHz frontside bus, which is a HUGE leap ahead of the previous designs. It’s also got a faster graphics card, better RAM, better hard drives and the selection of ports is nice. On top of that, the price is very nice too. Some things I don’t like about the specs is that there is no Firewire 800 and apparently no built-in Bluetooth for wireless keyboards and mice.
I think Apple will have a hit with this new design, but I’m still going to hold out for a G5 tower.
Another seemingly miniscule announcement today in comparison was the release of an OS X version of Skype. I use Skype just about every day, not to talk with friends so much, but with clients. Until now, I’ve had to use it on my PC. This new OS X version is made with Cocoa, so it’s got all the usual OS X niceties.
I liked it the minute I laid eyes on it. I would love to get one, but the main drawback for me is, that it isn’t a dual processor machine, like the towers are.
The 20” model, has the same amount of workspace as my 22” cinema display, and the whole thing costs $600 less than what I paid for just the cinema display 3 years ago!