A New Gold Standard for PCs
Apple's Revamped iMac
Is Cheaper and Better,
But Lacks Memory-Card Slots
November 30, 2005; Page D1
When Apple Computer launched its video iPod last month, the hype was so great that another important Apple product announcement was lost in the shuffle. The company also released that day a new, improved, and yet cheaper, version of the already excellent iMac G5, its flagship consumer desktop computer.
At the same time, Apple Computer also introduced a new software program called Front Row -- embedded in the improved iMac -- that, like Microsoft's Windows Media Center, allows users to play music and to view photos, videos and DVDs from across a room, using an included remote control.
The new iMac G5 includes an entire computer, with the processor, in a flat-panel monitor.
We've been testing this new iMac, and our verdict is that it's the gold standard of desktop PCs. To put it simply: No desktop offered by Dell or Hewlett-Packard or Sony or Gateway can match the new iMac G5's combination of power, elegance, simplicity, ease of use, built-in software, stability and security. From setup to performing the most intense tasks, it's a pleasure to use. And, contrary to common misconceptions, this Mac is competitively priced, when compared with comparably equipped midrange Windows PCs; and it handles all common Windows files, as well as the Internet and email, with aplomb.
As for Front Row, we liked it as well. Though it does less than Microsoft's very nicely designed Media Center version of Windows, Front Row is cleaner and simpler, with a much easier remote control. It could use some improvements, but, even in this first version, it enhances an already-terrific computer.
The combination of the new, improved hardware, plus Front Row, makes the iMac G5 the best consumer desktop you can buy this holiday season, period. For mainstream consumers doing typical tasks -- Web surfing, email, office productivity, photos, music, home videos, etc. -- it's the finest desktop PC on the market, at any price. Hard-core game players, stock-market day traders, serious video producers and some other niche users should look for other computers. But, for most people, the new iMac G5 is the best choice.
At first glance, the new iMac G5 looks very similar to the model it replaced. Like its forerunner, it packs an entire computer, including the very fast and powerful G5 processor, into a slender, striking, white flat-panel monitor. The guts of the computer are entirely contained behind this gorgeous, vivid 17- or 20-inch screen. People viewing the machine for the first time often mistake it for merely a monitor.
But the new model has a slightly faster processor and is even thinner and lighter than its predecessor. And it now has a high-quality built-in camera for videoconferencing and taking snapshots, formerly a $150 external option. Plus, it includes the remote control and Front Row.
Yet the top-of-the-line model, with a 20-inch screen, is now $1,699, down $100 from its predecessor. The 17-inch model is still $1,299, despite the added features.
About the only hardware feature we wish the iMac included is a set of slots for the flash memory cards used by digital cameras and other portable devices. Many Windows models now include such slots, but iMac owners will have to buy an external card reader.
The new model is 15% sleeker and 10% lighter than before. While the older iMac's shape was flat across its white rear panel, this one tapers off at the edges to give it a slightly thinner, more elegant, look. The power button, and the USB, FireWire, Ethernet and other ports, are still on the rear, though they've been rearranged.
Unlike most desktops, the iMac G5 comes with built-in Wi-Fi wireless networking, so you can use it far away from a wired Internet connection. It also includes Bluetooth wireless networking; a DVD and CD burner; 512 megabytes of memory; and Apple's new two-button mouse. The 20-inch model has a 250-gigabyte hard disk and a processor that runs at 2.1 gigahertz. The 17-inch model has a 160-gigabyte hard disk and a processor that runs at 1.9 gigahertz.
Like all Macs, the new iMac comes with Apple's excellent Tiger operating system, which hasn't yet attracted any successful viruses and has no reported spyware. Tiger already includes the key features Microsoft is promising for its next version of Windows, due in about a year. These include an integrated desktop search, parental controls and tougher security. And it comes with Apple's iLife suite of first-rate multimedia programs for managing and creating music, photos, videos and DVDs -- better than any similar software for Windows.
Apple's Front Row software program is embedded in the new iMac, which is 15% thinner than the earlier model.
The small, thin remote magnetically clings to the right edge of the computer, almost hidden from view. This remote has just six buttons, and the layout is similar to that of an iPod shuffle portable music player -- including a circular ring that doesn't scroll like that of a regular iPod. On this circle are Seek and Volume buttons, and its center is reserved for a Play/Pause button. A lone button labeled Menu is positioned below this ring.
Front Row uses the same concept introduced by Microsoft's Windows Media Center Edition three years ago -- simplifying the system's display with huge icons and large type to make your computer's media usable from across a room. Media Center is one of Microsoft's better programs, and it has been well-received by many users. Unlike Front Row, it can also play live TV from a PC with an included TV tuner and can record TV shows like a TiVo does.
Apple says it deliberately decided to leave out the TV function, which it doesn't believe many people want on a computer. In fact, many Windows Media Center models are now sold without the TV function.
