7-19-00
At the Macworld NY Expo Apple introduced its latest round of iMacs. This represents the 6th revision to the iMac line in two years. Using the lettering scheme adopted by many ("iMac Rev. A", "iMac Rev. B" etc.) early on to circumvent the naming confusion generated by Apple's naming strategy, this would make the latest round of iMacs the "Rev. F." Of course, referring to the latest iMacs as the "Rev. F" series is unsound marketing and just begs for abusive headlines, "Apple Report Card - The iMac Gets An 'F'!" or other catchy witticisms. How do the new iMacs rate and compare with those that came before? read on to find out.

What's New: The first 4 revisions of the iMac (A-D) offered only one configuration. With the 5th revision, the original slot loading iMacs, Apple broke with this tradition and offered 3 different configurations, the iMac, iMac DV and iMac DV "Special Edition." The latest round of iMacs offers four models to choose from, the new low end $799 iMac G3/350, a $999 iMac DV G3/400, $1,299 iMac DV+ G3/450 and $1,499 iMac DV "Special Edition" G3/500. All of the new iMacs will come with Apple's new Pro mouse and keyboard. The new oval mouse features an optical sensor for smooth tracking and low maintenance. The mouse is also conspicuously missing a button, instead the whole mouse pivots to activate the "click." The level of sensitivity can be adjusted to suit most users' style. The keyboard sports a full 108 keys and uses the popular extended layout. Keys for volume adjustment and a disk eject button add to the functionality of the keyboard.

The most impressive of the new lineup, in my opinion, is the new low end iMac G3/350 with its record setting (for Apple) low price. To compete with bargain basement PC offerings, Apple has dropped the price on this entry level iMac by removing some features the new computer user may not need, namely: FireWire, the AirPort slot and the VGA connector for hooking up an external monitor. Lacking FireWire, the iMac also ships without the new iMovie 2 software found on the other machines. These omissions are not likely to be missed by the new user and I expect the $799 price point will lure in users that might have found $999 a little hard to chew. The entry level iMac is available in a new rich deep blue color dubbed "indigo" by Apple.

The remaining iMac lineup include all of the omitted features listed above and are more alike than they are different.

The four factors that distinguish the remaining models are:

• Color choice - For the new round of iMacs, Apple has come up with some new, less cartoonish, colors. New colors, in addition to the deep Indigo color mentioned above, include: Ruby, a more moody reflective version of Strawberry; Sage, probably so named because a PC knockoff already swiped the name Emerald; and Snow, a milky, semi-translucent white. The DV comes in Indigo and Ruby, the DV+ Indigo Ruby and Sage and the DV Special Edition in Graphite and Snow
• RAM - All models have Apple's new base standard of 64MB with the exception of the Special Edition which sports a comfortable 128MB.
• Hard drive space - All Ultra ATA, the DV sports 10GB, the DV+ 20GB and the DV special Edition a "whopping" 30GB.
• Optical media - The DV comes with a slot loading 24x CD-ROM, the remaining two models with 4x DVD-ROM drives. The DVD-ROM drives read CD's at 24x of course.

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Refer to our specs chart below for a side by side comparison of all four models.

What's Not: While there were the usual tired rumors of 17" and/or flat panel screens floating around the web in the weeks leading up to the expo, none of these panned out. The new iMacs share a lot in common with the previous generation. They are still convection cooled eliminating the need for a fan and making them operate at a whisper.

They also have the Harman Kardon Odyssey audio system for improved sound quality over earlier models. The system is designed to work in tandem with the $99 iSub, also from Harman/Kardon. All of the DV models can take the AirPort, card for wireless communication at up to 11Mbps, and also have a 56k V.90 modem & 10/100 BaseT Ethernet for land based communication.

The new models continue to use ATI's RAGE 128 graphics cards (although the "Rev. E" iMacs used a "RAGE 128 VR" variant and the current lineup uses "RAGE 128 Pro)." The card has 8MB of SDRAM, which by gaming standards is on the light side.

All of the DV models also include a VGA connector for hooking up external monitor. Both CD-ROM and DVD-ROM drives use the slick slot loading mechanism.

ADB, SCSI and serial ports have been banished forever and won't be found on the newest iMacs of course. All models have dual independent USB ports with a 12Mbps maximum throughput on each. The DV models include dual FireWire connections for transfer rates up to 400Mbps.

As mentioned above, all DV models come bundled with iMovie 2 software.

Below we provide you with a table comparing the specs of the current iMac lineup as well as the entire past iMac line. Be sure to post your comments on our discussion board below!