Thinest All-in-one Macintosh Ever

iMac

The latest iMac (2004) is the thinest All-in-one Macintosh ever produced by Apple.

This is also the fastest iMac ever produced by Apple since the its introduction in 1998; when Apple brought the world the candy colours Macintosh. Then it shock the world with the half-moon 360° movable LCD screen iMac. Apple later speed bumped the processor and up the size of the iMac screen to an unbelievable; for this class of computer, 20″ LCD.

Now, September 2004, Apple introduced a LCD panel with the computer built-in and a lightning speed PowerPC G5 processor that was previously only available in Apple’s top of the line desktop computers.

Aside from its quick IBM’s G5 processor, it also comes with 2 different LCD sizes (17″ and 20″ ) to choose from plus a full collection of connection ports (USB, Firewire [a.k.a. iLink, IEEE 1394]) you ever want.

iMac

  • • All systems come with 256MB of RAM with a maximum of 2GB occupying 2 SIMM slots;
  • • A choice of either a slot loading Combo (DVD-ROM/CD-RW) or Super Drive (DVD-R/CD-RW);
  • • A NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200 Ultra with 64MB, which is good enough for most graphic needs;
  • • An optical audio out so you can view your DVDs with true 5.1 Surround sound;
  • • Optional Bluetooth and WiFi built-in wireless connections.

With all this power and options starting at HKD10,300 to approximately HKD15,300, that’s a very good deal. With the built-in Bluetooth option you can take advantage of Apple’s Bluetooth keyboard and mouse, and with the built-in WiFi (802.11g/b) you will not have any wires to the iMac accept for the power cord.

If anyone wants a low cost machine this is definitely the one to consider; particular for those who do not need the convenience and portability of a notebook.

Apple Done it Again!

Apple has done it again. The latest upcoming version of Apple’s Mac OS X is even cooler than the ones before. Some of the features of Tiger remind me of Apple’s old R&D project called “Knowledge Navigator”.

One of the coolest new [functional] feature is “Dashboard”. I can just picture all the new Widgets developers will be coming out with. One reason why I think Tiger is so cool is that it has elements of what SUN Microsystems has demonstrated with their desktop User Interface project called “Looking Glass“.

Dashboard

Looking Glass is the project to develop the next version of Solaris desktop some time down the road. Since Apple is releasing these features first, you know who is copying who.

Just by looking at the latest version of Mac OS X you can see the desktop User Interface to come, and it just may arrive sooner than you think if you’re fortunate enough to be using a Macintosh.

You can check out all the other features at Apple’s Preview site.

Video Conference

Has video conferencing or Video Chat arrive at the desktop of the average home computer user?

I cannot say that I am a typical home computer user, since I enjoy technology and do my best to stay up to date with them.

Below is a picture of me (in my apartment in Hong Kong) talking to my friend (Mark) at his office in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, using Apple’s iChatAV and our Firewire iSight webcams.

iChat Screen Shot

This scene is becoming common among Mac users since Apple’s introduction of iSight and iChatAV. Now Apple’s latest version of iChatAv also allows Mac users (with .Mac accounts) to video chat with AOL users too.