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Leon's Getting LARGER (5/24/98)
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Hey, it's just an iMac kinda day, hmmm? More on the new consumer Mac's expandability, or lack thereof: there's one feature that we haven't seen mentioned in any of the lists of the iMac's specs. According to Mac the Knife, the iMac will have a "proprietary expansion slot," for which Apple is reportedly considering building a FireWire card. (The USB ports are dandy for most expansion uses, but they aren't quite speedy enough for connecting fast hard drives or things like that.)
Hmmm, an iMac expansion slot fast enough for FireWire? That's an interesting possibility. While we would consider it incredibly unlikely that anyone would actually create, say, 3D accelerator cards that will only work in the iMac, it's not inconceivable for someone to make a PCI expansion chassis that would plug into this proprietary slot. That clears the path for iMac owners who might want to buy a video capture card, or anything like that. Could be neat.
By the way, the Knife says that whether or not the FireWire card gets released depends on whether more FireWire peripherals become available. Our personal take on the whole thing is that Apple's isn't considering FireWire for the iMac at all-- such a high-speed and professional-level interface doesn't seem to fit in with the iMac's consumer market roots. Still, we like the idea of this rumored iMac expansion slot: it may be proprietary, but it's something.
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SceneLink (734)
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And Now For A Word From Our Sponsors |
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 | | The above scene was taken from the 5/24/98 episode: May 24, 1998: In today's all-iMac episode, we lament the lack of light-up computers issuing forth from Cupertino. Meanwhile, Apple plans to push the iMac at next week's E3, despite what may be a limitation on its ability to play serious games, and rumors of a proprietary expansion slot in Apple's funky blue home machine just might open some doors...
Other scenes from that episode: 732: Dancing In The Dark (5/24/98) Apple's Summer User Group Road Tour has gotten off the ground (despite the fact that summer doesn't officially start for another month yet) with a presentation at Washington Apple Pi. There's a great write-up of the event over at Macs Only!, which paints a picture of excitement, optimism, and jubilation that stands in stark contrast to the mood surrounding Apple users a year ago... 733: Fun and Games, Mostly (5/24/98) Speaking of those "bigger" problems with the iMac, it'll be interesting to see if Apple will address any of them at the Electronic Entertainment Expo next week-- and if so, how. E3, some of you may know, is the largest show for video and computer games and related fun stuff; Apple, and Apple products, haven't had much of a presence at the show in recent years, much to the chagrin of those of us who know that the real key to expanding a platform into the consumer market is to get some serious game support on that platform...
Or view the entire episode as originally broadcast... | |  |
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