There's a moment that happens rather quickly whenever you buy an Apple product where you go "It can't WHAT???" It was around lunch time on June 1st (i-Day) when I realized that my new iPhone couldn't copy and paste, so if I wanted to text a friend someone else's phone number I had to remember it and then type. Around 5pm I learned that you have to look at it so much to use it that you'd be better off doing a crossword puzzle while driving than trying to make a phone call.
However, after realizing that the new iMac I got doesn't have any simple way of turning off the screen, my reaction went from "it can't WHAT?!!!" to "They're bragging about how the MacBook Air is all earth-friendly because it doesn't have arsenic in it, and yet my iMac can't WHAT?!!!", followed by "Al Gore sits on the board of this very company that makes my computer, the first desktop computer since oh, 1984 that doesn't have a button to turn of the screen and save energy?"
There's 24x3 inches of shiny, blank aluminum under the screen where they could fit at least 100 buttons, let alone one. The result of this is that I have my computer set to turn the display off after one minute of inactivity, which is great if you are lucky enough to have a job editing haikus.
As it turns out, aside from taking arsenic out of their newest laptop, Apple has done next to nothing to reduce its environmental impact. Climate Counts, an organization that measures what companies are really doing to reduce their impact on climate change beyond making a few greenwashed products, gave Apple a score of 2 out of 100. (Their list is full of surprises. Newscorp, which owns Fox news, which is ruining America and MySpace, which is ruining my life, gets a 57.)
And whatever they've done to deserve that score, which is mostly based on pre-consumption since most products stamp out their climate footprint long before it hits the shelf (I imagine that manufacturing in China can't help), it might explain why yesterday at their shareholders meeting, investors rejected a shareholder proposal to create a sustainability committee. Apple even suggested to its shareholders that they vote against it. Apparently Al was there and didn't vote but did not respond when investors asked him about it. Nice one!
Don't get me wrong, if Apple asked me to be on their board, which at the very least would mean free iPods for life, I would do it, and that's why I, Max Bernstein, will never win the Nobel Peace Prize. Al Gore on the other hand does have a Nobel Peace Prize, and I'm not saying that you have to all of a sudden be some kind of Gandhi/Jesus/Batman hybrid once you get one, but at the very least you could encourage a company on whose board you sit do adopt some environmental practices more meaningful than asking Al Gore to sit on their board. Like having a sustainability committee. Like doing something in your manufacturing to reduce your climate footprint. Like putting a switch on my damn monitor.
Addendum for people who don't get that this post wasn't me asking how to turn my monitor off: I know about sleep mode and use it all the time. You can't listen to music in it, and I and many other people use their computers for that.
Apple had a shareholder meeting yesterday where they declined to have a sustainability committee to improve their environmental practices, despite having a climate score of 2 out of 100, and the company asked it's investors to vote NO on starting one. The point I am making is that Apple is advertising a greenwashed product (MacBook Air) when as a company it has a terrible environmental record, and to top it off one of their most popular computers doesn't have an energy saving device (a monitor on/off switch) for people who like to stay out of system preferences panes and pulldown menus, which last I checked is EXACTLY the people that Apple markets its consumer-grade computers to, no?
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It is a FREE (donation accepted) utility that will turn off the imac monitor. It is not perfect but it is pretty cool and a definite answer to this problem. Goes to show how cool the mac community really can be.....best regards.....
Don't buy an IMAC!)
At least the way it is on my MacBook Pro, I'm not sure about on the iMacs. I don't see why they wouldn't have the brightness controls on the keyboard.
The man whose Tennessee Mansion sucks more power of the grid in a month, than most of us use in a Lifetime? The man who needs a private plane to whisk him around the globe to pick up all his awards? The man who tried to land a plane in Antarctica last July (not realizing it was winter) so that he could claim bands playing on all seven continents?
Did you really think all the political hypocrites belonged to the opposition Party?
http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/mar2008/tc2008035_855093.htm
Apparently he's an evil money-grubbing capitalist as well!
