[icruise]

After a lot of soul searching, I decided to cancel my MacBook Pro order and get an iMac from Amazon. It just arrived this afternoon and I've been playing with it since then.

Given that I was going from Panther to Tiger and from a PPC PowerBook to an Intel iMac, I first thought that it would be a good idea to start fresh and reinstall everything. But that turned out to be a pretty daunting task. I'm rather busy at the moment and I don't really have time to worry about getting my working environment back the way I want it. So I used the Migration Assistant. I've had no real problems so far, so I think I made the right decision.

My first impression was that the iMac was smaller than I had expected. That's both good and bad. It's remarkably thin (I've seen thicker LCD monitors) but the screen also seems pretty small standing next to my 23" Cinema Display. Especially with the large "chin" section beneath the screen. Of course, the main reason I eventually decided to get the smaller model was that I had the Cinema Display, and would be using the iMac's screen only as a secondary display. The screen looks nice, though, and seems comparable in quality and brightness to the Cinema Display. It's a big difference from the dimness of my 12" PowerBook. And it also lines up well with the Cinema Display -- the top of the iMac is about even with the top of the Cinema Display. I'll try to get some pictures soon.

It's pretty fast. Not "OMFG I can't believe it!" fast, but a nice overall improvement from my 1.33 Ghz PowerBook G4. Safari is definitely snappier. Preview is very fast. Windows resize in real-time. I tried out the new Intel version of Handbrake for converting DVDs for my iPod and I was very impressed. It's easily 5x faster than what I was getting on my PowerBook. I'm encoding h.264 video (320 x 240 resolution at 250kbps) and I'm getting around 50-60fps. I've seen over 70fps when I was just letting Handbrake encode without doing anything else on the computer. That's amazing, although it may have something to do with the DVD I'm using (Family Guy episodes). Animation seems to encode faster, I've found. I'm going to do some trials against my PowerBook and my AMD desktop. I have a feeling the iMac will beat them both.

As for Rosetta, it seems to work pretty well. Microsoft Office applications don't seem much different from my PowerBook, although I noticed Word took a bit longer to start up and seemed a tad less responsive, but it's definitely usable. Jamming, my dictionary software, seems to work at the same speed as on my old computer. In short, I haven't had any problems with it yet. At worst, it seems like things will be about the same as they were on my old computer, and I can live with that until new versions come out.

I did notice quite a bit of lag when using Front Row, though. I'm not sure if it's because of my large iTunes and iPhoto libraries or what, but it's surprisingly slow to respond. I upped the RAM to 1GB, so I don't think that's it.

So far, I've found that my Brother printer works fine, as does my Griffin AirClick USB remote. The Griffin PowerMate relies on a preference panel, though, and doesn't work. I'm using the new Intel-compatible version of USB Overdrive for my Logitech mouse (I hate the Logitech software). My external hard drives work as expected. My Canon LiDE-30 scanner scans into Photoshop 7 using ScanGear CS 7.0.1x, just as it did before. I still have to see if my Photo Printer will work, and I need to try installing the drivers for my Macally keyboard. But so far, it looks like the transition will be pretty much painless.

I'll be adding to this thread in the next few days as I try more things.

[michaelb]

Thanks for the review. I agree with everything you say, especially the small relative size.

Interesting that you've canceled a MacBook Pro order to get it. I too figured that the 17" iMac Core Duo represented excellent value for money.

Like you, I also have a 23" cinema display, so we must have a similar setup. Most of the time the 23" is plugged into a PM G5 though, which sits under the desk:



I'll probably get a MacBook when...

a) there is a 12" model (I really like the small form factor of the current 12" PB)
b) the price is $1499.

Until then, the iMac is a fine way to enter the world of Intel.

Keep posting your findings!

[harrisjamieh]

I got my 17" yesterday, and after using an iMac G5 for about a week before sending it back, this is VERY fast. iLife apps load very fast, and as you said, safari, quicktime and preview run SO quick!

My only gripe is this: Although the G5 was slightly louder in normal operation, it has a very quiet hard drive. The hard drive in this intel is pretty loud when loading stuff, especially when starting up. Also my boot times are at about 35-40 secs, odd when I hear people gettin 20 secs, though I guess more RAM will help that.

Also one tiny thing that ever so slightly bothers me, when the iMac goes to sleep, you hear a tiny 'beep' sound as it turns itself off. Reminds me of my old pentium 4!