After loading songs, videos and photos onto our new iMac, we sat a little ways back from the desk, aimed our remote at the Apple logo beneath our screen (where the infrared remote receiver is hidden) and started fooling around with Front Row. Pressing the remote's Menu button instantly sends your desktop view off into the distance, replacing that with Front Row's home screen, a black background and four giant icons clearly labeled Videos, Music, Photos and DVD. The remote's Seek buttons rotate the icons around the circle in either direction until the icon representing your program is in the lower, center part of the screen.
The remote also functions when you don't have Front Row open to adjust volume and skip through songs or various photo albums.
We started with Music, selecting it with the center Play/Pause button and using Seek buttons to scroll through a menu like that seen on an iPod's home menu -- Now Playing, Shuffle Songs, Playlists and so on. The Menu button worked as with iPod, sending us back one screen each time we pressed it.
Once a song was selected, its title, artist and album were displayed on the right, and a large image of the song's album art took up the left half of our iMac screen. A giant progress bar took up the lower edge of the screen.
We backed out of Music and into Videos, where we chose from a list of Movie Trailers, Movies, Music Videos, TV Shows and Video Podcasts.
The Photos section is similar to Videos. It shows a list of iPhoto content; in our case, it listed Library, Last Roll, Last 12 Months and the three albums that we had stored in Apple's photo-organizing software. Whenever one of these listed items was highlighted, the photos from that album or section were displayed in a mini slideshow on the right. Selecting the section started a full-screen slideshow.
DVD use is simple with the remote; we used its Seek buttons once again to navigate around menus in the movie "Shrek" without a problem.
We liked the remote's simplicity, but we wish Apple had included a Power button, and made it work like a scroll-wheel iPod. And Front Row itself lacks many of the functions of the iPod and iTunes software, like the ability to rate songs, to show only a song's album art or lyrics, or to accompany the music with a colorful visualization.
We liked the iMac's built-in iSight video camera and a smart little built-in application called Photo Booth that takes your picture with as many as 16 different contortions and can keep you entertained for a while.
All in all, we can heartily recommend the iMac G5.
个人电脑的楷模：新款IMac G5
当苹果公司最近为iPod视频设备的发布大作宣传时，另一个重头产品被这一片喧嚣淹没了。在推出iPod的同一天，苹果公司也推出了它的主打消费台式电脑，这款电脑是目前已被证明是性能优越的iMac G5的最新升级版本，价格更加便宜。
与此同时，苹果公司还推出一款叫Front Row的新软件程序，内置在改进了的iMac电脑中。就像微软的Windows Media Center一样，这个软件使得用户能在房间任何一个角落使用配带的遥控器来播放音乐、流览图片、播放录影或DVD。
