New low end Mac?

Ugg

Ugg

Registered
Link

The article is in French and I won't try to translate it but it essentially says that Apple is rumored to be coming out with a low end Mac ~$599. The header says "Cube or pizza box?" Supposedly it would be a G4 with a 32 bit video card and 256 mgs of ram.

Veddy, veddy interesting, n'est ce pas?
 
I can only assume you meant a 32MB video card. 32 bit meaning bit depth would be ... so normal as to not need defining. 32 bit meaning processor on the video card would be so slow it would rate on par with the beige G3.

Although I would very much like to see some lower cost options to improve Apple's market share, I can't help but think that creating such a machine would be a short term punch in the financial gut for Apple as people who need a minimal new machine may well go for a $600 machine instead of the $1200 iMac. Cut the profits for Apple down by around $100 per purchase like that. I think they need to though.

I think they need to put out some boxes that are innovative not in the way the box looks, but where in your house the box goes. Like, in the attic as a dedicated home server would be right up my alley. A really low end X-Serve concept for the home? Or one that does video out and has a wireless keyboard and integrate into a home theater scenario so it lives in your living room. Innovation means more than a fancy bezel. Mac OS X is cool, but I want to see some truly radical forward thinking coming from Apple again.

I'd comment on the article, but it's in French. I can't read French. My girlfriend isn't around to translate it for me. Graaahhhh! I know like 8 programming / scripting languages, but I only know one spoken language. Darn these language barriers.
 
My mistake, yes, it was 32 MB.

It would be a way to increase market share and I think Apple really needs that right now.

There are a lot of rumors floating around as to the direction that Apple is going to take this year and this is just that, a rumor. But, unless I'm mistaken this year Apple is going to change more than any other since the original iMac was introduced.
 
no they do not need to increase market share - they need to increase sales.

if they have a plan on how they will proceed with gaining market share and making profits without losing quality...then it might happen.

a slow lil cheap apple - unless they did it right and at the right time - would cheapen all apple machines. if it happens...i hope it's flawlessly designed and marketed and runs osx perfect.
 
here is my word for word translation of the article i dont speak fluent french so im not sure what some of it means like "any confidence" and so forth


According to a source in which we have any confidence, APPLE would plan to reorganize its range of office computers: beside the iMac and PowerMac a "case", intended would be marketed to occupy the segment of the entry of range (one would then see undoubtedly disappearing the eMac). In a report/ratio of more than 400 pages returned several weeks ago by a "cell of futurology", one wonders about the form to give him (limps with pizza pie, cubic, half-sphere and "fine tower" (?) are considered); on the standard configuration (built around a G4 processor, of a video chart 32 Mo and 256 Mo of RAM) and especially the number of configurations having to be proposed with the sale. One of the conclusions is particularly enticing: "taking into account a cost price between 480 and 520 dollars according to options' selected, a price of marketing of 599 dollars is possible". The impact of the setting on sale of such a machine is analyzed like "very positive for the penetration of the general public market and SOHO (SME-SME)", with estimated figures of sales from 70 to 80000 unités/mois on the first year, an impact limited on the sales of the" professional range "and an induced effect of fall of the sales of iMac from 8 to 12% Nevertheless let us issue a reserve of size on the range of this information: it is not because this report/ratio (and undoubtedly of tens of others, of varied contents) circulates in some spères of Cupertino which it will be followed of effect.
 
My parents are buying a new computer and I'm trying to get them to get their first Mac but the prices are a bit of a barrier. $1200 for an entry level iMac! And the eMac is rather ugly :( I wish they would have kept the original iMac (my first Mac!).

This would sound like a good product, then, but the monitor would still be a problem.
 
if you have not seen an eMac in person, they actually are quite nice, the monitor is amazingly clear and sharp
 
it's true. emacs are nice.

i like to see Apple make things but you never see BMW or Herman Miller make cheap entry stuff. they make dough off people with money. in apple's case they have a imac, if you have no money —_perhaps you should spend 300$ on a PC.
 
I have to agree with Jack Hammer. As nice as greater market share would be it means nothing next to greater sales. Apple could have 0.1% of the market and as long as they were still enjoying good sales and making good profits everything would be well. Market share is just an indicator of financial health, not financial health itself.

