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Any Port in a Storm (6/13/98)
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Concerning the iMac-- we had been intrigued to hear reports of a video-out port on the back of some of the prototype models that have been making the rounds on the users' group circuit. While being able to connect an external monitor to a machine that has a 15" screen built in may seem both excessive and bizarre, such a possibility could serve certain obscure purposes. However, we imagine that very few people in the iMac's target audience of first-time buyers and low-end users would ever want or need such a feature, so leaving the video-out port in place on production models would likely only drive up the price. That's why we're not terribly disappointed to hear Mac the Knife declare that the mysterious pre-production video-out port is pure "skunkworks," and will not make it into the stores.
On the other hand, that whole question got us thinking about the whole "built-in monitor" issue. While the initial iMac has no PCI slots, we fully expect future models to include at least one. Probably the single most popular type of add-on PCI card in the consumer market would be a 3D gaming card. Unfortunately, even if you could plug a Voodoo card into the iMac, there would be no way to plug the monitor back into the card. (This is also a problem with the PowerMac G3 All-in-one, which does have PCI slots, but has no way to direct a video card's output to its integrated monitor.)
So this is us just thinking a little about the future: What if Apple could engineer a couple of video ports into its integrated-display Macs? One is a video-out port that intercepts the video signal when something is plugged into it; that can be plugged into a 3D accelerator card, or even an external monitor. The other allows the attachment of a standard monitor cable to the internal display; this turns the built-in monitor into a standard 15" display, which you can plug into a 3D card, a standard graphics card, or even a whole other computer. We have no clue if this functionality could be added without sending costs into the stratosphere, but it's an idea for iMac 2: Son of iMac, or whatever. Not being able to turn the iMac into a serious gaming machine can only hurt its chances of success in the home market.
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And Now For A Word From Our Sponsors |
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 | | The above scene was taken from the 6/13/98 episode: June 13, 1998: Just because the video-out port spotted on some of the prototype iMacs is going away, that doesn't mean that Apple shouldn't consider bringing it back for the sequel. Meanwhile, back in the labs, mad geniuses graft eight more bits onto the exhumed remains of Apple's freshly-deceased Icon Garden, and FireWire promises to change the future forever...
Other scenes from that episode: 771: The Digital Prometheus (6/13/98) Speaking of sequels, remember when we told you that Apple's famous Icon Garden had been dismantled? According to sources at Mac OS Rumors, it's not dead forever; Apple has apparently spirited the tired, battered remnants of the Garden's 8-bit carcass back into the labs, where mad scientists are hard at work infusing the icons with new life and new colors... 772: Fire in the Hole (6/13/98) If you're anything like us, you've been hearing about FireWire for years now, and you still aren't exactly sure what it is. We always knew it was a peripheral interface like SCSI but only faster, but beyond that, we just didn't much care (probably in no small part because SCSI is everywhere, and FireWire is still breaking ground)...
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