iMac G5 User Review

[Kent Pribbernow]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.ratpile.net/iMac/review.html' target='_blank'>http://www.ratpile.net/iMac/review.html</a><br /><br /></div><img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/image7.jpg" /><br /><br />Digital Media Thoughts reader <a href="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/forums/profile.php?mode=viewprofile&u=704&sid=fe34c6a80c85bf06f22aaae1219d5120">Mojo Jojo</a> has written up an interesting review of Apple's new G5 iMac. He even included some nice pictures of the new system in operation, which is must say is a nice looking computer despite my earlier criticisms. One nice thing I've been hearing is that the unit is not a tippy as it looks, which was a concern I had when seeing the G5 for the first time.<br /><br />If you're taking an interest in this product and are wondering what the user experience is like, check out his review.

[David Prahl]

Thanks for the review! I don't own or use a Mac but would jump at the chance to try one. I just don't have the extra money laying around to get a nice new one.

Thanks!
:way to go:

[Mojo Jojo]

No problem. :)

I thought that it might be a little useful. If there are any questions feel free to ask. I'll do my best to answer them.

What you see there is the initial thoughts after I had it up and running the first evening. The performance difference from the prior iMac was somewhat shocking, especially after adding additional memory. Once that was done being able to open (and run) the entire set of MS Office applications at once was a great feeling.

I am planning to do a follow up once I have a little more time with the unit and put it through some proper paces. Things like burn time for a CD/DVD, compile time for an iMovie to AVi to DVD, boot times for OS and Apps from cold, as well as some app specific tasks like applying filters in Fireworks to a large base image.

Again, if you got an interest in finding something out, feel free to ask!

-Mojo

[klinux]

Nice. The pic showed the great horizotal view angle of the iMac LCD that I have been reading much about. However, either that is a very orange room or your camera's white balanche needs some adjustment. :)

I would like to digitize my music collection. I would be very interested in some CD to ALE (Apple Lossless Encoder) and some AIFF or ALE to MP3 (256kbps VBR) time comparison between the G4 and G5.

Thanks!

[mcsouth]

You gotta love that transfer process from one PC to another. This is a tremendous feature that MS will no doubt copy at some point in the future (after the Longhorn launch, no doubt), and claim credit for.....

[Mojo Jojo]

However, either that is a very orange room or your camera's white balanche needs some adjustment. :)

(Chuckles) Waiting for someone to say that. I had a couple problems trying to take photos that night. The first is that the iMac has Apple's clear acrylic shell, which when a picture is taking with a flash the image turns into a nice white halo glow.

The second part being that the screen itself has less of a glare coat texture it seems when compared to the old one. This makes the screen nice and sharp to view images, but produces a flash spot and makes the screen unreadable.

Third, I have these old torch lamps that do have a yellowish type light. So without the flash to compensate, and a quick shutter speed on the digital.... well orange. =)

I will go ahead and reduce the shutter speed, and muck with some other settings that I will have to read in the manual, and stick the thing on the tripod. The Canon G3 digital camera has a ton of features I need to play with still.

...

As for encoding, the "Devo Greatest Hits" cd with 10 songs, 33.9 minutes in length, using Apple Lossless Encoder took 2:06 minutes to rip on the new G5.

The old G4 performed the same process at 2:58 minutes. Other then the processor the other difference between computers is the G5 is using the super drive versus a regular Combo drive on the G4. Both have equal amounts of memory.

(Please keep in mind that these times are as accurate as my thumb/reaction time is :) )

[Mojo Jojo]

Hello again,

Some new pictures for the group. A night of learning on low light digital photography.

Here are two new pictures of the iMac with a 12 inch iBook placed near it. These photos help explain the view angle mentioned previously. Both computers are set to equal brightness and the only difference between the two is my position with the camera.

http://www.ratpile.net/iMac/new1.jpg

and

http://www.ratpile.net/iMac/new2.jpg

[klinux]

Nice pics and thanks for the benchmark!

Looking forward to the AIFF/ALE to MP3 benchmark. To me that would be more interesting as that would be a more CPU dependent benchmark as opposed to an optical dependent one.