我们测试了这款新的iMac，结论是：它称得上是台式电脑的楷模。简单来说：iMac综合了性能强大、美观简约、使用简单、内置软件、稳定安全等优点，没有任何一款戴尔(Dell)、惠普(Hewlett-Packard)、索尼(Sony)或Gateway的电脑能与之相媲美。从启动到执行复杂的工作，iMac都能带给用户愉快的使用体验。消费者普遍以为苹果电脑价格昂贵，但这款电脑并非如此，与其他配置相似、安装Windows操作系统的中档PC相比，iMac在价格上也很有竞争力。iMac能顺畅地处理所有普通的Windows文档、上网和收发邮件。
我们也很喜欢Front Row这个软件。虽然它的功能不如微软那款设计精良的Windows Media Center多，但它更清晰、更简单，遥控更容易。它需要一些改进，但即使是第一版也为这款本已非常出色的电脑增色不少了。
改进了的新硬件加上Front Row，这个组合使得iMac G5成为今年假日消费者能购买到的最好的台式电脑。对于那些使用电脑完成一些常规任务的主流消费者而言（网上冲浪、收发邮件、办公室任务、浏览图片、播放音乐、家庭录影等），这款电脑无论怎么说都是市面上最出色的台式电脑。铁杆游戏迷、股市短线交易员、专业录影制作者和其他一些有特殊要求的用户可能应该选用其他电脑，但对大多数人来说，iMac G5是最好的选择。
乍眼看去，新款的iMac G5酷似它的前一代产品。它跟旧版本一样，把整个电脑主机--包括非常快速、性能强大的G5处理器--都装在一个苗条动人的白色纯平显示器内。电脑的所有组件都藏在17英寸或20英寸显示器的后面，外观非常赏心悦目。第一次看见这款电脑的人都会误以为这只是一个显示器。
不过新款iMac的处理器比前一代更快，机身更薄、更轻。现在还带一个高质量的内置摄像头，可以用于视频会议和拍照，而以前这个摄像头是选配的，价格150美元。此外，新款iMac还有遥控器和Front Row软件。
然而，尽管增加了一些功能，但这款电脑配有20英寸显示器的最高规格机型现在售价为1699美元，比旧版便宜了100美元，17英寸的售价仍然是1299美元。
硬件方面唯一美中不足的是iMac没有闪存卡插槽，而数码相机和其他一些移动设备经常要用到闪存卡。很多Windows电脑现在都带这样的插槽，而iMac的用户则要另外购买外置的闪存卡读卡器。
新款的iMac比旧款光滑程度提高了15%，重量轻了10%。旧款iMac的白色后部都是平的，而新款的后部则向边缘逐渐变薄，整体感觉更轻盈、更优雅。电源按钮、USB、FireWire、乙太网和其他接口还是分布在后部，但位置进行了重新的安排。
iMac G5跟大多数台式机不同的地方在于其带有内置的Wi-Fi无线联网功能，可以在离有线互联网接入较远的地方使用。它还配有蓝牙无线网络功能、一个DVD刻录机和一个CD刻录机，512兆内存，另外还有苹果最新的双按键鼠标。20英寸的机型配备250G的硬盘和2.1GHz的处理器。17英寸的有160G的硬盘和1.9GHz的处理器。
跟所有其他Mac电脑一样，新的iMac使用出色的苹果Tiger操作系统，这个操作系统至今还没有被任何病毒和间谍软件攻破过。Tiger已经把微软承诺在新操作系统中实现的一些关键功能包括进来了，包括综合桌面搜索、家长控制、更高的安全性等。新版Windows操作系统会在一年后推出。此外，它还联手苹果一流的iLife系列多媒体程序，可以管理和创建音乐文件、图片、录影和DVD，比任何一款为Windows开发的同类软件都要出色。
小而薄的遥控器可以吸附在电脑的右侧，几乎看不出来。遥控器只有六个按钮，外形像iPod Shuffle便携音乐播放器，上面的圆环跟普通的iPod形状不同。寻找和音量按钮都在这个圆环上，圆环的中央是播放/暂停按钮，下方是一个单独的功能表按钮。
Front Row跟三年前微软引入的Windows Media Center Edition概念相似，即通过大图示和大字体来简化系统的显示，使得在房间的任何一个角落都能控制电脑的媒体功能。Media Center是微软最优秀的程序之一，受到众多用户的好评。加上一个电视调谐器，Media Center能在PC上播放电视节目，还能像TiVo那样把节目录下来。而这些，Front Row都办不到。
苹果称其有意不要电视的功能，因为他们觉得很多人并不需要电脑带这样的功能。事实上，很多Windows Media Center电脑出售时的确都不带电视功能。
把歌曲、录影和图片载入到新iMac上后，我们坐在离桌子远一点的地方，把遥控对准萤幕下方的苹果标识（红外线遥控接受器就藏在那里），开始随意摆弄Front Row。按下遥控的功能表按钮后，桌面上的图形立即缩小消失，取而代之的是Front Row的主屏幕，黑色背景上排列著四个清晰的大图示，分别是视频、音乐、图片和DVD。遥控的“寻找”按钮可以双方向旋转图示，直到代表你想要的程序的那个图示出现在萤幕的中下方。
即使Front Row没有打开也能使用遥控来调节音量、挑选歌曲和相册。
我们从音乐开始，先按中间的播放/暂停按钮，然后用寻找按钮来滚动浏览功能表，功能表就像iPod的主菜单一样，有现在播放、随机播放、播放列表等选项。功能表按钮的工作方式跟iPod一样，每按一次都会返回一个页面。
选中一首歌后，该曲的名称、演唱者及专辑的名字就会显示在萤幕右方，专辑的大照片占据了萤幕左半边。萤幕下方边缘上是一个很醒目的播放进度显示条。
我们退出音乐功能，进入视频功能，就可以在电影预告片、电影、音乐电视、电视剧和视频播客（Video Podcast）中挑选。
图片部分跟视频的操作相似，它显示一个iPhoto内容清单。在我们的测试中，它显示了Library、Last Roll、Last 12 Months和我们存在苹果相片管理软件上的三个图片集。当列表中的一项被选中加亮时，该相册或部分的图片就会以小幻灯片的形式在右方显示出来。选中这个部分后，就可以全屏观看了。
使用遥控来播放DVD非常简单。我们再次用寻找按钮在功能表中搜索，很顺利地找到了《怪物史瑞克》(Shrek)。
遥控操作简单，是我们喜欢的，但我们希望苹果公司能加进一个电源按钮，并让它像iPod那样滚动操作。Front Row缺乏很多iPod和iTunes的软件功能，例如给歌曲排序、只显示歌曲的专辑封面或歌词，或是给音乐配上多彩的视觉效果等。
我们也喜欢iMac的内置iSight视频摄像头和一个叫“Photo Booth”的、灵活的内置小程序，有多达16种的变形拍照方式，能让你玩上一阵。
总而言之，我们诚意推荐iMac G5。