Now the one place that market share does play a bigger part is in convincing developers and service providers to support the platform, which has always been a bit of a problem. But if sales are good (which they are) on more expensive machines then market research will continue to point to Mac users generally being in a higher income bracket and spending more per person than Windows users. These facts alone should make the Mac an attractive environment for commercial developers, regardless of market share.
 
MacPlus.org is a correct source for info. I mean, less than this forum, but more than LoopRumors. ;) This article has the rumor subtitle, according to macplus. It should be considered as is. Maybe the Apple Expo will tell us more, so join us !

It is nice to have an opportunity to translate something from French to English for this board:

===

Cube or pizza ? (Rumor)
June 1rst 2003_-_9:17PM

According to a source which we fully trust, Apple would be considering rebuilding its computer panel. Besides iMacs and PowerMacs, a new 'Box' model would enter the Apple products by its cheapest end (the eMacs would thus be very likely to disappear).

In a report over 400 pages, a 'prospection team' questions itself about the form it should be given. Pizza box ? Cube ? Half-sphere ? Narrow cylinder ? Standard configuration would be a G4 surrounded by 32M of video card, plus 256M RAM.

Revenue price is expected to be between $480 and $520 according to the first expertise. An interesting conclusion follows: the whole product could be marketable since $599, depending on its user-selected options (many hardware configurations are to be proposed).

Such a machine is seen with much enthusiasm by analysts, its foreseeable impact being good news for market penetration as far as families and SOHO markets (little and medium companies) are concerned. Forecasts announce as much as 70,000/80,000 units on year #1, limited impact on professional sales and a 8-12% induced lowering effect on iMacs' sales.

It should be known that, although this text is circulating in some services, nothing makes the application of this report by Cupertino an expectable fact as of today.

===

Please point to translation problems !

I'd like this machine to pop up on the market, really, that would be IMHO the perfect student computer, as far as France is concerned.
 
I think something like this would be nice...the one thing I always hear people and friends complain about Macs (and usually the ONLY thing) is the high price. A low end Mac couldn't hurt Apple....could it?:p
 
Originally posted by Jack Hammer
it's true. emacs are nice.

i like to see Apple make things but you never see BMW or Herman Miller make cheap entry stuff. they make dough off people with money. in apple's case they have a imac, if you have no money ?_perhaps you should spend 300$ on a PC.
Click to expand...


Ah, but BMW does have entry level autos and the people that buy them tend to trade up to more expensive models.
 
BMW has entry-level autos? Look at their prices, though. Not quite as entry-level as, say, an Opel or a Honda. Just like the iMac/eMac can't be compared to a 300$ PC with Lindows.

Wow, another "If PCs were cars" thread? Or is this another "What's market share" thread? (As there has been a misconception about this, too. Of course market share tells us NOTHING about financial health. It tells us about market share. And that's where the big error lies. Apple is always compared to Microsoft, but Apple is first and foremost a HARDWARE seller and should be compared to hp/compaq, Dell and the like. And they're not the worst in that respect.)
 
Originally posted by fryke
BMW has entry-level autos? Look at their prices, though. Not quite as entry-level as, say, an Opel or a Honda. Just like the iMac/eMac can't be compared to a 300$ PC with Lindows.

Wow, another "If PCs were cars" thread? Or is this another "What's market share" thread? (As there has been a misconception about this, too. Of course market share tells us NOTHING about financial health. It tells us about market share. And that's where the big error lies. Apple is always compared to Microsoft, but Apple is first and foremost a HARDWARE seller and should be compared to hp/compaq, Dell and the like. And they're not the worst in that respect.)
Click to expand...

What should also be noted is that this entry level mac would be twice the price of the lindows PC.

Here in the US the entry level BMW's start at high $20k to low $30k, near twice the price of an entry level honda ($15k)
 
Originally posted by Rhino_G3
What should also be noted is that this entry level mac would be twice the price of the lindows PC.

Here in the US the entry level BMW's start at high $20k to low $30k, near twice the price of an entry level honda ($15k)
Click to expand...

Let's not take the auto comparisons too far - in the computer biz, marketshare does matter even more, as it plays into porting / coding descisions, which in turn translate into sales, that translate into marketshare, and so on...

Apple needs to keep marketshare above a certain critical level, below which major software developers cut support.

