Apple announces new iMac G5
by Volker Weber
No big surprise. 17 and 20 inch, G5, similar to Cinema Display, white enclosure. Not as revolutionary as the G4 but nice and clean. There is one thing I would not like at all: All my cables dangling from the back of the screen.
Comments
Unless there's one last thing... that Steve didn't ask Phil to talk about : Wireless Firewire.
Then with a wireless Firewire hub, an Airport Extreme card, a BlueTooth mouse and keyboard, you would only need to have one cable for the power and one for a USB hub.
Eric, maybe with Wireless FireWire someone would be so »kind« to build a Wireless FireWire USB hub ... ;-)
(BTW, are there any Bluetooth (1.1 ...!?) USB hubs anybody knows of?)
Bluetooth is 1 mbit/s, 802.11b is 11 mbit/s and 802.11g is 54 mbit/s. Firewire does 400 or 800 mbit/s. Seems to be a mismatch.
I was initially underwhelmed - kind of plugging a laptop systemboard and components onto a desktop stand, which other manufacturers have done - but there is a lot of technology in that little box. I was expecting there to be an external power block but the whole lot is internal, which is impressive. Also I'll be impressed if it really is 'quieter than a whisper' as the G5 is a much hotter processor than the G3 or G4.
Anyway, it would be nice if it means that second-hand G4 iMacs are thereby pushed down in price - I may be able to get hold of one!
Nick, if I can afford a s/h G4 iMac, anyone can ;o) I picked up a pristine 15" Superdrive-equipped machine from eBay a month or so ago for not a lot at all. Go for it!
