WWJD 2: Design the new G5 iMac entries

The deadline to enter our WWJD 2 contest (where we asked you to send in your best guess for what the new iMac might look like or what other crazy new Apple products might get announced at the upcoming Apple Expo in Paris) came and went this past Wednesday and we got a ton of great entries. We'll be announcing a winner sometime on Monday, but before we mak e a decision we wanted to post up all of the concept images for the new G5 iMac right now to give our readers a chance to weigh in (and if we missed somebody's let us know!).

Matt Galligan:

My concept art for the G5 iMac is attached. Gathering all of the info from all the rumors, i pieced together what i thought it would look like. Similar to the Cinema Displays, but thicker, coming in white, with multiple color-changing LED options. 1.6 and 1.8GHz G5s with 17" and 20" widescreen models. 3 Levels. Educational level with no optical drive, 1.6Ghz G5 and 256MBs DDR Ram. Low level with 1.6GHz G5 and Combo Drive. High End model with 1.8GHz G5 and Superdrive.

Maki Yamaji:

No doubt the new g5 imac will have: oh-so-cool-brushed-extruded-steel-chassis-with-perforated-sides, with a super-wide-LCD with a really-minimal-sexy-frame on a bendy-neck, with wireless *everything* as standard.

Paul Scates:

I can't imagine, after Jobs going on and on two years ago about the "glomming the guts onto the back" that they'd ever do that. So what I did was turn the "guts compartment" around 90-degrees, perpendicular to the display. Everything but the optical drive is mounted vertically, up in that "shark fin".

This was drawn in Adobe Illustrator, using the brushes and gradient mesh...two things I've never messed with. But I love the result. Keeping with Jobs' statement in January 2002, this allows each element to be "true to itself": an LCD that is as flat/thin as possible AND a horizontally-mounted optical drive in front. Also, taking a cue from the G5, there are easily accessible USB, FireWire and headphone ports on the front. In this age of iPods, digital cameras, USB flash drives, etc. having to reach around the side or back of your desktop Mac is really evil, cruel punishment.

For more permanently-connected devices, you'll find your usual array of ports lined up along the back (Ethernet, FireWire, USB, modem, audio, etc.).

Oh, I almost forgot: the display uses the same "cylnder pivot" design as the new aluminum Cinema Displays for up-and-down tilt. BUT this design takes it a step further by housing that pivot on an independent sideways-swivel cam. So you do get a nice 5" up-and-down tilt AND a fairly generous side-to-side sweeping swivel for the display.

Anyway, this is my contribution to the contest! It's glossy white and has the same look, texture, gloss and graceful swoops as the JBL Creature II subwoofer.

Mikhail Fedoseev:

Peter Roman:

My guess: Apple will learn from their mistake and return to a colorful iMac line-up, this time going with the same anodized aluminum colors found on the iPod mini. Considering how well the original colored iMacs sold and how well the new iPod mini is selling, this makes a heck of a lot of sense to me.

The guts, as widely rumored, will probably be stuffed into a similar enclosure as the gorgeous new Cinema Displays, but a bit thicker. 23" display to start as it can still be powered by a non-$600 dollar GPU. I'd imagine the Superdrive to be a slot-loading dealie on the side. It'll have to keep with a single, lower-end G5 to deal with the heat. Airport Extreme and Bluetooth ready.

Sergio Sarinana:

Here is what I think the iMac G5 might look like. Also, I think that Apple might introduce a wireless iPod dock, a tablet computer, or the iPod mini 2.

Mike Eggleston:

Here is what my prediction is going to be. It seems very un-imaginative, however it does follow what Apple has been trying to do, make their machines simple to use, easy to look at, and aesthetically sexy. This qualifies as all three. Apple has even said that wouldn't it be nice if you just looked at the monitor, and you forgot about everything else about it?

Michael Hayes:

This is a product concept I did for a studio class during my Junior year of my Industrial Design degree. We started the studio in the spring of 2002, just four days after the flat panel iMac was
introduced. I thought I would enter my concept of what I thought the next generation iMac would be. Although it's not along the lines of what we're all pretty sure the new iMac will look like, it's a well thought out concept of improvement on the current iMac design and therefore valid for consideration.

Scott Shim:

A second entry from Paul Scates:

A simple italicized "L" profile, with the guts mounted in the rear "foot" and the screen tilt back-and-forward on a hidden pivot seam. Also, maybe there's a subtle "lazy susan" disk on the bottom, allowing for easy side-to-side swivel? That, combined with the displays back-to-front tilt provides the screen mobility?

Ports could either be on side (as in the jellybean iMac and eMac OR in the rear, more hidden from view? Slot loading drive in front, with USB, FireWire and headphone jack
easily accessible from front.

Saleh Ameri:

Lee Martin:

• New form factor very similar to new Power Mac displays: small box behind large box of display. Same aluminum look, but not necessarily really all aluminum, to save on costs.

• Front will include speakers.

• Power switch on side of display (like Power Mac display's).

• Slot load optical drive on upper right side.

• Convenience ports on lower left side (Firewire 400, USB 2, Headphone)

• Power supply to be external brick to lighten weight of the computer/display unit.

• Stand similar to Power Mac display's but wider and heavier to compensate for increased weight of the unit. Will have similar cable pass through hole to hide cables coming from iMac behind the stand. Same single hinge design (good-bye to the G4's pivoting arm).

• Back box will house the mother board and ports. All ports will face downward. Vent slots on top and bottom will provide convection cooling, or if the G5 runs too hot, perhaps a fan will be located in the back.

• White Apple logo on bottom center below LCD screen. Will light up when power is on and pulse when asleep.

• High-end 20 inch model will include Bluetooth keyboard and mouse, where other models this will be optional.

Kevin Corrigan: