Apple iMac G5 review

Troy Dreier CNET

Published: 11 Oct 2004

The latest iMac -- the third incarnation, if you're keeping track -- is the natural evolution of a computer that keeps getting slimmer and slimmer. The first iMac was an all-in-one egg-shaped system, and the second looked more like a desk lamp than a PC, with the CPU hidden in its half-dome base. In this third design, the computer has seemingly disappeared altogether, and we're left with a floating flat-panel screen. Some things haven't changed, though: the Apple iMac G5 is still more about style than substance (it's a good performer but not an excellent one), and it's still not very expandable. We looked at the £1,049 (inc. VAT) middle child of the iMac G5 family, which includes a 17in. wide-screen display, a 1.8GHz G5 processor and an 80GB hard drive. Our test system included an extra 256MB of memory, an AirPort networking card, and a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse, which brings the total cost to £1,228 (inc. VAT). Bargain hunters should look to the Apple eMac and power users to the Power Mac G5, but for anyone with a love of sleek, minimalist decor, this is the computer for you.

Design
To tell the truth, we're not sure why the iMac needed this redesign. The move from the first-generation iMac to the second made sense because the machine became more compact and, with its swivelling screen, more versatile. But this iMac is actually less flexible than the last, since the screen can swivel only up and down (from -5 degrees to +25 degrees). Sure, you can move the whole machine from side to side, but that's not very elegant. Still, the iMac G5 is slimmer and lighter than its desk-lamp predecessor. The guts of the computer are hidden behind the 17in. wide-screen display, so the body of the iMac is only 5cm thick -- amazingly slender for a desktop computer. And the 17in. model is 2.3kg lighter than the last-generation 17in. iMac. It rests on a gently curving aluminium stand, and the ports -- three USB 2.0 and two FireWire 400, as well as audio line-in, optical audio out and video out -- line up on the back, along with the power button. With no buttons or ports on the front of the iMac, the machine has a lovely uninterrupted appearance, which should come as no surprise since Apple's iPod design team had a hand in creating the iMac G5 (in contrast to ads we've seen, an Apple product specialist told us that the similarities are only a coincidence and that there was no effort to mimic the iPod's appeal). Unlike the iPod, however, the iMac G5 sacrifices functionality for beauty -- it's a pain to keep reaching around to plug things in. And if you opt for the iMac G5 VESA wall mount, which the Apple Store states will go on sale later this month, getting to the back-panel ports and the power button becomes an even trickier chore. The case is easy to take apart, but there isn't much to upgrade once you've done so. To open it, lay the iMac on its front, and loosen the three Philips-head screws that hold the back on (these are captive screws, which means you can't lose them). With the iMac's back off, you can install an AirPort Extreme card or add more RAM into the lone free slot, but that's it. This is nothing new; iMacs and other all-in-one computers have always had limited upgradeability. The interior is a model of efficient design, with no cables to tangle -- not even a power brick. The fans that cool the iMac are so quiet, you'll need to hold your ear to the machine to hear it working.

