Product Reviews

Out with the old, in with the new. It's a time-honoured tradition to wipe away the cobwebs of the previous year with a fresh start, and Apple obviously thinks so too. At Macworld Expo San Francisco, on 9 January, the company announced four brand-new Power Mac G4 machines which take desktop computing to greater heights - and not just in terms of performance.

These G4s are certainly faster, but with Mac OS X already rising steadily over the horizon, the machines are also better configured for the demands ahead. They come with more memory (at last), and the kind of devices you'd expect to be sold as premium options have been integrated into the standard bundles. Fancy a CD-RW drive? Or perhaps a top-of-the-range AGP 4x graphics card? A 60Gb hard disk? Or maybe even a DVD writer with DVD authoring software? Welcome to the new professional Macs.

Speed thrills

The old line-up of 400MHz, 450MHz and 500MHz systems has been replaced in one fell swoop by four machines. The entry-level system is now fitted with a 466MHz PowerPC processor with 1Mb backside Level 2 cache. This is only 34MHz short of the previous top-end G4, albeit this time just in a single-processor configuration. Next up is a 533MHz model which comes with a 40Gb hard disk in comparison to the 466MHz G4's 30Gb drive. This machine is actually 33MHz faster than the old top-end G4, yet costs a considerable £900 less.

Then there's a significant jump up to the next model in the range, a 667MHz PowerPC machine with 256K of on-chip Level 2 cache and 1Mb backside Level 3 cache. The new top-end product runs at 733MHz with the same cache setup as the 667MHz, yet costs the same as the old 500MHz machine, even though it's considerably better specified throughout. Both these machines are fitted with 60Gb hard disks as standard. Disappointingly, though the hard disks are Ultra ATA/66 devices, rather than the Ultra ATA/100 drives which ship with most equivalent PCs.

The first example of Apple's improved spec is a more realistic approach to what counts as a minimum memory requirement. The bottom two machines in the new G4 range come with a thoroughly sensible 128Mb SDRAM, while the top two are supplied with 256Mb each. Strictly speaking, 256Mb is going to be the more appropriate minimum level if you intend running Mac OS X later this year, but even the lower spec is better than the previous standard offering of 64Mb, which was virtually useless. All four models can be upgraded to 1.5Gb.

A quick look around the back of these machines reveals the same standard spec for I/O ports across the range too. You get two 12Mbit USB ports, two 400Mbit FireWire ports, a 10/100/1000Base-T (gigabit) Ethernet port, an internal V.90 modem, and separate stereo minijack sockets for speakers and earphones. An AirPort card is supported, naturally, although not included as standard.

Interior design

The new machines are built in the same Graphite case as before, complete with the familiar hinge-down door on the right-hand side to allow access to the internal components. But there are several changes to the interior layout, not least being the improved logic board with its 133MHz bus which also supports PC133 memory DIMMs. There's a huge heatsink over the PowerPC processor and the main system unit fan blows air directly over it when the door is closed.

Next to the three DIMM slots is an improved set of expansion slots. As before, the graphics card sits in an AGP slot but this has been upgraded from 2x to 4x. Also, only the entry-level 466MHz machine comes with the old 16Mb ATI RAGE Pro card from the previous line-up; the other three are fitted with 32Mb NVIDIA GeForce2 MX graphics cards.

Next to the AGP slot lie not

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two, not three, but four 64-bit 33MHz PCI slots. All of them are free in the standard configurations, which compares well with Intel/AMD-based PCs, which offer five or six PCI slots but would immediately have to fill four with a sound card, Ethernet card, FireWire card and modem to achieve a similar specification.

As before, the CD drive is mounted at the top of the case with a free 3.5in drive bay with external access immediately below it. Two more 3.5in internal-only bays are available on the base of the unit next to the supplied hard disk.

But let's go back to that CD drive. The first three machines in the range come fitted with a CD-RW drive as standard rather than the old DVD-ROM drive. It's a Sony CRX140E device, writing to CD-R media at 8x and to CD-RW media at 4x, yet reading standard CDs at 32x. Apple deserves congratulation for recognising the massive demand for CD burning facilities, but there are a few drawbacks. First, since it's your only CD drive, you can't copy CD-to-CD in one go. Second, the Sony drive doesn't read DVDs. Third, we experienced a few problems closing the tray manually: it doesn't seem to pick up the motion until you've pushed it halfway in. Even Steve Jobs appeared to have difficulty with this during his demonstration on-stage at the product announcement.

Burning desires

When Apple decided to bundle a CD-RW drive with every new Mac, it must have realised a clean approach to burning the media was required. All that business of setting up virtual volumes and building file lists before you can write a CD is anachronistic. And, of course, it wouldn't fit in with the promised Mac OS X ethos of point-and-shoot simplicity.

What Apple has done is to write a driver for its CD-RW drives which hides the pre-burn preparation from the user. When you insert a blank CD, or a previously used multi-session CD with space available for more sessions, the disc mounts on the Desktop like any other storage device. You can then drag and drop files and folders onto the CD icon or its window; at any time you can change your mind, moving and removing files as required.

Nothing is written to the CD at this point, although it appears as if it has in the Finder. Instead, the driver keeps track in the background of what you want to copy to the disc. Only when you eject the disc does a message pop up asking if you want to burn the data. If you agree, the burning process then takes place. Obviously this isn't a complete solution to the CD-burning hassle, but it does simplify the user interface without employing driver tricks like open-ended sessions which usually render the CDs incompatible in other computers.

In the driving seat

The 733MHz G4, however, goes the whole hog with an ultimate combo device, dubbed the SuperDrive. This unit reads both CDs and DVDs, and will write to not just CD-R and CD-RW media but DVD-R as well. Apple is adding further value by bundling a new application, iDVD, with the machine, which lets you compile DVD content complete with a basic user interface using easy drag-and-drop actions. The resulting DVD-R can then be read in any other DVD drive, including domestic players attached to televisions. Apple intends to sell its own-branded DVD-R media, although UK pricing hadn't been set when we went to press (it's around $10 per disc in the US).

On that note, all four G4s include a multimedia creation software bundle comprising iMovie 2.0 and iTunes. Only the 733MHz product with SuperDrive comes with iDVD, and a professional content creator's version, DVD Studio Pro, is to be released and sold alongside Final Cut Pro at a similar price.

Snap 'em up

The 466MHz and 533MHz machines are available immediately and the 667MHz and 733MHz machines should be out before the end of February. We foresee a waiting list for the top-end model.

After the launch of more multicoloured iMacs and the famous G4 Cube last summer, and especially compared with the ultra-slimline Titanium PowerBook G4 announced this time round (Reviews: in depth, p46), a collection of four identical-looking G4 upgrades doesn't really make you want to stand up and cheer. But make no mistake, these are damn good Macs. For the professional user they're the best Macs you can buy - indeed, the best you've ever been able to buy.