Try as I might, I can’t wreck a Mac

The press and a skeptical market have lined up one flaming hoop after another to ensure that Apple always has one more thing to do before it’s taken seriously. Financial publications have finally had their epiphanies, and I hope the Mac-shy see it as a welcome wagon.

The new year has me looking back on decisions I made in 2004, and one of the most important was my choice to dump PCs with Windows and Linux and move entirely to the Mac and OS X. I had a lot of Windows to wash out of my brain and a lot to relearn from my Unix days, but everything’s getting done -- and done with Macs. Every day I learn to do things better (meaning simpler), and I like hanging with a platform that makes constant progress. Moving to the Mac is one of my all-time smartest calls.

I’d like to spotlight a couple of products that came in late in 2004: the iMac G5 and the third-generation Xserve RAID. I’ll focus on the features of each that first grabbed my attention.

I spent only about half an hour with the iMac G5, and most of that peering at its innards, so I can’t testify that it’s the world’s greatest desktop computer for business and power users. But being well-trained on the Power Mac G5 -- which is the world’s greatest desktop -- and aware of the overlap in the two systems’ designs, I expect the iMac G5 will prove comparable to other 64-bit, zero-footprint Unix RISC desktops with integrated 20-inch LCD displays. (That’s a joke, son.)

I saw the all-in-one iMac coming -- it’s so very Apple -- but when I got word that it uses a G5 CPU, I knew that Apple hadn’t taken the expected shortcut of strapping a PowerBook motherboard to the back of an LCD panel. The system’s guts occupy a very modest hump behind the display panel. Something that thin is hard to cool quietly, and PowerPC has a reputation for running hot. So the iMac G5 takes an approach that desktops can’t: It cools partly through convection. Apple cut an exhaust vent across the back of the chassis and put intakes at the bottom. The fans are multizoned -- they only cool what’s hot -- and empty through a single exhaust port in the back. iMac G5 has much to praise, but its cooling system deserves a rave.

The other development that might have breezed by you is one I’ve spent about a month with so far, Apple’s third-generation Xserve RAID 3U FC (Fibre Channel) storage solution. Xserve RAID is everything it ever was, a scary amount of storage in a value-priced box (now $13,000 for 5.6TB) that has redundant power supplies, dual independent hardware controller cards, one dedicated Ultra ATA controller for each drive, and a pair of 2Gbps Fibre Channel ports. That’s 2Gbps each way in full-duplex operation -- which, I’ve discovered, is kind of fast. And believe me, this new Xserve RAID is capable of keeping those channels stuffed.

Jumping to 400GB per drive from 250GB gifted Apple’s engineers with the faster data transfers that come from higher density (more bits per spin). I already have a test in mind: I’ll set the shielded JBL Creature woofer on top of the Xserve RAID and play the Tyrannosaurus rex chase from Jurassic Park. I’m determined to push the envelope with everything that lands in my lab.

One day I’ll tell you what similarly ridiculous things I’ve done to try to wreck my Macs, but they just won’t wreck. As long as that remains true, I’ll stay switched.