Patrick's Soapbox

Here we have the obligatory comments on the new iMac, of which the first place I read about it was here on my blog (ok, so the first I saw of it was going to www.apple.com/imac by chance). At least before it showed up in any of the (er, 113) RSS/Atom feeds I'm currently having intravenously pumped into my system.

It's somewhat kind of what I had in mind for, I guess. It's actually really hard to get an idea of what it looks like, it being so white and all. It does have quite a big chin (as some have described it), and I can imagine some having problems with the vertical slot loading drive.

Perhaps the coolest thing of all is the possibility of using it with a VESA compatible mount, and having a floating monitor and wireless desktop. Completely wireless if you got one of the funky mounts that tucks the cord through it. Couple it with the bluetooth keyboard and mouse, airport, and airport express connected to some nice speakers around it, and you've got a pretty sweet setup.

It also includes optical out (in the same way the AirPort express does, as in a combined 3.5mm analogue/mini optical plug), which should allow those who desire to do so to watch a DVD on it. Actually I want to do that.

I'd quite like my iBook to have optical out (as then when hooking it up to the a/v switcher thing that hooks everything to the projector/speakers I need to change things on the speakers currently), but I can see that being a PowerBook only feature, at least initially. Come to think of it, that could be something that we'll see in the next refresh in November.

Obviously I would sell my soul to own one of these new iMacs, it would go nicely with the bluetooth keyboard/mouse currently sitting on my desk (mostly unused as I tend to surf/chat on the couch, and I haven't done much programming lately).

Any computer manufacturer who is willing to show their computers naked on their website also has my vote. This iMac also looks really easy to open. Of course beyond the AirPort Extreme card, and ram, there's not much you can do yourself in there.

Last of all I'm disappointed to say Apple are still shipping this with a default of only 256MB of ram. Oh god. That's so rediculous it's not funny. Realistically they shouldn't ship with less than 512.

If anyone wants to give me USD$1,603 (to get a 1.6GHz/17"/512MB/160GB HDD/AirPort/Bluetooth), you are welcome. Unfortunately this is unlikely. There are those Google ads though... :)