Features
The new Apple iMac G5 comes in three standard models (we tested the middle one), selling for £1,349, £1,049 and £919 (inc. VAT). The top model has a 20in. wide-screen display, while the others are 17in. units. Beyond a larger display, the extra £300 for the top model gets you only a 160GB hard drive; the other two have 80GB drives. The top two models have SuperDrives (DVD-R/CD-RW), while the bottom iMac G5 includes a combo drive (DVD-ROM/CD-RW). If none of the three preconfigured models is exactly what you want, Apple provides a handful of options to customise your iMac online. As its name implies, the iMac G5 gets the PowerPC G5 chip with this release, which means faster processing that will be more noticeable for people running video- or photo-editing applications or processor-intensive games. The top two iMacs have 1.8GHz processors, and the bottom runs at 1.6GHz. We had no complaints in our real-world testing, where the iMac was perfectly fast and able to run several programs at once (see below). Our iMac came with 512MB of RAM, which is a built-to-order option. Apple has a history of providing too little RAM, and that's certainly true here, where the standard allotment for all three models is only 256MB. If Apple intends for the Mac to be the hub of your digital home, it should do better than that. We suggest you make the £50 upgrade for a total of 512MB of memory. The iMac G5 includes built-in speakers and a microphone on the bottom of the screen. A nice surprise: the speakers produced clear audio, even at high volumes. We're accustomed to the included speakers on Macs being weak and tinny, but for a change, we got a pleasant sound from them. Audiophiles will still want external speakers, though, as the integrated speakers are light on bass. The iMac doesn't come with Wi-Fi (AirPort) or Bluetooth built in, but they're available as extras when ordering. Our system arrived with both. The AirPort card lets you connect to 802.11b or 802.11g wireless networks, and the Bluetooth option included both a wireless keyboard and mouse. Unfortunately, the wireless versions are identical (minus the cords, of course) to the standard lightweight keyboard and the ridiculous one-button mouse that accompany Macs. The iMac comes with a nice bundle of software (one that we prefer to the PowerMac G5's because it has a few games): you get OS X 10.3; iLife, with iMovie, iTunes, iDVD, iPhoto and GarageBand; AppleWorks; iChat AV; Quicken 2004; World Book 2004 (be sure to try the nifty World Book screensaver); and the games Marble Blast Gold and Nanosaur 2. We appreciate the fact that migration software is now included, helping you transfer files and settings from an older Mac.

Performance
Application performance
Our iMac G5 uses a 1.8GHz PowerPC processor and offers a slight improvement in application performance over the previous-generation 20in. iMac with its 1.25GHz G4 processor. On our iTunes test, the iMac G5 converted a 10-minute song (in AIFF format) to MP3 15 seconds faster than the older iMac. We attribute some of this performance gain to the new optimisations Apple has made to Mac OS X between version X 10.3.3 and X 10.3.5. For a more well-rounded look at the iMac G5's performance, we created a new Photoshop test. Unfortunately, the test is so new that we've run it on only one other system, the Power Mac G5. We hope to update this review with Photoshop results from other non-Apple PCs soon. It came as no surprise that the iMac G5 trailed the dual-processor Power Mac G5 by a healthy margin. We use Adobe's Photoshop to evaluate the system's performance as an integrated whole -- the CPU, memory, hard disk and graphics card. We run an automated suite of operations that simultaneously stresses a variety of the machine's subsystems and simulates a real-world Web-production work flow. The suite includes launching the application; converting between colour spaces and bit depths; applying a variety of filters; working with layers, selection areas and alpha channels; and resizing and compressing images. We time how long it takes to run the suite on 15 files that range from 1.8MB to 49.2MB, in 8-bit and 16-bit colour. We use Apple's iTunes as another indicator of a system's performance. In this test, we time how long it takes to convert a 107MB AIFF audio file to MP3. Quake III
Apple upgraded the processor on its latest iMac, but the graphics card remains the same as the last-generation iMac's. With both the 20in. iMac we tested earlier this year and the new iMac G5 using Nvidia's budget graphics card, the GeForce FX 5200 Ultra, we were not surprised to see nearly identical 3D performance on our Quake III test. Although the new iMac G5 trailed the 20in. iMac by a few frames per second (fps), both machines produced frame rates in excess of 60fps, which means Quake III will run smoothly. Keep in mind, however, that Quake III is an older game. Today's games, although not generally available for Macs, will prove too taxing for the iMac. Gamers swayed by the iMac G5's sleek design should keep shopping. The iMac will suit mainstream users, but gamers and power users will require more graphics horsepower. To measure 3D gaming performance, we use Quake III Arena for OS X. Although Quake III is an older game, it is still widely used as an industry-standard tool.

Service & support
Apple's service plan has never been generous. You get 90 days of phone support and one year of service with the iMac, unless you buy the optional extended service plan for £139 (inc. VAT), which gets you three years of service and phone support. The Apple support site is good, however, at helping troubled users find the answers they need. Visit the iMac support section to search through the FAQs and the forums.

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