PARIS, FRANCE – Attendees at Apple Expo in Paris are impressed at the look of the new iMac G5, but mixed on whether it’s the right solution for their needs. An unscientific sampling of people mainly from Europe showed the wide variety of needs and desires of Mac users.
"I like it’s look," said Edmond Berkeley of Germany. "Now I have to figure out if it’s got the features I want for the price." Mr. Berkeley echoed many sentiments about the new iMac, that features such as hard drive size, amount of memory and other additional options will be a deciding factor in which model they buy, or if they buy the iMac at all.
"I’m disappointed AirPort isn’t standard," commented Frenchman Jean Pierre Dumon. "They are such big proponents of wireless access, but then they don’t make it standard equipment. I’ll add it on, but I think it should become a standard feature."
Many people The Mac Observer spoke with in the Apple booth agreed with Mr. Dumon. The majority of people thought it should be included in the price and that the additional US$79 for an AirPort Extreme Card was a reasonable price, but not something they should have to add.
 Attendees to Paris Apple Expo, like these, liked the new iMac G5, but all thought it needed 512MB of memory, standard. (Click for a larger image) |
"I’m concerned I’ve got to add so much to equal a Windows PC or make it even equal to my existing, older iMac," said Kevin Ackart of France. "I’ve got to add more RAM because it only has 256MB. I’ve got to add a bigger hard drive. I’ve got to Add AirPort for Wi-Fi. That’s going to tack a lot on to my price. That doesn’t make me too happy. But i like the look, for sure."
But Anne-Laure Alvord of Spain thought the 20-inch, 1.8GHz iMac G5 was perfect for her with no additions. "I like it just the way it is," she said. "It’s just what I’d expect a Mac to look like with its clean lines." When asked if the applications she normally uses might need or work better with more than 256MB of RAM, she said, "Well maybe, but I feel comfortable enough to add my own memory if it comes down to that."
"I really like the 20-inch model, " said Cedric Maole of Italy. "It looks cool and is big enough in terms of hard drive space and display size. I’ll be buying one, but increasing the memory."
Of the 21 people TMO spoke with visiting the Apple booth, all agreed the new iMac G5 should come with 512MB of memory as standard. "How come Windows PCs can include 512MB of RAM, but a Mac can’t?" said Mr. Dumon. "Everyone knows the more memory you have, the better things run."
But for the most part, all attendees thought the iMac G5 was a pleasant and powerful successor to the first flat-panel iMac that will be a consumer hit with most.
"This isn’t going to be the next ‘Mac Cube’," commented Ms. Alvord, referring to the consumer Mac that was not a popular iMac alternative a number of years ago.