Apple iMac G5

The price is right… but is the spec high enough?

If you’re a designer and you want a computer that looks good and performs well, how about the new generation iMac G5? Apple’s new entry-level desktop now offers the awesome power of IBM’s G5 chip contained in a neat package that looks no bigger than a standard flat-panel monitor.

On the face of it the G5 iMac looks perfect for the aspiring designer – muscle and power in one affordable package. True enough, the new iMac does seem to offer a lot for your money with prices starting at £919, and it’s certainly competitive with a PC once you deduct the cost of a decent LCD screen. But there’s a definite shortfall when it comes to the basic specification. For Photoshop work and for running most other creative applications you’re going to need extra memory.

All the iMac models – that’s both the 17 and 20-inch variants – come with a miserly 256MB of RAM. That’s barely enough to get Apple’s OS X operating system out of bed. What this really means is that you have to factor in another £150 to bring the specification up to 1GB of RAM – the lowest feasible amount of internal memory for creative work.

Next up there’s the hard drive. Those large Photoshop files or movies soon soak up storage space and expanding the single hard drive built into the iMac will set you back another £140. Finally there’s Bluetooth and wireless to consider – neither are built in so that’s another £35 and £59 if you want to use Apple’s wireless features, as shown in every iMac ad. So, what started out as a cheap and cheerful entry-level workstation could cost you an extra £400 – that’s about the same price as a G5 Power Mac and a reasonable LCD screen, a far more flexible and expandable work combination.

However, there’s a chance that you are looking for a basic computer that lets you send email and surf the web with minimum fuss while keeping your family photos in some sort of order. If that’s all you demand from your computer then the iMac does have a lot going for it. The all-in-one design takes up very little space and you can even slide the Apple keyboard under the screen for when you’re reading or using more conventional media.