iMac 2002: Redefining the desktop

Apple’s shiny new iMac shares only its name with its famous lozenge-shaped predecessor.

The recently launched second-generation consumer desktop is a study in simplicity, computing power, styling and innovation. Instead of the all-in-one shape, iMac 2002 consists of a floating 15-inch flat screen monitor joined to a 10-inch half-dome by an articulated chrome neck.

This is unlike any computer anyone has seen before. Inside it rest a fast G4 800MHz processor, a CD burner or DVD/CD Burner combo drive, a choice of 40 or 60 GB hard drives and an abundant selection of connectivity ports and really useful software hinged on the platform’s OS X operating system.

Before its TIME

As with most Apple new product launches, the release of iMac 2002 at this month’s MacWorld San Francisco event generated a lot of buzz from the scores of Mac faithful starved for new products. These heightened expectations were fueled by Apple itself which hyped the event with slogans on its website on a daily basis leading to the MacWorld event.

Apple’s apparent marketing hubris worked against them when TIME Canada inadvertently leaked the existence of the iMac a day before the actual announcement, exposing an exclusive deal between Apple and TIME and infuriating not only competing media outfits but also erstwhile Apple fanatics who thought the new iMac failed to live up to the hype generated by Apple as well as by the Macintosh rumor sites that abound on the Internet.

It seems that, aside from the iMac, many expected Apple to introduce either a PDA successor to the discontinued Newton handheld computer or an updated G5 processor for the high-end PowerMac desktops. What they got instead was an odd-looking but innovative new iMac, a digital photo application called iPhoto and a new addition to the iBook line with a 14-inch screen.

The iMac 2002, however, is an innovation whose sleekness, processing power and functionality dispel the notion that desktop PCs need to be cumbersome, space-hogging monstrosities, and that’s just on the aesthetic side of this new machine.

The fountainhead

With one bold stroke, Apple, through the new iMac, has banished CRT monitors from the future; it has re-engineered a PC’s internals to fit into an area slightly bigger than a mouse pad, and by integrating iPhoto, iTunes, iMovie2 and iDVD software for free, it has simplified digital multimedia creation and authoring.

Each new iMac can edit, produce and publish digital photos, MP3 or CD audio, digital video movies and on the high-end, even DVD movies out of the box. To be able to do all this from a single machine and still surf the Net and run applications is truly revolutionary. No other computer company can offer the hardware and software in a singular package; certainly, the new iMac stands on its own. At least until wannabe manufacturers follow suit.

Great package, but at what price?

iMac 2002 may look and perform unlike any consumer desktop in the market. It has the desirability factor as well as a good mix of form and function. Most of the necessary applications are bundled with the hardware and this makes it possible for users to make the most out of the machine the moment they unpack it. No need for new users to look for external monitors, speaker systems and CD burners since these essentials are all integrated into the system.

Three variants will be available here by the end of the month. The top-of-the-line model with a DVD-burner/CD-RW drive plus 60GB hard drive space, will be priced at P113,988. A midrange model with a DVD-ROM/CD-RW and 40GB hard drive goes for P97,988. The entry level machine with a CD-RW and less onboard RAM rings to the tune of P85,988.

The Apple advantage

The new iMac has clearly become the hub of Apple’s new strategy – to move the computer from a basic business and productivity tool to something nobler. A brain for the digital lifestyle, where computers interact with digital cameras, PDAs, MP3 players and digital video cameras. This is evident in the software applications it has produced of late. iPhoto simplifies image editing and integrates digicams into Macs almost seamlessly. There’s iTunes, a digital jukebox that organizes up to thousands of MP3s and burns them into audio CDs. With Apple’s iPod MP3 player, a card-sized device that can hold 1,000 songs, the boundaries of mobile music have been pushed even further.

Apple also created iMovie, which can edit digital movies easily and even export them to the Web, and iDVD which allows users to burn their own DVD movies. All this is possible because Apple makes the Mac hardware and the operating system and as it has shown time and again, it makes excellent software programs. Many are guessing that more standalone devices are to follow; the idea of Apple-branded digital cameras, PDAs and portable digital movie devices are not too remote.

Apple has also opened up numerous brand stores in US malls, seemingly reinforcing the idea that the company sees itself competing in the consumer lifestyle market as well as in the PC market.

Should Apple continue to create quality products such as the new iMac, which fuses industrial design with technical innovation, giving users a chance to do more, its place in the future as an innovator should be secure.