[Suhit Gupta]

Nicely done Mojo. I like the pictures.

Suhit

[dean_shan]

I don't really like the way the new iMac looks. The idea of having everything built-in to a LCD is a great idea. I just don't like how this version looks.

[Mojo Jojo]

UPDATE for Klinux:

The file is 'Whip It' by Devo. The original file is 2:40 minutes long and using Apple Lossless encoding is 20.6 MB (Bit Rate: 1075, Sample Rate: 44.100kHz) the end result is MP3 at 256 kbps and VBR at Medium (default).

G5 Time: 10 seconds
G4 Time: 19 seconds

Complete Devo CD conversion, same rates as above. Complete CD statistics are 242.1 MB in Apple Lossless encoding.

G5 Time: 1.27 Minutes
G4 Time: 3.46 Minutes

Again, this is for the 1.8 G5 with 512 versus a 700 G4 with 512.

[sylvangale]

There have been reports of possible speed exaggeration of the G5 on the part of Apple coming from www.barefeats.com. It seems that the G4s that have been used in comparison run nearly half as good as they're supposed to.

"The gap between our two test units is 39% and 52% respectively for Halo and UT2004. Apple's lab retested and is still getting the 179% and 214% gap respectively. "

"We've narrowed the discrepancy down to the iMac G4. They get the same numbers we get on the iMac G5. But their iMac G4 is getting only half the frame rates that ours is generating."

Barefeats is looking for people to test their G4s and help to verify how a G4 should be performing in the wild.

[Mojo Jojo]

Would be happy to give it a go, are there demo versions of the games?

To be honest though, neither graphics card in the iMac range is a powerhouse performer. I don't think either machine should be considered anything else then a 'light' gaming machine.

So while I have heard of his study, I am curious... why games? It is like testing Yugos for off the line acceleration versus testing Yugos for the value per dollar, if you catch my drift.

Any rate, so far the times and seat of the pants feel in things other then games, the new iMac is sure impressing me. Your mileage may vary as they say. :D

[sylvangale]

I guess because there really isn't a cross platform benchmark utilities to test speed differences between Macs and PCs some rely on programs available on both platforms to benchmark and measure how long it takes to do something in the same program, but in different systems.

They have speed ratings of various programs on the site compared with different system configurations. So you can really say... yes my MAC/PC kicks your MAC/PCs butt. :)

[Lee Yuan Sheng]

Heh, PCs are still faster, but you don't buy a Mac solely for speed anyway.

The new iMacs look better than I thought, however it's somehow not as cool as the earlier ones.

[klinux]

Thanks Mojo. The G5 does seem impressive.

I have been wanting to get the G5 Mac since I got my iBook a couple of years ago (G3 700). I would prefer to get another laptop but who knows when a G5 laptop will make to the iBook line. :x

*****

As for the game performance, one can definitely see where Apple's famed Reality Distortion Field technology come in. I am glad to see barefeat blowing away Apple's claim of game performance.

*****
And yes, PC is indeed, in general, faster than Mac. I backup DVDs to DivX and occasionally game, two of the very few things that strain modern computers, only on my PC. However, for everyday use, OS X works for me.

[Filip Norrgard]

Mojo Jojo, thanks for the great review. :) Can you tell how easily the G5 iMac will tip over. I mean, can you easily tip it over by just pushing it gently on the top behind side, or?

Also, is there some way to anchor the iMac down so it doesn't tip over? (Screwholes, for example) My cat is just too strong and would probably make this iMac go flipping over into the floor on it's first day in the house... since he can already move chairs and small tables around. :lol:

[Mojo Jojo]

...Can you tell how easily the G5 iMac will tip over... since he can already move chairs and small tables around. :lol:

Hrm...

Not sure how to give a quantified response here. Something with lbs of pressure and such.

What I can give you is an opinion and some basic impressions. First off the G5 base has some considerable weight and is about 8mm thick. Not sure if you can see it in the pictures clearely enough but the base is also very wide giving it a stable foot print.

