How Bad Is The iMac???
Ok so my family is going to get an iMac? Should I get a G5 or Intel Core Duo? I'm leaning towards the Intel Core Duo, because the whole G5 era is soon to be obsolete. The thing is I'm noticing negativity surrounding the Core Duo. One guy said he owns both, and his intel runs slow, while his wifes iMac g5 goes basically right when you click something (internet etc.). I hear the whole Rosetta is a RAM killer, and just some other negative things:
"It froze repeatedly and was constantly closing programs without notice."
"I bought the computer for my mother thinking that the simplicity and ease of use would be the perfect thing. She began using Quicken 2006 and within 2 weeks the harddrive completely crashed. Lost all information for all of our accounts. Apple Service came out to replace it, and the new drive is incredibly loud/vibrates too much. Not only that they didnt put the computer back together right so a cd is stuck in the rom drive. The computer is also having all kinds of driver issues at this point. I thought that macs werent supposed to crash? if ur using this mac, back up your important files it might not work tomorow."
"Super slow. Cannot do what windows do. OS is basically a Linux with better developped user interface." <THATS BS
These are all about the Intel Core Duo. Everyone pretty much praises the iMac G5. The thing is it will be obsolete soon. Can anyone give me some positive feedback. And does rosetta always run, and can you turn it off? If someone can answer these questions, and maybe comment on the stuff people are saying etc. That would be awesome, because i dont want to get one and then have problems, expecially since I praise Apple,and it would suck if it would go "PC" on me.
"It froze repeatedly and was constantly closing programs without notice."
"I bought the computer for my mother thinking that the simplicity and ease of use would be the perfect thing. She began using Quicken 2006 and within 2 weeks the harddrive completely crashed. Lost all information for all of our accounts. Apple Service came out to replace it, and the new drive is incredibly loud/vibrates too much. Not only that they didnt put the computer back together right so a cd is stuck in the rom drive. The computer is also having all kinds of driver issues at this point. I thought that macs werent supposed to crash? if ur using this mac, back up your important files it might not work tomorow."
"Super slow. Cannot do what windows do. OS is basically a Linux with better developped user interface." <THATS BS
These are all about the Intel Core Duo. Everyone pretty much praises the iMac G5. The thing is it will be obsolete soon. Can anyone give me some positive feedback. And does rosetta always run, and can you turn it off? If someone can answer these questions, and maybe comment on the stuff people are saying etc. That would be awesome, because i dont want to get one and then have problems, expecially since I praise Apple,and it would suck if it would go "PC" on me.
Comments
In a year or two when more apps are universal and the speeds are up, then I will be ready. While that may not be much help to you, I wouldn't worry about getting a G5.
Originally posted by MacsRbetterthanPC
yes but would you not recommend a Intel Core Duo? Because we are gonna have this for probably 3-4 years....but i will branch off the family computer and have my own, but anywase.
You might want to post where those anecdotes came from. By the tone of them and the factual inaccuracies in the descriptions, I doubt they are real-life stories.
- The first quote uses the dead Windows fanboi giveaway "closing programs". Mac users say "quitting apps", not "closing programs". That is a Windroid speaking.
- The guy that supposedly had a hard drive crash didn't back up his financial data. What a moron. And there is no such thing as "Apple Service coming out."
- The clueless third comment couldn't be from a Mac owner, as he thinks OS X is based on Linux. This is a dead giveaway (almost as reliable as "MAC") for a Windows fanboi. An illiterate Windows fanboi at that ("developped").
What's the link to these comments?
If I were gonna buy one (I've already got a G5 iMac that I expect to last another couple years), I'd go for the CoreDuo ... use Rosetta for now, but within a year you'll have mostly native apps running (I'll bet MOST of what you'd use is native already)... and things will be running quite smoothly.
Naturally, the Intel machine is the future and will have a longer shelf-life at this point than the G5.
If you're gonna buy a computer, you might as well by the most up-to-date machine you can afford.
does rosetta run only when you are using an ap that isnt universal or intel ready? or does it just always run?
Originally posted by MacsRbetterthanPC
ya those were all Cnet.com reviews so...thanks though it helped...
does rosetta run only when you are using an ap that isnt universal or intel ready? or does it just always run?
When Launch Services is asked to launch an app, if the app is PPC then Launch Services launches Rosetta which in turn reads in the app and executes it.
So Rosetta is only "running" when a PPC app is running. Since a pure PPC app like PhotoShop cannot run directly on the Intel, it is actually Rosetta which is running and reading Photoshop's code, translating it to x86, and then executing it.
but..if i were buying an iMac today i would get the Intel and equip it with 1gb or more straight out of the box. why? well b/c the universal's run faster natively than they will on the G5 and the forthcoming improvements over the next couple of years while universal binary will likely be more geared toward intel (at least that's my guess). beyond that, there's the future resell value for your parents when the windows bootability comes to town.
so, i'd go intel.
