Quick With The Photocopier? (9/9/04)
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Viewers with enough long-term memory left to remember the late '90s may recall a steady march of iMac copycat systems emerging from many a Wintel manufacturer's R&D department (also known as "that guy with an Apple brochure and a Xerox machine"). Who could forget those heady days when iMac trade dress lawsuits flowed like hot and cold running water? But it was over a year after the iMac made its first public appearance before the first ill-conceived clones started to show up, so if you're wondering what sort of "homages" to the iMac G5 design the Wintellians will come up with, you may be waiting a while to find out.

Or will you? Because even though the iMac G5 was only unveiled less than two weeks ago, faithful viewer David Poves spotted a CNET article about something interesting on the show floor at, of all things, the Intel Developer Forum: an "all-in-one PC with a striking new design built around a white flat-screen monitor"-- a 17-inch widescreen LCD, in fact, perched on a curved "foot." Sound familiar? No, Apple didn't unveil the iMac P4; sorry, Mac OS X-on-Intel conspiracy theorists. This is a completely separate Wintel all-in-one system made by a Korean company called Lluon, who shipped the unit to Intel "several weeks" ago, so "it's definitely not a quick copy of Apple Computer's latest creation." Still, the resemblance is striking, at least in a broad sense, so apparently Apple and Lluon had a Newton-Leibniz parallel-discovery kinda thing going on.

Of course, if you dig a little deeper and find pictures other than CNET's you'll discover that the resemblance isn't all that uncanny after all; take, for example, the photos of the Lluon device posted to the Cult of Mac blog, as forwarded by faithful viewer Small Paul. The thing is still vaguely iMacish from the front, but that rear view-- yikes. There's, like, things hanging off of it or something, and the sheer bulk of that stand throws the aspect ratio of the display all off-kilter. Usually, as the oh-so-deep-and-complex people we are, we try not to place too great an emphasis on looks, but if we woke up handcuffed to this thing, we'd definitely consider gnawing through our own wrists just to get free.

More importantly, though, you can get a sense of how different the two designs really are; while both the iMac G5 and the Lluon system pack the computer behind a 17-inch widescreen LCD display, Apple built everything into the display housing itself, whereas the Lluon's innards are actually in that stand-thingy to which the screen is attached, which makes it look bulky and awkward. Also, in the CNET picture, we think you can see the Lluon's power adapter on the table behind it; Apple built the power supply right into the screen, which is obviously far more elegant than having that generic black plastic brick hanging off the back.

By the way, did we mention that from several angles, the Lluon is soul-killingly ugly? Because that's a pretty significant difference right there.

Anyway, we bring it up not only because it's an interesting coincidence, but also because it illustrates just how good Apple is at this stuff. Some people are complaining that the iMac G5's industrial design is too "blah" and that "anyone could have come up with an all-in-one design that packs the system's innards behind the screen." And maybe there's a grain or six of truth to the latter assertion, as the Lluon certainly seems to indicate. But we thought you should see what happens when your average Wintel designer tries to cobble together a product that obviously sprang from the same premise as the iMac G5. After studying the Lluon for a while, go take another look at the iMac; sure, it may not be as iconic or as original as the original Bondi Blue wonder, but we think you'll have a newfound appreciation for just how impressive a machine it really is.

Oh, and don't worry; the Lluon will only be sold in Korea, so you probably won't ever encounter one in person. If you do, though, shield your eyes and run.

 
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The above scene was taken from the 9/9/04 episode:

September 9, 2004: RealNetworks ends its half-price music sale and crows about stealing market share from the iTunes Music Store (until next week, anyway). Meanwhile, the iMac G5's long-lost evil twin surfaces at the Intel Developer Forum, and word on the street is that iMacs won't be quite as plentiful in "mid-September" as Apple had once hoped...

Other scenes from that episode:

  • 4909: A Real "Success," They Say (9/9/04)   Remember when RealNetworks decided to wage war on the iTunes Music Store by lowering song prices at its Rhapsody service to just 49 cents, and offering albums for only $4.99? Well, here's hoping you didn't sell your Mac, buy a Wintel, migrate all your data, repurchase all your apps, and pay a few thousand dollars for a total frontal tastectomy to make the transition bearable in hopes of making all that cash back on Windows-only Rhapsody song purchases, because faithful viewer Ken Drake informs us that, as reported by the Associated Press, Real's "limited time" half-price scheme has just ended...

  • 4911: Prepare For A Shock, Folks (9/9/04)   Speaking of the iMac G5, given that delays have plagued each and every single G5-based product that Apple has rolled out since the chip first surfaced last year, is anyone going to keel over in shock if they hear that Apple's hot new consumer desktop might not be available quite as early as the company originally indicated?...

Or view the entire episode as originally broadcast...

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