Towers are the way to go

[Veljo]

One thing that is also a bit annoying is that Apple make computers like the iMac. The iMac is merely a complete computer in one plastic box. This is stupid. Sure, it looks nice, but almost everybody that owns a computer will at some stage want to expand their computer; most would want to do it themselves too. The problem is that it is hard to remove and add parts due to everything being so squashy; towers are the way to go.

Say you wanted a new motherboard: it'd be pretty hard to do this yourself unless you knew what you were doing.

 

[AdmiralAK]

Towers are nice, for us people that know what they are doing. For people that are newbies, kids, teenagers who dont really care about computers and so on, the iMac is perfect.

It's compact and powerful and does what they need it to do. The tower is more aimed towards the person with above average knowledge of computers


I mean take a look at PeeCees and all in ones that are about $500. These are made for teh kid, the grandma or grandpa that wants to get into it but doesnt want to et confused while learning

 

[roger]

I agree with Admiral. I know enough to be able to take a PC apart and put it together again (did that a lot in the early days) so I would feel confident about attacking a Mac if it came to it. However I bought an iMac. The reason is that I wanted a computer off the floor and I knew that anything that I needed to add could be done externally, such is the beauty of USB and Firewire.

Mac need an introductory product. For offices which are Mac based there will be people who need little more than an emailer and word processor. iMac is ideal for this. The cost of the (old) iMac is such that if it goes wrong, it is almost cheaper for a company to bin it and buy a new one rather than waste an expensive IT support guys time trying to fix it.

If I did more serious work with my Mac then I would seriously consider a tower based system.

R.

 

[apb3]

The admiral hit it on the head. I'd just like to add...

The iMac is often used in settings where you don't want people to be able to screw with it (schools and other public settings).

And, while I may not agree that it's cheaper to throw away a problem iMac and buy a new one rather than have the IT staff (who are already being paid...) spend time fixing it, Apple does want you to think in a similar fashion. When you "want a new motherboard" Apple wants you to buy a new computer. They are selling hardware. As for expansion, I have never once had a problem with macs and expansion. Whether adding external devices or swapping out/adding internal ones, never a problem. Now try that with Plug and Pray.

 

[roger]

Just one point on the costing - it costs between $10,000 and $25,000 to support each PC on the desktop per year in the organisations that I work in (this has been established). The cost of the machine is quite irrelevant compared to the people's time. If the organisation makes a decision to not support hardware then you can axe a quite a few people.

For example, if there are five people supporting the hardware, and they are paid $60,000 each then that is a saving of about $400,000 at least.(my multiplication is not bad - adding in social taxes and pension contributions, training costs, etc). That buys quite a lot of hardware so you can afford to dump the few desktops that break each year. If you have about 400 breaking each year then you are probably with the wrong supplier.

R.