Kihei iMac Industrial Design Details

In the past few months we've talked much about the next-generation iMac, code named Kihei (pronounced Key-Hay), and have touched on some of the rumored industrial design enhancements in store for the new units.

The most recent word on the street is that Kihei has officially been finalized, both internally and externally, with production beginning in limited quantities as of this past Wednesday. Apple hopes to produce an ample supply of these units before its introduction so that they can immediately flood the channels with these units just prior to the holiday shopping season.

Documents and vector-based sketches of the Kihei design recently obtained by AppleInsider are believed to represent one of, if not the final design revision for the new models. Pre-production units seen by sources are said to look slightly smaller (in depth) than the current iMac, possibly due to the new short neck CRT display to be featured inside the unit.

From the sketching, it appers that the front of the unit is mostly unchanged with the exception of a revised speaker set and the new, tray-less DVD-ROM architecture that now appears as a slot found in most car CD Players. Directly underneath the front portion of the unit are two vent-like translucent plastics sections, sporting vent holes.

Centered slightly below the Apple logo on the rear of the machine is a single access panel, also sporting translucent plastics and vent-holes. While it is not clear from the sketches, this appears to be how users will access the internal components of the unit such as the SDRAM slots. Likewise, the base of the unit does not appear to fragment as it does in the current iMac.

The top of the unit is very similar to the current version, but no longer features the two curves between the handle and the Apple logo on top of the machine. Instead, hundreds of venting-holes have been implemented in a circular pattern around the iMac's handle. This may also have something to do with the new units featuring a more compact form-factor.

As expected, the port door remains on the right-hand side of the machine. The units, as mentioned in previous reports, are expected to be fully translucent now that RF shielding has been fully incorporated into the external plastics — doing away with the need for the metallic protective plating seen inside the current units.

Under a first impression, it may appear the Kihei is nothing more than a slightly revised first-generation iMac, though when examining it in more detail one realizes that perfecting an award-winning design may be smarter than creating a totally new one, with new flaws. The revisions made are similar to those implemented to the current PowerBooks over the original PowerBook G3 (Wallstreet).

Additional information will follow as we near Kihei's introduction. We also hope publish the obtained sketches, and possibly a photograph of the new units, so keep it tuned to AppleInsider.com.