Originally posted by lundy
- The first quote uses the dead Windows fanboi giveaway "closing programs". Mac users say "quitting apps", not "closing programs". That is a Windroid speaking.
[/B]
Hey, I say "closing programs."
Originally posted by Guartho
Hey, I say "closing programs."
Don't you know by now that is a Thought Crime! 1984 isn't like 1984, it's turning into 2006! One World, One Truth, One Processor, One Language. What's all this Duo stuff????
Originally posted by Guartho
Hey, I say "closing programs."
Well, don't do that.
You run the risk of being turned away from all the clandestine Mac User Geek Orgies. Our bouncer has a list of pass phrases to test your authenticity at the door.
Originally posted by MacsRbetterthanPC
[B]"Super slow. Cannot do what windows do. OS is basically a Linux with better developped user interface."/B]
You know, I though about this for a little and I can't really see how that's a bad thing.
Of course, OS X is architecturally much different than Linux (other than the fact that they are both POSIX compliant). But both are pretty robust, low-latency operating systems that work well on personal computers.
I use a 3D program, Carrara, which is NOT native and I have no complaints. Rendering, it is about the speed of a dual processor G4/800. User interface-wise, it uses OpenGL and the OpenGL seems to be VERY fast to me. Yes, I'm sure it would be faster if it were native, but it is plenty usable as it is.
I've downloaded the demos of a few games that are not native and they all run at acceptable speeds (to me).
For mundane tasks like web browsing, writing letters, etc. machines from 5 years ago were plenty fast. Going through Rosetta, I would say that most apps perform at the level of a couple year old G4. Not uber-speedy, but plenty usable.
I currently have a few drivers, preference panes, and Safari plugins that I'm waiting to be ported to Universal Binaries (hello Kensington!). But I recognize that I'm still on the bleeding edge of the Mac world and likely will be for the next 6 months or so. I'm willing to wait for developers to catch up.
The new iMac is VERY quiet, even when the processors are at full usage, the fan is quiet; my external hard drives make more noise.
I do have a few complaints, but these apply to the iMac form and not the Intel version. You can't alter the height of the screen. The cables on the keyboard and mouse are too short.
If the iMac form factor is right for you, and you don't have any software that _HAS_ to run as fast as possible (in which case you'd be buying a G5 Quad, not an iMac), then I think the new iMac is a fine machine. As you say, the G5 iMac will get nothing but slower, and the Intel iMac will get nothing but faster.
- Jasen.
And as stated earlier, with the introduction of more universal binaries, it will keep getting faster. Everything I need at the moment is universal binary already so the choice of the Intel iMac was easy.
the native apps run great on the intel iMac. i don't normally notice rosetta, and the performance of word and appleworks is mostly acceptable. however, i have noticed that when opening multiple docs in rosetta (such as appleworks/excel spreadsheets) and cutting and pasting back and forth, things start slowing down significantly. its a little frustrating. i'd consider moving to iWorks if there was a spreadsheet app. but as far as i know, there's not a universal spreadsheet app for the intel iMac. that's a problem.
also, i've been having some problems syncing my nano. haven't really had time to resolve them, so i don't know how significant they are.
and i do miss the g4 form factor for a lot of reasons. i'm not crazy about inserting the cd in the side of the machine (i like the tray better than the slot-loadingdrive). i loved the ability to swivel the screen. it was just a more dramatic improvement from the g3.
Originally posted by MacsRbetterthanPC
Ok so my family is going to get an iMac? Should I get a G5 or Intel Core Duo? I'm leaning towards the Intel Core Duo, because the whole G5 era is soon to be obsolete. The thing is I'm noticing negativity surrounding the Core Duo. One guy said he owns both, and his intel runs slow, while his wifes iMac g5 goes basically right when you click something (internet etc.). I hear the whole Rosetta is a RAM killer, and just some other negative things:
"It froze repeatedly and was constantly closing programs without notice."
"I bought the computer for my mother thinking that the simplicity and ease of use would be the perfect thing. She began using Quicken 2006 and within 2 weeks the harddrive completely crashed. Lost all information for all of our accounts. Apple Service came out to replace it, and the new drive is incredibly loud/vibrates too much. Not only that they didnt put the computer back together right so a cd is stuck in the rom drive. The computer is also having all kinds of driver issues at this point. I thought that macs werent supposed to crash? if ur using this mac, back up your important files it might not work tomorow."
"Super slow. Cannot do what windows do. OS is basically a Linux with better developped user interface." <THATS BS
These are all about the Intel Core Duo. Everyone pretty much praises the iMac G5. The thing is it will be obsolete soon. Can anyone give me some positive feedback. And does rosetta always run, and can you turn it off? If someone can answer these questions, and maybe comment on the stuff people are saying etc. That would be awesome, because i dont want to get one and then have problems, expecially since I praise Apple,and it would suck if it would go "PC" on me.
Do yourself a favor and buy this incredible iMac & save $200 @ it..!
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...Fencoding=UTF8
But if the 23" comes out before you buy... you know what to do..!
Get an iMac !