The Radiologist's Computer... A Macintosh Perspective

Gregory L. Katzman, MD, MA has reported no financial interest, arrangement or affiliation with a commercial organization that may have a direct or indirect influence in the subject matter of this presentation.

This article pertains only to 2004 G5 computers.

The computers included in this article are the iMac, iBook, PowerMac, and PowerBook. We will not discuss older Macs because their architecture is very different.

Internet Basics

• Macs have built-in Ethernet connectivity on motherboard
  • LAN
  • Router connection at home
  • No separate Ethernet card needed!
• Also have built-in USB capability
  • Quick modem (and peripheral) connections
  • No separate USB card needed!
• For wireless connectivity: Need an “Airport”

AirPort

• Similar to the base station of a cordless phone, the AirPort base:
  • Uses a physical connection to access the Internet or an Ethernet
  • Provides wireless connections to communicate with up to 50 Mac or Windows AirPort-enabled computers
• Requires an AirPort card installed in each computer

Airport Facts

• Transfers data at speeds up to 54 megabits per second
• Handles 50 simultaneous users
• Transmits through walls (unlike infrared network products)
• Reaches to 150 feet
• Prices:
  • Base $199
  • Card $99

Processors

• G5 processor
  • Architected by Apple and IBM
  • 64-bit G5 processor
  • Allows processor to address up to 18 billion billion bytes of virtual memory (18 exabytes)
  • Two unidirectional 32-bit data paths: one traveling into processor & one traveling out
  • Frontside bus works at speeds up to 1GHz, up to 200 MHz faster than latest Intel chipset
• All PowerMac G5 models are available with dual processors
• Mac OS X and the G5 fully support symmetric multiprocessing, which lets multiple applications run independently on different processors or a single multithreaded application perform multiple tasks simultaneously

CD-ROM/DVD Drives

• All models have internal CDR/RW drives
• “SuperDrive” is an option
  • Has the ability to handle both CDR/RW and DVDR formats

Memory

• Not all that different from Wintel machines
  • Buy in RAM modules
• Slots are easily accessible
  • Towers have doors that simply unlatch
  • Has won numerous design awards
• 256MB or 512MB of RAM standard
• Scalable to 8GB

Storage

• G5 has two Serial ATA har drive bays for up to 500GB
• Does NOT have a floppy drive!
  • Must add external drive if needed
• Optional Xserve RAID up to 3.5TB

Monitors

• No longer uses a special “Macintosh” connector!
• Standard VGA connection allows you to use any monitor
• Can get graphics capability to support 2 Apple Cinema 23” (or any) monitors

Graphics Cards

• Standard configurations for the Power Mac G5 come with the NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200 Ultra or ATI Radeon 9600 Pro, both with 64MB of video SDRAM
• Optional ATI Radeon 9800 Pro, an AGP Pro card with 3D graphics accelerator with 128 MB DDR SDRAM frame buffer

Video Cards

• Existing graphics cards are robust enough to drive video
  • Video cards exist for professionals
  • Small demand
• iMovie software comes standard

Video Manipulation with iMovie

• Online video manipulation tutorials show how to:
  • Transfer to DVD
  • Transfer to video tape
  • Release on the internet

Sound cards

• Built-in 16 bit sound output and microphone input
• Yields CD quality sound
• Basic audio manipulation software standard
• Aftermarket sound cards have not had a high demand

Speakers

• Apple Pro speakers from Harman Kardon
• Surround sound options:
  • The Logitech Z-680 5.1 THX Speakers $299
  • Klipsch ProMedia GMX D-5.1 Speakers $249

Ports

• USB 2.0
• FireWire
  • 400
  • 800
• Ethernet
• Audio Ports
• Optical Ports
• Wireless Connectivity

• FireWire
  • All Power Mac G5 systems have one FireWire 400 port on the front and one on the back
  • Also one next-generation FireWire 800port on the back
• USB
  • Two USB 1.1 ports on the keyboard
  • Three USB 2.0 ports, one on the front and two on the back

Port Speed Comparison Chart

Keyboard and Mouse

• USB keyboard and mouse
• Apple Pro keyboard
  • 109 keys
  • Cursor keys
  • 15 programmable function keys
  • CD/DVD eject button
• Apple Pro mouse
  • Optical: no rollers or mouseballs
  • Entire mouse is a pressure sensitive button
  • Shape accommodates left- and right-handed people

Operating System

• One choice: OS X "Panther"
• As of January 2003, Macs no longer booted with OS 9
• OS X will continue to run OS 9 apps
  • Emulation mode
  • Within the "classic" environment
• OS X will require new applications
  • Comes with many advantages
  • Better memory protection (analogous to Windows NT)
  • Multitasking
  • Unix kernel yields more stability

Final Comments

“The next generation of interesting software will be done on the Macintosh, not the IBM PC” -- Bill Gates, BusinessWeek

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Copyright © 2004 American Society of Neuroradiology, www.asnr.org