David Coursey has weighed in with his opinions on Apple’s new iMac G5. Mr. Coursey is a one-time critic of the Mac who Switched back to the platform two years ago. In his newest column at eWeek, Mr. Coursey offers a mostly positive view of the new iMac, though he also has a couple of criticisms. From his column:
The pricing for the new models is OK, but nothing to write home about. The low-end model, starting at $1,299, quickly became an $1,800 model by the time I added memory, more hard drive space, wireless networking and a Bluetooth keyboard. This is a good value, I think, but most Windows users will see it as an expensive, underpowered machine.
The underpowered part isn’t true; it’s just that Mac gigahertz and Windows gigahertz don’t mean the same thing. […] In actual performance, the Mac does just fine, but you have to see this in person or trust reviewers for it to make sense.
One of the negatives Mr. Coursey talks about is the fact that Apple’s iMac imagery for the iMac includes no chords connecting the keyboard, which isn’t possible with the default configuration for each model. From the piece:
Looking at Apple’s glamour photography of the new machine, you might catch yourself ooohing and aaahing before asking an important question: Where are the keyboard and mouse? They don’t appear in many of Apple’s marketing materials, and I’ve yet to find a picture that includes the standard keyboard and mouse, along with the wires that attach them to the computer.
Bluetooth is not a standard part of these machines, so Apple’s cordless keyboard and mouse aren’t, either. […] If Apple is going to play these tricks, at least one of the easy-to-find pics should show this handsome computer with ugly wires dangling from it.
There’s more in the full article, including the suggestion that Apple might have tailored the new design to be more business-friendly.
The Mac Observer Spin:
Mr. Coursey raises an interesting point about the wires. This is most likely an issue of Apple taking advantage of a Bluetooth option to make its imagery look as good as possible. While only Apple is likely to be tagged for such a little white lie, this is because the company’s imagery can be so effective in the first place. It simply gets more attention than any new computer from Dell, Gateway, HP, etc. would.
That said, this is a mostly positive first look at the iMac G5, and we hope it finds its way into the hands of some Windows-using iPod owners. We particularly appreciate him taking a moment to point out the issues in comparing MHz to MHz.