If you push lightly on the edges with just a finger or two the device does not move. If you begin to push hard on the edges with say the equivilent amount of force equal to carring a gallon of milk the device pivots/slides/turns on the desk rather then tip. With that much force I can say it has safely passed my needs.

If you push from the back the first thing that happens is you adjust the view angle of the device, once it has reached its full down position again you have to apply significant force to overcome the base footprint again.

I would have to say casual bumps and prods don't seem to upset the device. Now for a cat then can move chairs and tables huh...

Well to be overly safe I would suggest that you consider a VESA adapter mount and remove the stock stand. I don't know all the details but Apple has an adapter in the works:

http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore?productLearnMore=M9755G/A

then you can choose any VESA mount like these...

http://www.ergoindemand.com/lcd_wall_mounts.htm

Don't forget to get the bluetooth wireless keyboard and Mouse if you wall mount! :D

[Mojo Jojo]

...but who knows when a G5 laptop will make to the iBook line...

First, no problem. Glad to help.

Second... after peeking into the G5 I would say Apple only has two obsticles left before that happens. The first is power, as always feeding a fast processor requires a large power source. The second is getting rid of the byproduct of that processing power, heat.

With the back of the case off, and a little knowledge, you can begin to disect what is inside. There are three 'large' components while the rest of the innards are already at laptop size.

The first is the Standard SATA drive, this can be reduced in size easily enough with a more streamlined laptop drive.

The second is the powersupply. The G5 does not use an external brick for power but instead has a built in supply right in the case. Removing that would reduce alot of the thickness seen at the bottom of the case from the front.

The third is the fan and duct work. The G5 fans inhale air from the bottom, pass it along the CPU and heatsink, then expel the air through a center channel to the long slit that you can see on the back of the machine. Not sure what the CFM needs are to keep the CPU within operating tempetures but this is the last hurdle.

I might be speculating with Rose colored glasses here but if they bumped the speed down to say the 1.6 ghz G5 we *MIGHT* see a G5 powerbook next year.

Currently there isn't much leeway in reducing the size of the chip as they are at the 90nm already. Going smaller might lead to less of a power draw (which reduces the heat in theory) but I don't think we will see that for awhile.

For more G5 geek stuff....
http://www.apple.com/g5processor/

************

As for usage? I have multiple machines in my house. The Apple line is where I do most of my 'serious' work. Bills, documents, graphic design work, they all happen on the Apples. Little to no viruses, hackers, worms, great stability, in short no hassles.

I do however have a AMD 2500 Barton, 9800XT, with 768 DDR 3200 in the basement for games. :D On a side note however the release rate of new PC games, the cost to upgrade the PC per game... well I am not seeing that great of a return of investment into the machine. I hate to say it but I am moving ever slowly towards consoles for my gaming needs.

For me the days of the PC are fading. I need a tool that just works, in short I want an appliance not a headache.

[Filip Norrgard]

If you push from the back the first thing that happens is you adjust the view angle of the device, once it has reached its full down position again you have to apply significant force to overcome the base footprint again.
...
Well to be overly safe I would suggest that you consider a VESA adapter mount and remove the stock stand. I don't know all the details but Apple has an adapter in the works:
...
Don't forget to get the bluetooth wireless keyboard and Mouse if you wall mount! :D
OK, thanks for the opinion. A VESA adapter sure sounds like a good idea, and why not some Bluetooth keyboard and mouse, for that matter. ;) (Now I only need to get some money for this investment... :lol:)

[Mojo Jojo]

OK, thanks for the opinion. A VESA adapter sure sounds like a good idea, and why not some Bluetooth keyboard and mouse, for that matter. ;) (Now I only need to get some money for this investment... :lol:)

*phew* :D

I was trying to figure out ways of getting my wife's electric food scale to push against the side and still be able to read it, all while trying to recall my high school physics class on if a gravity measurement is equal to an applied force measurement... then things went downhill with the force per square inch stuff creeping into my memory.

I blacked out for a moment, my brain needed to reboot after a fatal math exception occured.