Optical DVD drives. 20 inch flat panel iMac computers.

[dsaklad@zurich.csail.mit.]

a.
What were the choices of optical DVD drives when we were ordering this 20 inch flat panel iMac apple computer?...

It's the iMac with a dome shaped base, silvery arm and 20 inch flat panel display. It kind of looks like a giant white mushroom or kind of like a white desk lamp.

b.
What are superdrives exactly?...

[Brad]

Moving to Purchasing Advice...

The "SuperDrive" is basically Apple's fancy name for a DVD/CD burner.

Apple hasn't sold the dome-shaped iMac G4 for years. Where are you seeing that available for purchase? Is this what you're talking about?

http://apple-history.com/images/models/imac_17.jpg

[Dorian Gray]

Did those ever come with 20-inch screens, Brad (or anyone)?

Be careful this isn't a scam of some kind.

[jdcfsu]

Did those ever come with 20-inch screens, Brad (or anyone)?

Be careful this isn't a scam of some kind.
Yeah, per MacTracker it was released in November 2003 and discontinued in July 2004 in anticipation of the G5 iMac.

[Fahrenheit]

Did those ever come with 20-inch screens, Brad (or anyone)?

Be careful this isn't a scam of some kind.
Yep they did. They are actually quite rare, and hold their value surprisingly well. From a magazine editor (or similar) point of view, the design was ideal, hence they are still used in this industry over the new models.

[Robo]

Yep, the final revision of the iMac G4 (1.0/1.25 GHz) was eventually available with a 20" screen.

The iMac G4 is my favorite of the iMacs. I'd love for Apple to return to the design, but they won't.

Incidentally, some people don't think the 20" model looks very good (from a purely aesthetic point of view) because the screen dwarfs the base, making it seem top-heavy. I'm not sure which model looks the best - it's not like I've ever seen them all lined up or anything.

[Fahrenheit]

http://www.2ndchancepc.co.uk/images/g4-imac.jpg
Well there is the 15 and the 17. I think 17 is perfect aesthetically, but 20 inches of real estate sure is useful.

[digitalprimate]

The iMac G4 is my favorite of the iMacs. I'd love for Apple to return to the design, but they won't.

Incidentally, some people don't think the 20" model looks very good (from a purely aesthetic point of view) because the screen dwarfs the base, making it seem top-heavy. I'm not sure which model looks the best - it's not like I've ever seen them all lined up or anything.
I agree wholeheartedly.

It's a very chique design.

*sniffs nostalgically*

[Is it 1981?]

The 20" does indeed feel nice having all that extra real-estate on the display - but the screen itself is considerably thicker than on the 17" and required more of a push to move around (if I remember) so it does indeed feel quite top-heavy.

The original 15" display was slightly different, in the sense that the white bezel had a textured feel to it, and not the glossy texture of the transparent frame. 15" felt a bit poky though.

[dsaklad@zurich.csail.mit.]

A couple years ago we got the iMac with a dome shaped base, silvery arm and 20 inch flat panel display. It kind of looks like a giant white mushroom or kind of like a white desk lamp.

a.
At that time when it was the current iMac what were the choices of optical DVD drives when we were configuring this 20 inch flat panel iMac apple computer?... there were 2 or 3 different optical DVD drives available at that time.

b.
What are superdrives exactly?...

[PB PM]

A. I believe there would have been three options, CD, Combo Drive (CD-RW and DVD usability ) and Super Drive, DVD drive with the ability to burn DVDs.

B. As noted above, a SuperDrive is Apple's name for a DVD drive with the ability to burn DVDs.

[dsaklad@zurich.csail.mit.]

> Apple hasn't sold the dome-shaped iMac G4 for years. Where are you seeing that available for purchase? Is this what you're talking about?
>

We got 20 inch flat panel iMac apple comuter back then when it was available at store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore/

The question is what optical drive configurations were offered at that time?...

[dsaklad@zurich.csail.mit.]

>
> A. I believe there would have been three options, CD, Combo Drive (CD-RW and DVD usability ) and Super Drive, DVD drive with the ability to burn DVDs.
>

Thank you !

c.
Back then how exactly, in what terms were the drives described on the sales offer at store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore/

In the system profiler, there's...
- - - - - quote - - - - -
ATA Device Tree
ATA-3 Bus
SONY DVD RW DW-U10A
ATA-6 Bus
ST3160023A
Macintosh HD

ATA-3 Bus:

SONY DVD RW DW-U10A:

Manufacturer: SONY
Model: SONY DVD RW DW-U10A
Revision: A43i
Serial Number:
Drive Type: CD-RW/DVD-RW
Disc Burning: Apple Supported/Shipped
Removable Media: Yes
Detachable Drive: No
Protocol: ATAPI
Unit Number: 0
Socket Type: Internal

ATA-6 Bus:

Vendor ID: 0x106b
Device ID: 0x003b
Revision ID: 0x0000

ST3160023A:

Capacity: 149.05 GB
Model: ST3160023A
Revision: 3.06
Serial Number:
Removable Media: No
Detachable Drive: No
BSD Name: disk0
Protocol: ATA
Unit Number: 0
Socket Type: Internal
OS9 Drivers: No

Macintosh HD:

Capacity: 148.92 GB
Available: 143.07 GB
Writable: Yes
File System: Journaled HFS+
BSD Name: disk0s3
Mount Point: /
- - - - - quoted - - - - -

d.
Any ideas what all of that means?...

[Fahrenheit]

Which part. Yes it burns DVD's. You have a 150GB HD of which you have used very little

[Dorian Gray]

The fact that it burns DVDs means that you have the SuperDrive equipped model (you seemed to want to know exactly what drive model, so note the spelling of SuperDrive). The hard disk you have is actually labelled 160 GB, but like all hard disks the usable space is a few GBs less because of naming conventions and formatting technicalities.

Sounds like a very nice computer!