This is mostly another moan at Apple, but first a quick gloat: I am now the proud owner of a 17" iMac G5. Gloat over. It had a point, which I shall get to shortly. Firstly you need to know that I also own an iSight, bought back in June, which I’ve happily been mounting on my iBook. OK maybe I’m still gloating, but here’s the point.
I can’t mount my iSight onto my iMac. Well I could, sort of, if I used the adhesive mount which came with the iSight, but I don’t want to stick anything to my nice new hardware (even if Apple do their best to assure us the sticky stuff is reusable and leaves no mark). Anyhow, Apple have solved the problem by creating a neat magnetic mount for the iSight, designed specifically for the new iMacs and Cinema Displays.
These magnetic mounts now come as standard with iSights, but they didn’t come with mine (it being more than a few months old). And stupidly you can’t buy the mounts separately. Sure I could fork out yet another 25 quid on the iSight Accessory Kit which includes the magnetic mount as well as all the other mounts and leads I already have. (Yeah I know 25 pales into insignificance compared to combined cost of the other hardware I’ve mentioned, but after buying that lot do you really think I’ve got another 25 quid lying around?)
So here’s the rub. Does anyone have a magnetic mount they are happy to sell or swap? Or maybe you fancy the iSight Accessory Kit but don’t need the magnetic mount? Unlikely I know, but heh, if you don’t ask you don’t get.
Update. I’m pleased to announce success in my quest. Andrew in Savanah, GA happily swapped his G5 mount for my G4 mount. Thanks Andrew!
Ortwin Zillgen wrote:
suppose, the magnetic ones will be in short supply. Those I know, like me, need the magnetic ones :-)
bruce wrote:
i think macmice.com sells a stand for the isight … a much better solution than physically sticking it to your Mac … that way you can move it around for best angle and lighting, and not mess up your beautiful new G5.
neilio wrote:
I would just buy the accessory kit. It’s much, much cheaper than buying any of the other options available for mounting your iSight, and the implementation on the iMac G5 is just brilliant.
There is a single spot right in the middle of the top edge of the screen that the iSight will stick to. No other spot is magnetic, which makes adding the iSight to your iMac idiot-proof.
It sucks to have to buy the kit, but that’s how it goes, I guess.
Ashley Aitken wrote:
Is there a magnetic mount now for Aluminium PowerBooks?
The one I saw in the Apple Store for PowerBooks looked rather complex (with feet and screw clamps etc).
A simple (plastic cased) magnetic mount seems ideal to me. Easier to setup, less parts, etc.
Of course, it would need to be different than the magnetic mount for the Apple displays.
Cheers,
Ashley.
gb wrote:
I have one of those macmice iSight stands. It’s a tad underwhemling (for 30–40 $USD), but it get the job done… just don’t try to adjust it to some weird angle, or it’ll tip over. Plus, odd angles (I had it poking out from the side of my monitor) lower the stability so if you hit your desk hard enough, the camera starts bobbing up and down, nauseating your chat partner to no end…
shawna wrote:
After Christmas I will come back here and gloat with you! Only I wil have a 3 inch bigger gloat. mhuh-huh-huh…
Various and Sundry wrote:
I suspect someone with an extra mount will post an offer to send it to you – that would be nice.
For myself, I purchased the SightFlext iSight stand from macmice.com – it’s a terrific product, and priced similar to Apple’s iSight accessories kit.
Brian McTavish wrote:
Er, BluTak?
macdrew wrote:
what you do is peal off the plastic covering the sticky mount, but PUT IT BACK ON covering 3/4 of the sticky stuff… Thus you have 1/4 exposed that holds the iSight Mount. It still sticks rather well, but you can pull it off later and not have to fight it much.
Not sure why you commented on Apple providing the magnetic mount for older iSights, Apple wouldn’t do that in a million years. An extra part number for this special case? Noooo way!
Enjoy your G5 iMac, I have one too and love it…
Nick Lazar wrote:
I was just reading through everyones comments about the iMac G5, and felt compelled to share my iMac experience. Haven’t got a spare magnetic mount I’m afraid, but I did want to comment on the lack of extended desktop capability on the iMac.
I recently purchased the 20” version, and asked two different areas in Apple if I could use extended desktop across two monitors. They both told me “Yes, no problem”. I placed the order.
As I’m fairly new to the Mac world, I believed them. As you can imagine I was somewhat underwhelmed when after the 4 weeks of waiting for it, and the excitement of setting it all up, NO EXTENDED DESKTOP! Suddenly I have a redundant 19” Sony LCD!
For those of you that may have had a similar experience, there is a solution (kind of). I found it at this web site http://www.macworld.com/weblogs/editors/2004/10/imacscreenspanning
The only thing is, it may negate the warranty. With this in mind I went back to Apple, and managed to get an e-mail from them stating it won’t void the warranty, but I would have to remove the program if there was a monitor problem.
I have now installed the program, (about a 5 minute job), and iit works a treat! It’s taken a number of weeks to get the appropriate e-mail from Apple, but persistent nagging paid off!
I felt compelled to share this, as I think Apple have made a major mistake turning this feature off in the iMac. If others feel the same way, I encourage them to harass Apple about it, and maybe they’ll listen to their customers and change it. (Stranger things have happened you know).
Cheers,
Nick. (QLD, Australia)
Rich wrote:
Nick – interesting to hear that the iMac doesn’t have monitor spanning. Neither does the iBook but, in a similar way, there is a perfectly reliable (in my 6 months experience) workaround.
And just to clarify for macdrew’s benefit – I don’t have an old iSight (it hasn’t changed it the last few months). I merely require a new mount for a new machine. I can only buy said mount bundled in with a bunch of other stuff that I already have cos it all comes with an iSight anyway. That’s my beef.
Tom wrote:
You should just call up apple and moan about the fact that you havent gone one, or nip down to the local apple store and raid there bits box.
Or you could get some sort of magnet and then just stick the stickypad thing from the iSight to the magnet rarther then the sexy new iMac?
Rich wrote:
Tom – I tried the ‘local’ Apple store (the only one in Europe, remember) and at first they insisted that the magnetic mount came with the iSight anyway and I should already have one.
After I managed to convince them otherwise, they went out back and failed to find an iSight Accessory Kit, let alone a spare magnetic mount knocking around.
As you say, I’m on the hunt for a suitably sized magnet to attach to one of my existing stands. In the meantime I’ve done as macdrew suggested and partially stuck on my existing stand. Seems to work OK for the time being.