P ARIS, FRANCE - Despite Apple knowing consumers will make comparisons of the new iMac G5 to its Windows counterparts, the Mac maker feels its not as simple as comparing apples to oranges, because as one company executive said Wednesday, "there is no comparison."
Appleis director of worldwide product marketing told The Mac Observer, "This product is leaps and bounds over a Windows PC. Itis in a class by itself."
Tom Boger admitted that while people can compare hardware features to competitors, itis tougher for them to judge equally the software solutions bundled with the iMac.
"The iLife suite together with over a dozen more applications canit be overlooked," he said. "Compared to a Windows PC, software on a Mac works with the hardware in a total solution, and they were built that way on purpose. Other solutions on the market are not like that and we see the difference when you use an iMac."
The software bundle on the iMac G5 consists of Mac OS X version 10.3 "Panther," includes Classic environment, Mail, iChat AV, Safari, Sherlock, Address Book, QuickTime, iSync, iCal, iLife, which includes iTunes, iPhoto, iMovie, iDVD and GarageBand, AppleWorks, Quicken 2004 for Mac, World Book 2004 Edition, Nanosaur 2, Marble Blast Gold, Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac Test Drive and Apple Hardware Test.
The bundle has been tweaked with some additions and deletions from the previous flat-panel iMac. Gone is Sound Studio and returning is the popular Mac game Nanosaur 2.
Apple Faces Graphics Chip Criticism
Mr. Boger addressed criticism that the graphics processor on the iMac G5 is the same as what was on the older flat-panel iMac and not powerful enough for many game titles by saying the NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200 Ultra graphics processor is "very capable and is the right solution for gaming on a consumer iMac. Weire pleased with this solution. We think this card handles most capabilities."
When criticized for it small amount of graphics memory - 64MB - Mr. Boger defended the decision saying "hard core gamers" need to realize the G5 professional system might be a better answer for them. "If you want the pinnacle of gaming, you need to look at the Power Mac G5."
Boger: "Supply Will Be Tight"
Mr. Boger acknowledged the iMac G5 will be tough to get for the foreseeable future after it initially ships in mid-September, but that it will have nothing to do with a shortage of components.
"I canit go into specific business practices or relationships with our suppliers, but the tight supply for the iMac G5 will have nothing to do with not being able to get components, but more to do with meeting demand," he said. "Like many of our products, we have great demand. Weire flattered by that and we do everything we can to meet demand as fast as we can."
TMO reported Tuesday that Apple dealers in Europe and the US are being told that iMac G5s will be in very limited supply until late-November, early-December. Mr. Boger would not discuss availability timelines, but did not deny the dealer reports.