August 8th, 2007

Apple leads PC design again with iMac

Posted by George Ou @ 5:50 pm

Categories: Apple, Consumer electronics, Desktop, Energy efficiency - green, Hardware, Intel, Mobile/Wireless

Tags: PC, Industry, Apple iMac, Apple Inc., Computer, George Ou

Nearly a decade after the original rainbow colored iMac that looked like the back-end of a VW Bug; Apple is changing the face of the desktop computing world with the new 20- and 24-inch iMac.  The Apple Advertisement above seems to tell the whole story and it’s a shocking comparison of why the traditional Desktop box is doomed to the niche Enthusiast and Workstation market.  If Mr. Dell and the rest of the PC industry aren’t scrambling around for ideas, they should be.

I’m not completely endorsing the iMac because of its price of $1200 to $2300 when a much more powerful computer with a 22″ monitor could be built at $800 but I cannot deny the form factor appeal of the iMac.  My only criticism of the new iMac form factor is that the keyboard and mouse weren’t wireless and rechargeable.  It also would have been REALLY cool if it used a standard Cat-5 Ethernet cable to provide up to 60 watts of 802.3at power and gigabit Ethernet using an in-line power injector though doing 802.3at PoE might be really pushing it a bit since a 20″ display already uses around 40 watts.

While I personally love to build powerful computers on a reasonable budget, I never understood why the mainstream PC market hasn’t abandoned the traditional box design since components are small enough to fit inside the LCD display or at least in an add-on module in the back of the LCD.  I’ve seen integrated designs from Sony and some others but they’ve all been very expensive and the PC industry as a whole has stuck with the ATX, MicroATX, or BTX box.

There is no reason that the PC industry as a whole can’t come up with a standardized modular MicroBTX PC box with a small PCI-Express slot that plugs in to the back of the standard 20″ to 30″ display and automatically connect the Power, DVI, USB, and Audio ports.  That in my mind would be the best of all worlds because I’m not forced to toss my monitor if I want to upgrade the computer and I get the video card of my choice.  I generally change to a new computer every two years but I will keep using the same monitor for four to six years.