Regards / GulGnu

-Stabil som fan!
 
i think that a low end mac would be a real good thing for the mac community, because macs are really expensive compared to other computers out there. it costs about 600 dollars to get an entry level dell machine (and it comes with a monitor) and that makes people stay away from the expensive mac 1. because mac's might look really cool but i don't reall know about them and 2. if i can get a good dell for 600 and a good mac costs 1200 is a mac really worth 600 dollars more then a dell?
go apple go, bring out a 600 dollar 970 powered mac!
 
My responses:

First of all, I like the idea of having a low-end computer for $600-700 that could still run everything under the X. It would entice more people to start on the Mac and get them hooked, increasing sales, and it would get more people using the platform in general, increasing market share, which of course leads to more software, friendlier tech support, more software, better web services, and of course more software.

Theed: So you want a really awesome-looking computer to put into your family room for everyone to see when guests come over and a bunch of parts wired together in a tin can in the attic or basement to serve up your website and host your Airport network? I like those ideas; Apple should definitely make more diverse offerings for more specific purposes.

cwoody222: What don't you like about the look of the eMac? It's basically an all-white gumdrop iMac with a bigger monitor and a G4. If you liked your old iMac, surely you should the eMac too.
Originally posted by Toast
Please point to translation problems !
Click to expand...
I think it should be "marketable from $599", not "marketable since $599." Also, thank you for translating.
I'd like this machine to pop up on the market, really, that would be IMHO the perfect student computer, as far as France is concerned.
Click to expand...
Pop up like toast? Oh, sorry.

The problem with designing a machine like this is that there's only a certain way you can make something cheap. The reason portables are more expensive than their desktop equivalent, for lesser specs, is because it costs more to make something small. Did it not, all computers would be laptops. It is far cheaper to throw a bunch of components into a big, bulky box than to interweave them all so they intricately fit into a case the size of a briefcase—or to fit inside a briefcase. Therefore, this new computer (ha ha, let's call it the "uMac") can't be very small or it will be too expensive. It can't be too big because that almost defeats the purpose. It can't be too plain and rectangular because that's boring and blasé, and it can't be too much of a departure from the norm (such as plantlike) because people won't recognize or like it as a computer.

Also, nobody ever mentioned anything about hard drive space. What kind of capacity do you guys think this computer may have?
 
Oh dear God, dare to dream.

I've said this in the past, but it became painfully obvious about 4 months ago when I decided that OS 10 was the answer that Windows 2000 and unices couldn't provide. Unix, advantage of all the opensource portable software AND pre-built, happy, pretty little apps for the default GUI.

I own a PC. I own lots of them, and lots of real workstations, too. I'd have gladly dropped $500-600 on a Mac that was new and current, that didn't limit me to its built-in display, and had some expandability.

We can build a 1U rackmount like this. We've had pizzabox chassises for years in real workstations.

Where was the real reason for me to switch? The i/eMac wasn't it. No expandability, period, since I'm limited to its monitor. The desktops weren't it, I wasn't about to throw away $1500 on something I might have hated. I wanted a pizza box with a decent video card (or, perhaps even an AGP board on a riser). I wanted something with a PCI slot. I wanted something I could put my PC monitor on (please ditch DVI). I didn't get it. I had to go track down a used dog, and work with that.

I just posted this elsewhere.. a slab with 4 memory slots, a G3/G4 at a reasonable speed, firewire and USB and space for a CD rom. I'd be all over that. Many people where I work at an ISP would be all on that.

So where is it?

I hope it comes out. Perhaps I should really wait for WWDC before I throw money at a G4 CPU for my beige G3, after all.
 
<rant>
I think the current offerings for the current low-end eMac are decent.
If they included the stand in all models perhaps it would get better. Remember, there are still people out there who just use the cd-rom for playing games and transferring cds to iTunes. Not everyone needs a combo drive because they have dvd on their PS2 or Home theater. They might already have a Yamaha cd-rw which is faster than the base speed of the combo. The all-in-one approach is good and they should stick with the crt display. It lasts quite long.
Let's face it. People are cheap. They wouldn't buy a computer for $600, $800 from Apple because they don't care.

I look forward to getting an eMac or iBook in the future but honestly don't wanna see another pizza box Power Mac.

</end rant>
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top