Get in on the iBox...

serpicolugnut

serpicolugnut

OS X Supreme Being
John Fraser has a novel idea...

Using readily available replacement Powermac Sawtooth motherboards (or Quicksilvers depending on what's available), he is setting out to build a low cost headless Mac, called the iBox.

He even has (courtesy of another DealMac reader) a nice pizza box case designed, and has taken steps to get it manufactured.

While not technically a "clone", since no OS would be able to be bundled, these BYOB machines would run both OS 9, X, and Linux. Plus, they could be sold as kits, allowing for a low price and a high degree of customization.

Check it out...

http://dealmac.com/forums/read.html?f=1&i=1122559&t=1122559
 
Sounds like a very interesting idea... :)

Basically, that's the box that was rumoured around the time before the eMac was announced. A kind of headless iMac, although of course this has more oomph and is actually cheaper.

If only Apple would hear those wishes and build such a barebones system themselves...
 
Nice idea, but the design is so flawed I'm not sure if that project is really going anywhere :p
 
Originally posted by senne
why is the audio port IN on the front? And the OUT on the back? It should the other way round
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not really.... the out which is on the back goes to the speakers... you wont be plugging and unplugging that connection very much... the audio in is on the front so you can connect a microphone, CD player, MD player etc... which you will switch often..
 
This is so cool and so cheap. I'll have to watch and see what happens. This is a GREAT idea and i hope it actually works out!!

But, after looking at the specs again, what about a hard drive? And can i put in a much faster processor? Time will tell.
 
That is cool! $250 - 300! Not bad. Just think if it gets going, custom order your machine unlike anything Apple has ever done.
 
I'm not sure, but based upon the $250-300 price, I don't think that includes the CPU itself. I could be wrong though... They say supported CPUs will be 800mhz through 1.13ghz, depending upon logic board used.

As for the complaints about where the ports are, etc... Keep in mind these will be based off of either the Sawtooth or Quicksilver logic boards, and the ports will be limited to the I/O that exists on them...

Makes me nostalgic for the first Mac I ever owned (and could afford) - the Quadra 605. It was quite nice to go from using a Mac Plus and SE to a Q605 back in 1993!
 
According to my searches, this is how the components stack up in price (all are US dollars, of course)...

Logic Board (no CPU): $149-199 (several people state they've been selling for $149, but currently they are $199 - buying a large quantity might lower the price)

CPU: $299 for 800mhz. $465 for 1ghz. $599 for 1.25ghz

512MB of PC100 RAM:$50

40GB HD: $70

Video Card: GeForce2MX (PC card Flash for Mac) $40

Optical Drive: LiteOn 52X CD-R : $56

Powersupply: $75

Case: Still being worked on, so final price is in question, but let's just figure $100 for now...

Total (800mhz version, with LB @ $149) - $839...This doesn't take in to account the other costs associated with building the system - right angle AGP adapter to fit pizza box case, IDE cables, I/O extenders, etc.

Unless John has some good contacts that will give good quantity discounts on all the items, the iBox doesn't look to be realistic, unless it's to prove it can be done, and give the hobbyist the satisfaction of building his own Mac...
 
You're right, it becomes too expensive that way...

I still wish Apple would let us get Macs the way we'd want them. Like, for the PowerMacs: Why not let the buyer decide exactly what processor he or she wants? Depending on the task you want the Mac for, they could still sell single processor 867 MHz machines with lesser graphics card (or without one totally), for some uses a 40 GB harddrive really is enough (or lemme buy it elsewhere), also I might want to add RAM myself, so don't include any at all, and I'll also buy my optical drive somewhere else, thank you?

Well... Wishful thinking. Apple must make money, and certainly they don't want us to kill their margins by selling barebones systems...

But what Apple really could do... A 'basic' box that can't be expanded. A bit like the iMac, just without a monitor. Looking like the iBox, maybe (or at least pizza-style, anyway), with basically the features of the low-end iBook. Heck, they could even TAKE the low-end iBook and strip the monitor away. Suddenly we'd have a sub 600 USD Mac or something like that. :)
 
Good idea. My hope was that Apple would just build the case and motherboard and let the third parties handle the hard drive, monitor, and the Mac CPU makers to the rest. A barbones system yes, but it still allows Apple to basically control the core.

Imagine buying a Tower that way. Should be able to get under $1000 easy that way. Then you can just buy your parts and there you go. Compatibility is basically taken care of. Plus it would allow a bigger market of peripherals. For example... nVidia has made GPUs available for 2 years now and their are NO third party card makers other than Apple. So basically ATi has a no competition on Mac third party cards there. As far as Apple's margin on that, I don't see how it would be too bad considering they just have to test out the MB, and CPUs which they still would have full control of. Be nice, but who knows...
 
Originally posted by fryke
I still wish Apple would let us get Macs the way we'd want them. Like, for the PowerMacs: Why not let the buyer decide exactly what processor he or she wants...
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While parts of this idea sound nice, I can't see Apple ever doing anything like it. Apple is in the business of selling complete computer systems that can be used right out of the box by anyone that orders them. To sell one without RAM or without a hard drive would completely torpeado this central idea. I also think it ties in with the whole issue of themes in that Apple wants to sell consistency. Then there's the matter of trimming all the product lines down so that there are not as many different configs to confuse the buyer.

That said I would appreciate the ability to build-to-order with smaller hard drives and a few less options.

But what Apple really could do... A 'basic' box that can't be expanded. A bit like the iMac, just without a monitor... Heck, they could even TAKE the low-end iBook and strip the monitor away. Suddenly we'd have a sub 600 USD Mac or something like that. :)
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Isn't this pretty much what the Cube was, and didn't the cube do very poorly? I know some people were fanatically loyal to their Cubes, but I did think that the sales figures had dubbed that model a failure.
 
Isn't this pretty much what the Cube was, and didn't the cube do very poorly? I know some people were fanatically loyal to their Cubes, but I did think that the sales figures had dubbed that model a failure.
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The price point killed the cube. Had it been $999 it would have sold better. At $1799 it competed with Towers and you got a lot less. If it was targeted as entry level I think it would have done better. A LOT better.
 
Yeah, I always thought the Cube was a great idea that was marketed very badly.

There was no logical reason to charge $1799 for the Cube. Basically, Apple felt that people would pay a $500-600 premium for the square form factor. While style does sell a computer, there weren't many who would pay a 33% premium for the privilege. However, had the price point been right, Apple would have had the headless entry level Mac that users had been wishing for.
 
Originally posted by serpicolugnut
Yeah, I always thought the Cube was a great idea that was marketed very badly.
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:D

I think the reason that the Cube is a tank ;) are as much specs as price point - though the two are related. The style was (is) drop dead gorgeous, but it was only a style upgrade. The guts of the thing had been available in other machines for - what? - a whole year?

I use the mac because I feel comfortable in front of them (and they do what I need), so keep up the style upgrades, but if you want to sell new machines, upgrade processor speed etc etc etc.
 
i may give one of these things a try after the first adopters give it the run-thru and report back ;)

for ~$400, i'd give it a try to have something that rivals a powermac dual 1.25ghz machine...
 
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