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iMac G5

Here I want to describe my experience with this specific type of computer. In the future it might also contain some hints or tricks for getting things to run.

The Warning

Some words of warning for all Apple lunatics before you read the following lines.

I'm not a Windows user and don't think that speed is all that matters. I have an iBook since 2001 and it works fine for me. Under Linux. Which is all I need and all I want, since it is a computer which does exactly what I want. Nothing more. Nothing less.

The one thing I want is a noiseless computer with enough power to edit, compile and run my programs, do some web-browsing (with firefox) and play some small games like nethack. The most critical part are my programs. But there, I don't want the fastest machine at my desk, e.g. I'm quite happy with the speed of my (noiseless) P3 at 1.27 GHz at home or my Dual-AthlonMP (also noiseless since not in the same room ;-) at 1.67 GHz at work.

I hope that you see where this is heading. I don't want to praise Apple just because they are Apple. And I don't want to blow Apple up since they still don't sell 10 GHz machines. So let's start.

The Machine

After some time I needed a new computer for my office and I chose the iMacG5 from Apple. The reasons for this were the nice design with a very small footprint, the large display it had (20 inch model) and the supposed low noise of the system while still delivering a decent speed for some small computations.

A week before Christmas my new toy was there. After unwrapping it, placing it on my desk and plugging in the power cord the starting bell or should I say orchestra has almost blown away my ears (how can one get rid of it anyway ?).

MacOSX booted nicely and fast as I was expecting it. And there it was: a nice and big workspace, ready to be filled up with lots of Xterminals.

The Noise

Ok. So far I was really impressed. A nice machine with a nice display (no pixel errors btw.) and all with a low noise coming from the backside of the thingy. It was as loud as my Hush where the noise comes from the harddrive. But all in all it was ok. Could be more quiet for my taste, but ok.

To get rid of the default installation I wanted to install MacOSX fresh from the DVD. So I rebooted and open the OpenFirmware (you know, the press-all-your-keys-on-the-keyboard trick [ok 4 keys :-)]). Then it began: noise. I mean Noise. No, no, no. Don't get me wrong: NOISE. The fans were at full speed and believe me, you don't want to get in a situation were your fans need to be at full speed. This machine can be loud.

But usually you have some control by the operating system and that should keep your iMac at a tolerable noise level.

After finishing the installation I started to configure a nice working environment, which consists of fvwm, lots of Xterms and an emacs. For this I installed DarwinPorts to get all the software I need. And now the first real unpleasant point came up. When really doing stuff and not just idling in the background waiting for the user to press some keys, the fans started to get louder. Not as loud as in OpenFirmware, but much too loud for my taste.

Ok, ok. This might not come up too often in a typical environment. But what this shows to me is, that the G5 was not the best choice was such a compact system. If they wanted to build a consumer product for surfing, editing and playing some music and video, a G4 would have been equally good; and wouldn't produce that much heat. The best example for this might be the Mac mini (which I didn't know of at the time I ordered the iMac).

The G5

This brings us to the next point: the processor. Everybody praises the new G5 as the best thing since sliced bread. Actually I also was hoping for a nice little CPU with a compatible speed and a small thermal footprint. I really like the G3 and the G4, or the Pentium3 and PentiumM since they are fast and can be easily cooled. I also have some experience with the bigger brother of the G5, the POWER4 processor, which proved very fast (but not as easily to cool ;-).

So we have a 1.8 GHz CPU. How does it compare with all my other systems. For now I only ran some small benchmarks (FPU based) which show, that this G5 is slightly slower than a 1.67 GHz Athlon. This was a little bit disappointing, since my fiddling with the G3 and the G4 gave my results which where comparable with an equally clocked P3 or Athlon CPU. But nevertheless, the speed is in the expected range and I have to do more benchmarks to look if this was a singular result.

Everyone who wants to slap me with official benchmark results obtained e.g. by the SPECsuite or similar software: I do not use these programs, I use my software. Therefore I'm only interested in the performance of my code.

The Verdict

OK, what do we have: a stylish computer with a large display, a CPU which is fast enough, a good operating system with a variety of easy to use software and a noise level which should keep most users happy.

So I can safely recommend this system to all people who want to do the usual stuff: browsing the web, writing some letters, listening to music, watching movies and all without the need to study hundreds of pages of manuals or to be ashamed of putting a typical beige computer case on/under the desk. That means, Apple has created a product which perfectly fits to the needs of the group it was designed for.

This also means: it was not designed for me. And only for one reason: the noise. Why couldn't Apple have stayed with the G4. It would have been almost as fast as the G5 but only produce a fraction of the heat. Furthermore, since you can put only 2 GB RAM into the iMac, you don't need 64 bit and hence the G4 would also be totally sufficient. But I presume Apple had no choice since most people think that only the G5 rules and wouldn't have accepted a system with the G4 (look at how many people scream for a PowerBook G5). Actually for the same reasons, people buy a Pentium4 and not a Pentium3 based computer, although the latter would be sufficient.

Don't get me wrong, the iMacG5 comes as nearest to my wishes as possible compared to all other computers which were available at that time and the problem which I have with it are too small to put that thing away and get back to my Hush-MiniITX system. But I would not buy this thing as my new home computer. For this, the new mini Mac seems to be the best choice. Hopefully.