new emac update very very soon?

jobsen_ski

jobsen_ski

Daily Player
obviously the eMac is due for an update and there are a few rumors on the web that it will be very soon, http://www.macrumors.com/pages/2004/10/20041004205833.shtml is just one such rumor, I think the update will be very soon, possibly even next week (monday or tuesday).

I was in my local PC world again tonight, and i noticed that the apple isle was loking might bare! At first i thought it was just because they were waiting for the new imac or what ever, but when i went down they did have imacs but it was the old ones, what they didn't have was any ibooks or emacs (and only 1 powerbook) a sales assistant came over to talk to me, and I was asking where the emac was that usualy sits at the end of the isle and he said that they had sold it erlier that day, I asked if that was the last one then and he said yes, and that they were waiting for a new modle coming in very very soon (obviouxly that might just be to get me to come back) but i asked when it would probably be and what kind of update it would be (just to see what he would say) he said that they had been waiting for a new shipment for a while but had been promissed it very soon, and that it would be the same shap (which of course i knew) but it would probably sport a faster processor and maybe a smaller price (but i don't think they reduced the price by the same amount as apple the last time. Anyway thats what the guy said, so hopefully we'll see a new emac sumtime nextweek! :>?

oh ye about the ibooks he said tha he would reccomend i hold out for the new model but he wasn't "entirly sure" when they would be back in stock there?
 
Don't hold your breath. It may or may not be an update. Even if it is an update, I hope they bump up the CPU speed and upgrade the video cards. Perhaps make the old iMac G4s the new line of eMacs.
 
It must (and will) remain a low cost solution.
More memory could be good.
 
Well if they do, do a update like in the next 3 months or so or very soon i will be very very very mad. I just bought a new emac like a month ago !! I would like to see like a G5 in it though and maybe the ram up to 2gb, even though you can upgrade it to 2gb with 2x1gb dimms, but i would prefer 4 dimm slots than just 2. Maybe a better fan or something in it to make it alot cooler, because thats the problems with the emacs is that it heats up rather quickly which is understandable hey there is a monitor and a computer all in one ...
 
How about more options?

Don't call it an uprade, but call it an option.

Customers can buy the normal eMac or the G5.
 
Well, I sure hope they drop the price soon... I have these neighbors who have been saying they "absolutely have to buy a new computer" for a few months now, :rolleyes: and they have said they only want to spend $500. The guy is talking eMachines and I just kind of roll my eyes or whatever.

I've tried to talk them into an eMac with the necessary 1 DIMM 512 MB RAM stick as well as the wireless card, and it ups the $799 base price to $953 (according to the online Apple store).

It's frustrating to talk to these newbies. The last thing I want is to have to go over to their place and fix their stupid $500 eMachines Windows virus magnet. :mad:
 
If Apple is smart, they'll turn the eMac into a viable low-cost option to capture the low-end PC market. There's a big market of people that just want the cheapest machine they can find. If they hit the right price point, they can capture a big part of that market and turn some PC users into mac users.
 
Basically, Apple doesn't have to provide the computer at the lowest costs. However, something headless would be necessary. Apple basically doesn't want to mess with their margins. They don't want to squeeze out some sales based on some low margin. They don't want to become a Dell.
 
How much more competetive can you get than $800? I think the eMac dominates the low-cost options out there. Sure, we all want to be able to build or buy the "headless iMac" we all dream of, but if Apple sold a low-cost, high-powered computer, they'd probably go the way of Gateway and have to close down all their stores in order to stay in business. It's like asking Porsche to build a car and sell it for $15,000 -- ain't gonna happen. At least Apple's stuff is affordable, and they've most definitely captured a (relatively) large segment of the population at their current price points. And... have you seen their stock prices recently? Holy ****!

Besides, what kind of PC could you get for $800? Sure, you could throw in a 3.2GHz processor (maybe even two of them) but then you'd forego a decent sound card and graphics card. Bump it down to a single 2.4GHz processor and add a good sound card, firewire card and video card, but then you're left without a monitor. The point is that you can build a faster PC for less, but you lose many more extras than you think about -- asthetics, ports, the little things.

The Cube was great, but I agree -- overpriced. Still, even if each model were $200 cheaper, they'd still be above the $1,200 mark. The eMac is faster, includes more "extras" like a SuperDrive/DVD-CD drive and you get a decent 17" monitor. Hell, if you're willing to spend $800 on an eMac, why not save $500 more and get an iMac? No one needs a computer right now, so bad, that they can't wait a month or so and get another $500.'

I say to Apple: keep designing cool stuff. It's priced VERY fairly, it's reliable, and it's a pleasure to use. If I wanted a cheap-o, throw-away, difficult-to-configure Linux box, I'd get one.
 