But overall, im loving this thing - I was copying my songs from my iPod to itunes (6 gig). copying files from my iBook via firewire (4 gig), and burning a DVD, and I virtually felt no slowdown! It was still pretty fast, everything opened fine!

[Bwa]

My iMac Intel seems fairly fast, though it gets bogged down due to lack of RAM easily. I'm waiting for another 512 MB from Ramjet.

Offtopic: michaelb, I love your Apple speakers there. I lusted for those (but never bought them or the 2nd rev that came after them) back in the early 90s.

[RepeRuutikallo]

The tiny "beep" means that you have a Maxtor hard disk...

[harrisjamieh]

Originally Posted by RepeRuutikallo

The tiny "beep" means that you have a Maxtor hard disk...

No, because my hard drive is a Seagate ST3160023AS Drive. Damn you Seagate for making a noisy drive!! (not only the beep but general HD noises too)

[Simon]

That tiny 'beep' in my PowerBook comes from the SuperDrive. Compared to that, the Fujitsu HDD is silent.

[harrisjamieh]

Originally Posted by Simon

That tiny 'beep' in my PowerBook comes from the SuperDrive. Compared to that, the Fujitsu HDD is silent.

Oh right, well my superdrive is actually pretty quiet for a slot loader - much quieter than what was in my G5 iMac. In fact i think the superdrive and HDD are simliar in noise level.

[icruise]

A few more random jottings:

This machine is incredibly quiet. In fact, I can't tell that it makes any noise at all.

iTunes used to sputter when I tried to play videos on my PowerBook (it would always pause for a couple of seconds when a video started playing), but no such problems with the iMac. Dashboard appears smoothly unless the system is really being taxed by something.

I did some more tests of h.264 video encoding for the iPod. I encoded the same episode of "Are You Being Served?" on the iMac and my Shuttle PC, which has a 3200+ AMD Athlon processor and 1GB of ram. I used the Intel version of Handbrake on the Mac and Videora iPod Convertor on the Shuttle. I ripped the episode to the hard disk so as to avoid differences in optical drives. The episode was 29 minutes 37 seconds long, and I used the same settings as I did before (320 x 240 resolution, 250kbps). I used two-pass encoding and the iMac averaged around 69 fps, taking about 10 minutes per pass (20 minutes total). The Shuttle (which I had been using for video conversion up until this point because it seemed so much faster than my PowerBook) took a little under 17 minutes per pass (around 33 minutes total). Videora iPod convertor doesn't display fps, so I'm not sure what it was, but from these times, it looks like the iMac is about 1.7 times as fast as the Shuttle when it comes to this kind of video conversion.

I didn't do a full test on my PowerBook (a 1.33 Ghz 12" model with 1.25GB of RAM), but I did let Handbrake work on it for a few minutes directly from the DVD, and it averaged around 16fps, and it would have taken around 45 minutes per pass (90 minutes total). This means that the iMac is about 4.5 times faster than my PowerBook at video conversion. I'm not sure how much of a difference ripping the episode to the hard disk would have made. That's promising news for prospective MacBook Pro owners, because my iMac model is essentially identical to the higher-end MacBook Pro.

[harrisjamieh]

Icurise, can you hear the hard drive in your intel iMac, and if so/if not, what hard drive is it, like what size (im assuming if its a 160 gig it will be the same model as mine...), and also what make. I'm still very happy with the imac, its just the HD noises are slightly irritating, im sure i will get usd to it but still....

[codex57]

You have a iMac Core Duo with a 160HD? Maybe it's different in different parts of the world. Here in America, I had the option of 250 or 500. I didn't get a 160 option.

[powerbook911]

Originally Posted by codex57

You have a iMac Core Duo with a 160HD? Maybe it's different in different parts of the world. Here in America, I had the option of 250 or 500. I didn't get a 160 option.

You must have got the 20-inch iMac?

The 17-inch comes standard with 160 GB hard drive, but the 20-inch iMac comes with a minimum 250 GB.

[jjlannoo]

Originally Posted by codex57

You have a iMac Core Duo with a 160HD? Maybe it's different in different parts of the world. Here in America, I had the option of 250 or 500. I didn't get a 160 option.

He bought a 17" inch. They come with 160GB standard

[icruise]

Yeah, I really can't hear any noise coming from the machine, whether it be fans or the hard disk. My hard disk is the standard 160GB, and it's apparently a Western Digital WDC WD1600JS-40NGB2.

