More Initial Impressions of My New 20" 1.8 GHz iMac G5

Dana Baggett
New England Editor

[Dana's brand new 20" 1.8 GHz iMac G5 with Bluetooth wireless keyboard and mouse arrived Wednesday. Hooked on silent computing, he bought the iMac G5 to replace his upgraded 1 GHz G4 Cube and 17" Apple LCD Studio Display. Yesterday, he reported on his first impressions. Today, he reports on the remainder of his initial impressions. _Editor in Chief]

Continued from yesterday....

Getting inside. The first thing I did after getting my 20" iMac G5 out of the box was put it face down on a soft cloth and open the back so I could install a second 512MB memory stick. The first impression I got was of the superb fit and finish of this iMac. The back panel is so precisely made and fits into the body of the iMac so well that it is hard to believe that it isn't one piece. The now famous three Phillips metal screws on the bottom of the iMac appear ordinary enough. We were told in Paris that they are captive screws; they won't fall out once loosened. What I did not know is that they do not back out of the sockets in which they sit; they twist in place counter clockwise to unfasten and there are built-in stops. You can tell when you've turned them enough in either direction. Did I already tell you that this machine is superbly designed right down to the nuts and bolts? Except for the nut behind the keyboard of course.

Adding memory. Adding memory is a cinch. Apple even provides a template on the inside of the back cover to ensure that you have the correct size and form of memory stick before you attempt to insert it. At first I had difficulty getting the added memory stick into the slot. I did not insert the memory stick into its slot at an angle first. Which I would have known had I read the manual first.

The Manual. There is a nice 95 page Manual for the iMac G5. At least it looks nice. I read the manual only When All Else Fails. I feel sorry for the Apple staff who write easy to understand manuals, which is not easy to do. Many Mac users tend to believe that the Mac should be so intuitive that a manual isn't needed. Unless All Else Fails. So Apple manual writers don't get the praise they deserve. Let's hope their psychic compensation is that they least get to see the products before everyone else does.

Look, Ma! No wires! After transferring data between my Cube and my new iMac, it was time to move the Cube to a new location where another family member will use it. I got a chuckle out of it. I had forgotten just how many wires were attached to my beloved Cube. Many. After putting the new iMac into the same space and connecting up four peripherals to the back of the iMac, my working space still looks... well, wireless. No wires are visible from the front side of the iMac. Yea! BTW. The hole in the back of the stand is intended primarily for the power cord. Apple has illustrations of other wires connecting directly to the ports on the back. Nonetheless, I easily routed four cables plus the power cord through the hole in the stand, which is rimmed with plastic to eliminate any sharp metal edges cutting the cables. Another example of Apple paying attention to detail.

Up and running in minutes. As I previously mentioned, my first personal computer was a 512k Mac. I was up and running with it in minutes and had produced my first business letter within an hour after opening the box. Not bad, especially considering that this was almost 20 years ago. Things today are more complicated. Right? Not really. I was up and running on the internet within minutes after opening the box. But, then, you shouldn't be surprised. It's a Mac.

"Parking" the keyboard and mouse. If you are a clean desk neatnik, consider that you can park the mouse and the keyboard on top of the foot of the stand, i.e., under the iMac. Drop a dust cloth over the iMac as a tent and everything is hidden. Neat. Literally.

Browsing for printer drivers. My Samsung laser printer ML-1710 driver was not installed when I went to print from it for the first time on the iMac. Hmm. Apparently it didn't transfer properly from my Cube. Oh swell, I said. Or words to that effect. But the Printer Setup Utility was 'way ahead of me. "Would I like to browse for the latest printer driver?" it asked. Huh? Sure, I said in wonderment. I'm still not sure if "it" browsed my files or the world wide web, but within a few seconds it identified the proper printer driver and installed it. Only on a Mac.

Comparison with the 17" Studio Display. The 20" iMac G5 is - you guessed it - larger than the 17" Studio LCD display I have been using. Let me clarify.  Actually, it is about 4" wider across the bottom of the screen - nominally 17" versus 13". I think it is just the right size for my needs. I can now put two browser windows side by side if I have data to compare. The iMac display seems brighter when sitting next to my three year old 17" Studio Display, which is probably an unfair comparison. The iMac 20" display has an optimum resolution of 1680 x 1050. The 17" Studio Display has an optimum resolution of 1280 x 1024. The iMac Font Smoothing Style in the Appearance pane in System Preferences was not set to Medium - Best for Flat Panel so I changed it. It is a superb display. By the way. If you are moving from a CRT to a new iMac and you wear glasses, you may need a new prescription to really appreciate the iMac display. (I am not kidding.)

A worthy successor. It occurs to me that we are discussing a consumer computer here, using words that might be better suited to a high end desktop machine not unlike the Cube. I owned two of the teardrop first generation iMacs. Still in service, by the way. Running Mac OS 10.3.5. Then I fell in love with the Cube. The iMac 20" G5 is a worthy successor. It's fit and finish is remarkable for a machine that is intended to appeal to a mass market audience.

And appeal it does.