Steve Jobs, like most of the people who have posted comments here, is not a serious computer user. Real computer users rarely if ever turn off their computers. I have networks going and long downloads and so forth. I get ideas and don't want to wait for the thing to boot up. I NEVER turn off my computers but I do turn off the monitors...except this new iMac. I have one and it was a huge surprise that makes virtually no sense at all. I understand. Most of you don't have a clue as to what you are talking about, and why don't you realize that? Most of these comments are made by people who turn off their computers, thereby proving they are novices at best. "$&&£$/()))/ Steve Jobs and his black tshirts. he is a market man, NOT a computer user. the rest of this pontificating is just styrofoam packing inside the heads of these commentators.....ecologically unsound...!!! First %/&(&$ing computer I have ever had where you cannot turn off the monitor.
Also - for all those green minded people out there, lowering your brightness will also allow you to save power when you are using your computer as well.
Think we can get back to real issues now? Don't think this site is served well as a forum for computer isues.
You don't believe that's turning the display off? Go buy a Kill A Watt electricity usage monitor and see for yourself.
Now, how many of you gripers about Apple's environmental footprint drive a car? I'd be willing to bet your car equals hundreds of computers when it comes to materials used and the impact it has on our environment. Then, there are the buildings we live in. Come on guys and gals, get a grip and look at the big picture!
Also, you can very easily sleep the monitor without the computer sleeping. However, you are going to save more power by just turning the thing off, or sleeping the whole thing.
PACKAGING. Their computers in particular come packed in huge boxes protected with large quantities of styrofoam. I'm sure a company this innovative could find a way to use less packaging, or at least use less harmful materials.
PRODUCT LIFE. Seriously, there is no environmentally justifiable reason why I can't easily replace the battery in my iPod or swap out the processor when it's time to upgrade my computer.
DISPOSAL. Apple likes to brag that their aluminum enclosures are recyclable, but only after you somehow remove them from the wiring, circuitry and other materials built in to the product. Many electronics are now designed with end-of-life in mind, such as cell phones that will separate into component parts when exposed to extreme heat.
Apple has the means and the talent to address these things, they lack only the will.
Also, Apple should consider not building increasingly Microsoft-styled planned obsolescence into all their new product lines. And maybe have a better warranty that doesn't cost $250 and lasts longer than 3 years! Arrgh it sucks to have your disc drive break just at the 3rd year and be told by Apple that it will cost $500 to replace.
Great Post Max!
Currently, my computer is set to go to sleep after five minutes. If the radio is playing, only the monitor will shut down. If nothing else is going on, the monitor and hard drive will do to sleep.
Energy saver is very flexible.
The Imac monitor draws minimal if any power if you set it to go sleep after a period of inactivity like any other monitor. Both Macs and PCs have energy saver options that put the computer, display and hard drive to sleep either simultaneously or separately at whatever time you specify.
If you need your computer to be always on, set the display to turn itself off after 5 mins. If you're not going to work on the Imac at all, shut it down. I guarantee the monitor will go off too. It really couldn't be any simpler than that.
Now, Maxie, If you're one of those people who needs their computer on 24/7, but would like the monitor off, you are being a ridiculous hypocrite by complaining like this. You shouldn't be opening your mouth at all. You can't piss and moan about the juice your monitor is using when your computer is constantly on powering the CPU, hard drives, cooling fans, keyboard, webcam, mouse, and any other USB peripherals. It's just mind-bogglingly assinine.
Get to know how your hardware folks. This is common sense. Max, you sound like an idiot. Below is a link for your edification. The next time look it up in your help files or on the Internet like most responsible people. Now STFU and don't post for a while.
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=25801
All that committee would be would be a source of perpetual bad press for Apple.
This means that more computers can be shipped using the same amount of space (and since the computers weigh less) the fuel used to ship them is less per computer. There is less waste going into landfills, etc. The environmental impact per computer is far lower than before.
Or did you just want to gripe about Al Gore?