Kieli's Full Review: Apple iMac G5 20 in. (MA064LL/A) Mac Desktop - wit...
I seriously have a computer problem. There is one of me, and three of them. One PC and Two Macs, a Laptop and a Desktop. This Desktop.
Specifications of Mine:
Memory: 2.5GB 533 DDR2 SDRAM - 1x512, 1x2GB
Hard Drive: 500GB Serial ATA drive
SuperDrive (DVD R DL/DVD RW/CD-RW)
Keyboard and Mouse: Apple Wireless Mac OS X - U.S. English
Final Cut Express HD preinstalled
APP: AppleCare Protection Plan for iMac - Auto-enroll
20-inch widescreen LCD
2.1GHz PowerPC G5
ATI Radeon X600 XL with 128MB DDR Video Memory
AirPort Extreme
Bluetooth 2.0 EDR
Cost: $3,727.00
Specs on a Stock:
Memory: 512MB 533 DDR2 SDRAM
Hard Drive: 250GB Serial ATA drive
Keyboard and Mouse: SuperDrive (DVD R DL/DVD RW/CD-RW)
Keyboard and Mouse: Keyboard & Mighty Mouse Mac OS X - U.S. English
20-inch widescreen LCD
2.1GHz PowerPC G5
ATI Radeon X600 XL with 128MB DDR Video Memory
AirPort Extreme
Bluetooth 2.0 EDR
Cost: $1,699.00
And then? There are tons of programmes available for purchase just for Mac... also, you can get a lot of your fave Windows programmes now, on Mac, too. (As a side note I am really only using mine for Graphic Design and I have a CAD program on here- So I purchased the Adobe CS II Premium and loaded up my MS Office Suite for Mac).
This little baby came in one sleek, handled box. I opened the top, laid it on its side and removed the thin film of foam. Angels sang "Hallelujah" and I removed the Monitor/CPU. For those of you who don't know the deal, The Computer is actually built into the thin (2" thick) monitor. This baby only weighs about 22 lbs. That is it. You have a Keyboard, A Mouse and a Monitor with 170* viewing radius from horizontal OR vertical. Love is in the air!
And Fast? Oh my. You turn this around and there are ports for USB, Firewire. Headphones, Speakers, Power, Ethernet and a Second monitor (although I'm not sure why you'd need one). The CD/DVD slide-in is located on the right side (if you're looking at the monitor) and the power "button" is on the lower left side on the back. The built-in speakers are on the bottom (hidden) part of the monitor and the webcam (which I haven't even sneezed at) is a little black 1/4" square at the top, center of the monitor. You plug in the power, keyboard and mouse, snap your ethernet into your router (or just use the on-board Airport Card) and you are on your way.
The setup is just as simple: Turn on the computer (little "button" on the back, lower left), Put in the CD when prompted, Follow the directions on the screen. All in all, I think my setup took about 10 minutes, total. (Maybe 15. Still, it was quick.)
This Mac is easy to network with a pre-existing Mac OR PC. I have both and I can pull data off of any of my machines, fairly simply. This fact was NOT true of my last Mac desktop. Here is how to get the data: Just meander up to the "HD" icon and click it twice. The "HD" window then opens and on the far left side, second icon down is the "Network" icon. If you click this once, you can view all of the networking options available. Click on the one you want and Viola! you have access to everything you've allowed your new Mac access to on any and all computers on the Network. I assume this works extremely well in a corporate setting, although it is just my theory, as I have not used this outside my home-office network.
*PC Magazine said, "Changes from the iMac G5 in 2004 include: Improvements include a processor bump from 1.7 GHz to 2.0 GHz: a small bump, but a welcome one. Airport Extreme (802.11 b/g Wi-Fi) and Bluetooth 2.0+EDR (enhanced data rate) are now standard across the iMac line. This is a great improvement, because you previously needed a decoder wheel to figure out which wireless capabilities you had, especially if you bought your iMac online. You couldn't upgrade Bluetooth internally after the fact, which wasn't quite apparent if you were configuring an iMac on store.apple.com and also wanted to buy an Apple wireless Bluetooth keyboard and mouse. Stuff like this is now simplified: Wi-Fi and Bluetooth are included. A 250GB SATA hard drive, dual-layer dual-format SuperDrive DVD burner, and Gigabit Ethernet also come standard, rounding out the hardware improvements. Favorite features, like the incredible 20-inch widescreen LCD and the two FireWire ports, are still present and accounted for.
The new iMac includes Mac OS X 10.4.1 Tiger and iLife '05. So it's still a cinch to hook up a DV camera, upload your video, tweak it in iMovie HD, then burn it to a DVD with iDVD. The iMac G5 can still serve as the center of your digital life with pictures, video, music, and more."
My iMac has Mac OS 10.4.4 Tiger.
Now the bad stuff (if you can call it that). This only comes in Apple's Standard Colour Theme: White and Silver. (Well, mostly white with some silver accents). That is all the bad to me.
All things considered, I adore this machine. Do I wish I had waited a few months? Yes. I usually read up and wait for the newest innovation, but the was an impulse buy (my old desktop died) and I didn't have time to wait 2 months. That being said, I don't think I am missing too much without the Intel chip. I probably am, but I'll just keep telling myself I'm not. Shut up.
Amount Paid (US$): 3,727.00 Operating System: Macintosh Processor speed: 201-300 RAM: More than 256 Internal Storage: CD-RW and DVD Hard Drive (GB): Over 50
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