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IMac G5

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In August 2004, the iMac design was overhauled. By this time, the PowerPC 970 chip had been released and was being used in the Power Macintosh G5 line. Famously, the Power Macintosh G5 needed multiple fans in a large casing because of the larger heat output from the PowerPC 970. Apple's new iMac design managed to incorporate the PowerPC 970 into an all-in-one design with a distinctive form factor that echoed the Netpliance i-Opener internet appliance. The new design of the iMac used the same 17 and 20-inch widescreen LCDs, with all of the main logic board and optical drive mounted directly behind the LCD panel; this gave the appearance of a thickened desktop LCD monitor.

The iMac G5 was updated in October 2005 with a thinner design, an iSight webcam mounted above the LCD, and Apple's Front Row media interface. This version had a slightly bowed back and lacked the VESA Flat Display Mounting Interface of the earlier G5 iMacs.

[edit] Technical Specifications

  • August 31, 2004 — Apple releases an all-new iMac line, with both the LCD screen (17 or 20-inch widescreen) and computer (including power supply) contained in a 2-inch thick flat-panel housing. Its specifications include:
    • A PowerPC G5 processor at 1.6 or 1.8 GHz
    • Serial ATA hard drive (ATA in the Education Model)
    • An NVIDIA GeForce 5200 Ultra GPU
    • USB 2.0 and FireWire 400
    • 10/100BASE-T Ethernet port,
    • A V.92 modem
    • A video-out port, an analogue audio-in jack, and a combination analogue/mini-TOSLINK audio-out jack (like the one in the AirPort Express units)

The enclosure is suspended above the desk by an aluminum arm that can be replaced by a VESA mounting plate, allowing the unit to be mounted using any VESA-standard mount. Apple boasts that it is the slimmest desktop computer on the market. The iMac G5 is available in three retail models (17-inch, 1.6 GHz is M9363LL/A; 17-inch, 1.8 GHz is M9249LL/A; 20-inch, 1.8 GHz is M9250LL/A) plus one education-only model that has no optical drive, no modem, and a more modest GeForce MX4000 graphics system.

Here was the ad campaign.

  • May 3, 2005 — Apple releases "Rev. B", or the "Ambient Light Sensor" line (the name refers to a new light sensor on the bottom of the iMac that adjusts the glow intensity of the white pulsating sleep indicator light according to the ambient light). The entry model is now 17-inch, 1.8 GHz (M9843LL/A). The mid-model is 17-inch, 2.0 GHz (M9844LL/A) and the top model is 20-inch, 2.0 GHz (M9845LL/A). All models now feature 512 MiB of RAM standard; the hard drive capacity is increased to 250 GB on the top model, with an option of 400 GB. Optional upgrades now include a double-layered 8× SuperDrive. All models now feature Airport Extreme wireless, Bluetooth 2.0+EDR, and an ATI Radeon 9600 graphics chip with 128 MiB of VRAM as standard. Also the 10/100 network interface has been upgraded to 10/100/1000. All models now ship with iLife '05 and Apple's new Mac OS X v10.4 Tiger.
  • October 12, 2005 — At the "One More Thing" event, Apple released new iMac G5s (the "Rev. C", or the "iSight" line); a 17-inch display running at 1.9 GHz (MA063L/A) and 20-inch display model running at 2.1 GHz (MA064L/A) with:
    • A built-in USB 2.0 iSight camera
    • A remote control called Apple Remote
    • 512 MiB PC2-4200 (533 MHz) DDR2; expandable to 2.5 GiB total memory
    • Slot-loading 8× double-layer SuperDrive (DVD+R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
    • Mighty Mouse
    • A PCI-Express ATI Radeon X600 (Pro for the 17-inch model and XT for the 20-inch model) graphics chip with 128 MiB DDR VRAM
    • Built-in media center software called Front Row
    • Horizontal input ports rather than vertical configuration.
    • Thinner 1.5 inch (3.8 cm) flat panel housing with a curved rear housing
    • Note: the built-in V.92 modem was removed and is now offered as the optional Apple USB Modem. The USB modem is available on the Apple Store website and also in Apple retail stores.
    • In February 2006, Apple discontinued the 17-inch iMac G5 and began solely selling a 20-inch iMac G5 for US$1,499.
    • The iMac G5 was completely discontinued in March 2006.
      • 30 November 2005: The iMac G5 was declared "The Gold Standard of desktop PCs" by Walt Mossberg of the Wall Street Journal.



This article was started using a Wikipedia G5 article
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