Well it all depends what Apple wants to do. If they want to remain a niche market, then they shouldn't try to compete with PC prices... the Porsche for $15000 analogy is a valid one. But, all their current moves seem to be to try to get the PC market to come back from the dark side. Currently, they price their machines a little higher than PCs. All I'm saying is, if they were to price them the same as PCs, they would take away that one great reason PC users pull out when they are asked why they use PCs - "Apple machines are more expensive." Take that away, and the only excuses left are (1) It's the machine I use at work, and (2) I want to be able to play games. Okay, fine. (1) Cheaper, more stable machines will be more likely to make their way into businesses. (2) Get the market share and the games will be there.

Just my opinion. Like I said, it depends what Apple wants to do. If they remain at the high-end niche, perhaps they will become more coveted and gain the market share they want anyway. I just know that there are a lot of people that need a computer but can only buy the cheapest one they can find. At least the virus / spyware backlash is on Apple's side.
 
While I agree that Apple does produce a plethora of high-end products which kind of sticks them into a niche, I do not agree that Apple prices their equipment higher than other manufacturers. Plenty of sites have done price-level comparisons, and Apple is right on par with the rest of the computing industry when you compare comparably-configured machines. Compare an eMac to a comparatively-configured PC, and you'll find that both fall right around $800. Compare a dual G5 to a comparatively-configured PC, and you'll find they both fall right around $2500.

The thing is is that Apple doesn't offer anything sub-sub-par, like the rest of the PC world does. They don't let us build stripped-down generic boxes at wholesale prices. And even with a comparatively-configured generic home-built box, you'd still pay close to what an Apple machine costs -- sure, you'd save $200 or so, but that's the "advantages" of using generic parts, having little warranty support and having to deal with a dozen companies for warranties on all the parts you assembled.

I think Apple offering anything lower than $800 would bastardize their sales of their "real" machines -- the iMacs and G5s (in a desktop sense... portables are different). That's why Apple's still making money -- and the do-it-yourself shops struggle to stay in business. Gateway has had to reorganize a few times in order to find a money-making venture. PCs tanked with them. Home entertainment tanked. They even had to close all their retail stores.

While Dell, on the other hand, offers plenty of cheap boxes, as soon as you start putting in the "necessities," the price skyrockets. Dell's cheap boxes are cheap, too -- I'll give ya plenty of stories about their sub-par hard drives, crappy cooling methods and chintzy, flimsy boxes they wrap it all in. Apple doesn't do that for their customers. Sure, we hear about short-term failures and what-not, but it's no worse than any other company, and I'd be willing to bet Apple's failure rate is significantly lower than other companies.

I think it is pretty much like the Porche example... Apple builds high-quality stuff! If Ford were to put the time, thought, design, and high-quality parts into their cars, then they'd cost as much as Porches. The difference is that Apple's stuff if priced to reach a higher segment of the population than Porche... so while we all dream of driving a Porche, we can, in reality, own an Apple.
 
Porche is part of a group that also produces VW, Skoda, Seat, Audi and Lamborghini.... so you can have a low cost Porche or a even higher cost one (BTW I drive an Alfa Romeo, FIAT group, that also makes Ferrari and Maserati).
 
Just so there is no confusion, Porsche in NOT a part of the VW/Audi group. They are entirely independent of any other car manufacturer.

Oh yeah, back to the eMac. Decent price point, don't lower price or quality.
 
I think the car analogy is getting somewhat old in the tooth. The fact is you get what you pay for. Unfortunetly, people are use to computers from Bestbuy, Walmart, and Circuit City that have ridiculous rebates on them. In order to get a good computer you are going to have to pay $800-$1000. There must be some kind of reality distortion in the pc world.

Haha, i thought of the iPod mini too
 
ApeintheShell said:
Unfortunetly, people are use to computers from Bestbuy, Walmart, and Circuit City that have ridiculous rebates on them.
Click to expand...
And the companies make the rebates ridiculously hard to get, even if you follow all the printed directions.
 
I really want a silver mini. thinking about buying a second powermac first though and using a kvm switch. I think rather than get a G5 i'm going to keep my current mac and get a G4 agp cheap and upgrade it. 1.5GHz upgrades are not that much and if I get a Digital Audio model then I get agp 4x also. those 2 systems combined would be all I need and I think equal to or better than a single G5. I would do all the bitch work on my current system and then have the upgraded digital audio 100% at my disposal for any task at hand.

sorry for the off topic rant but you guys got me thinking of new solutions. :)
 
about the emac.. a lower cost would only be good or worth it if it was headless. i'm sure that won't happen though. I really do wish that apple had cosumer dt systems without built in displays. apple used to always make consumer oriented dt's. I used to have a 6400/180 performa and bought it because I wanted a tower but didn't have the cash for the powermacs which I think at the time was 9600/early G3 (beige). its a market apple should go into again.
 
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