A great system

I've been using a flat-panel iMac since the 17 inch G4 model came out 2 years ago, and was starting to get a bit frustrated with the screen size & mediocre CPU speed, so when the new G5 iMacs were announced I knew I'd be upgrading. I placed an order at the beginning of October & my new system arrived a few days ago.

I sprung for a few upgrades above the basic system - 250 GB hard disk, 1 GB RAM, and Bluetooth.

The system is as easy to setup as any iMac - just plug in the keyboard, mouse & power cord, and turn it on. There's a 94 page User's guide, but you won't need to refer to it unless this is your first Mac. The only other thing in the box is a phone cord for the modem; inexplicably, there's no Ethernet cord. Considering how popular broadband & home networks are getting, you'd think an Ethernet cord would be at least as useful during setup (I know it would have been for me). Oh well, I'll add the phone cord to my collection.

Turning the Mac on for the first time, you run through the usual setup questions (country, language, time zone, registration info, networking setup, etc), but there's one new addition - Setup Assistant. This program lets you transfer the contents of your old Mac (user accounts & applications) to your new Mac. Just connect the two computers with a firewire cord (not included), start up your old Mac in Firewire Target Disk mode (by holding the T key down during startup) and Setup Assistant will let you select what to transfer. The options are not very fine-grained; you can't pick & choose which applications to transfer, for instance - it's all or none. It does seem to be smart enough to not transfer applications that are already on your new Mac (such as the iLife programs), but I wound up with duplicate copies of AppleWorks, so it isn't perfect. Also, some applications with hardware drivers didn't transfer very well & had to be reinstalled, such as Missing Sync (for syncing my Palm), for example. Also, Stuffit Expander wound up broken somehow & had to be re-installed. My user account, on the other hand, transferred over perfectly. My mail accounts, iPhoto & iTunes libraries, network settings, even my desktop background all came over just fine. After it was all done & I logged in, it looked just like I was logged into my old system. All in all, about 40 GB was transferred to the new computer, and it took a bit over an hour (I'm not sure exactly how long since I walked away for a while & it was done when I came back).

After using the new system for a few days, I'm really impressed with the speed increase over my old 800 MHz G4. I was expecting it to seem faster, but in some cases, the increase is more than the change in CPU speed would seem to warrant. My folding@home client, for instance, is running about 3.5 times faster than before. iPhoto is pretty snappy now, too - no more spinning beachballs waiting for things to happen.

The included software is the usual iMac package - iLife '04, Appleworks, Quicken 2004, Worldbook 2004, and a couple of games - Nanosaur 2 & Marble Blast Gold. Also included is a Test Drive version of Microsoft Office (I didn't try it out but I'm guessing it's the same as the one you can get from Microsoft's web site). The software is about as up-to-date as you could expect, but I did have to download about half a dozen updates the first time Software Update ran.

At first, the new design didn't appeal to me quite as much as the old flat-panel design did, but it's growing on me. I dso miss being able to adjust the screen up & down - the screen height of the new system is a little lower than I'd like, but I guess I can stick something under it.

The keyboard is slightly redesigned; the keys are less rounded off & there's not so much plastic around the edge. There are still two USB 1.1 ports, but they're on the back of the keyboard instead of the sides. The mouse is unchanged.

The ports on the back of the system are pretty much the same as the previous iMac - 2 firewire 400, 3 USB 2.0 (an improvement over the 1.1 ports on the old iMac), modem, ethernet & video. The audio connections have changed though. Where the previous system had a speaker connection and a headphone jack, the new system has only a headphone jack, since the speakers are now built in. The headphone jack also has an optical port built-in, and by using a special cable you can connect to a home theater system & get surround sound. Also, the iMac now has an audio input jack - something that was sorely missing in the previous model. The only thing missing that I'd like to see is Firewire 800.


The built-in speakers are only so-so. They don't sound bad, but the internal amp isn't as powerful as the old model (12 watts instead of 16). I find I have to turn the volume all the way up just to get a decent sound level for casual listening - you're not going to be able to rock out with these speakers. The frequency response isn't as good as the old external speakers either - there's not much low end. It's acceptable for casual listening, but if you care about audio quality (or you want the bass thumping so hard the iMac starts vibrating off the table), you'll want to spring for some external speakers (amplified, since there's only the headphone/line out).

You can tell the G5 runs warmer than the G4 - you can feel heat coming off the screen if you get real close to it - but it seems to do a good job with heat dissipation. In spite of the extra heat it's quieter than the G4 iMac, even with the folding@home client keeping the CPU working full time. The weather hasn't been very warm since I got it, though, so I can't say what it will be like in the heat of a hot summer day, but the lack of noise to date is promising.

I haven't had to crack open the case yet, but the documentation explains in detail how to open it up & replace the memory, add an Airport card & replace the internal battery. They don't mention replacing the hard disk, but it's right there out in the open, so it shouldn't be anywhere as difficult as in the G4 iMac (where considerable disassembly was required).

All in all, I'm pleased with this system. It was worth it to me to upgrade, and someone looking for their first Mac will not be disappointed at all. It's a great system for the money.