[harrisjamieh]

Oh right, mines a Seagate drive, so I guess they will behave differently. Just my luck to get the seagate over the WD

[codex57]

Originally Posted by jjlannoo

He bought a 17" inch. They come with 160GB standard

ahhh. That's good. I feel a little better since I paid so much more than he did.

[icruise]

I've found a couple of other things that don't work. My Macally keyboard needs a driver for its volume control and eject keys to work, but it apparently doesn't work on the Intel Macs. And I can't get my Canon CP-200 photo printer to work. I'll be using it on another computer for a while.

Here is a picture of my setup. There are a couple more in this Flickr set

[eddiecatflap]

wow

that is amazing !!!!

[thefunkymunky]

Icruise. You mention that your Canon scanner works with your new iMac. Is that via Rosetta. I am trying to determine if my Epson 1640SU will work with drivers running under Rosetta as Epson don't seem to have UB drivers available yet.

[icruise]

thefunkymonkey - Yes, the scanner works under Rosetta. I don't know too much about the details, though. I just used the Migration Assistant to move my programs and settings from my PowerBook and it worked. I'm not positive how the drivers would work if installed fresh.

[LagunaSol]

Originally Posted by Icruise

Here is a picture of my setup.

What brand is the G5-ish external drive enclosure?

I currently have a G4 dual 867 with 4 internal hard drives. When I switch to a new Intel iMac, I'm going to need at least one external drive. Any recommendations on enclosures? I'd prefer one with a USB/Firewire hub, to minimize the cabling running to the iMac. I've been looking at the MiniStack and MiniMax...

[icruise]

That's a G-Drive. It's pretty nice and has a good design that matches the PowerBooks and G5s. The only thing I don't like is that it spins down after inactivity and take 3-4 seconds to spin back up. My other drive doesn't do that. But it might extend the life of the drive, I don't know.

http://www.g-technology.com/Products/G-DRIVE.cfm

[mdubreuil]

I'm itching for an imac intel. I would like to use the second monitor in a portrait mode (i would buy a Dell with pivot capability) . Is it possible with the IntelMac?

[mduell]

Originally Posted by mdubreuil

I'm itching for an imac intel. I would like to use the second monitor in a portrait mode (i would buy a Dell with pivot capability) . Is it possible with the IntelMac?

Since the Intel iMacs have ATi graphics, I believe the OS X video driver supports rotation.

[mjames]

Here's mine: http://web.mac.com/mnjames/iWeb/Site/Computers.html





The 20" cinema is lower than the 20" iMac, which bugs me. (Yes, I since switched the displays so it's easier to load CDs in the iMac.)

I also cancelled two different MacBook Pro orders for the iMac. I could get the 20" for cheaper with a much faster CPU (1.67 vs. 2 ghz) and more importantly, I'm using my Powerbook almost daily still almost exclusively as a portable advice for reading newsfeeds, etc. So I feel like I'm still getting use out of the PB and using it as it was intended, rather than like before when it rarely left the desk. The iMac frees it up to be mobile, and I have no regrets!

[mjames]

(Dupe, sorry!)

[macintologist]

Originally Posted by Icruise

That's a G-Drive. It's pretty nice and has a good design that matches the PowerBooks and G5s. The only thing I don't like is that it spins down after inactivity and take 3-4 seconds to spin back up. My other drive doesn't do that. But it might extend the life of the drive, I don't know.

http://www.g-technology.com/Products/G-DRIVE.cfm

Go to the Energy preference pane, there should be an option to turn off hard disk spin-down.

[PeterKG]

How do you hook up a Cinema Display to an iMac? Which port on the Mac is used?

Thanks!

[mduell]

Originally Posted by PeterKG

How do you hook up a Cinema Display to an iMac? Which port on the Mac is used?

The Mini-DVI port, via an adapter for DVI.

[icruise]

Originally Posted by macintologist

Go to the Energy preference pane, there should be an option to turn off hard disk spin-down.

There is, but I don't think it affects what I'm talking about. I have another firewire drive that I use at the same time as the other, with the same settings, and it doesn't take so long to turn back on (there's no noticeable lag). But in any case, I leave my machine on all the time, so I do want my drives to spin down. It's no big deal. Just something I noticed.

[PeterKG]

Originally Posted by mduell

The Mini-DVI port, via an adapter for DVI.

Thanks Mark! I forgot about that port.