Why the new imac will fail

[kilowatt]

1) every reason the sweet-looking g4 cube failed, except its ugly, too.

2) I'm sure its got a slow bus, most of apple's imacs do

3) there isn't a model under $1,000. That is just going to kill apple. I mean, you can't run osx on new hard ware without spending a grand. PC users can slap together a dual athalon with a geforce 2 for way under a grand. Although pc's suck so I guess that works out

4) its ugly. Incredibly ugly.

5) for $1799 you get a computer with a 15" display that does 1024x768. Yes, it has the geforce inside, but thats just a waste of money.... almost two thousand dollars, and you only have a 15" display. Come on apple!!! make a 19" for $1499. and make the 15" $999, if possable.

6) no new computer users will be attracted to it. Its almost frightening for old people to look at, I'm sure.

7) its not at all practical. Its round, so you can't set anything on top of it. You can't put a zip drive in it, or expand its storage without 50 different metric alan wrenches and a CS degree.

Lets hope apple doesn't have to put the new imac out with the cube...

 

[themacko]

1) every reason the sweet-looking g4 cube failed, except its ugly, too.

Just a matter of opinion. Lots of people like it, including me.

2) I'm sure its got a slow bus, most of apple's imacs do

It's a consumer product, if you want a faster bus go with a Power Mac. I have absolutely no complaints and I'm on an iBook 500. I doubt the average Apple user even knows what the Bus speed is.

3) there isn't a model under $1,000. That is just going to kill apple. I mean, you can't run osx on new hard ware without spending a grand. PC users can slap together a dual athalon with a geforce 2 for way under a grand. Although pc's suck so I guess that works out

I have to agree with you on this, but you are getting a TON for your money. The 15" display equals a 17" CRT (what 95% of the population uses). You're getting a huge harddrive and fast processor. Unfortunately, they should've kept the old iMac line for sale for a sub$1000 price.

4) its ugly. Incredibly ugly.

Same as #1

5) for $1799 you get a computer with a 15" display that does 1024x768. Yes, it has the geforce inside, but thats just a waste of money.... almost two thousand dollars, and you only have a 15" display. Come on apple!!! make a 19" for $1499. and make the 15" $999, if possable.

Same as #3

6) no new computer users will be attracted to it. Its almost frightening for old people to look at, I'm sure.

I don't quite understand that logic .. personally I would be more afraid of a heaping monitor and big loud-ass grey box with 20 wires poking out of it than this. The iMac is 'cute' like a bunny, not ugly and loud like a garbage truck. But again, a matter of opinion.

7) its not at all practical. Its round, so you can't set anything on top of it. You can't put a zip drive in it, or expand its storage without 50 different metric alan wrenches and a CS degree.

Umm, tell me again what FireWire and USB ports are used for?

Kilo: I didn't mean to be rude, bro. I just wanted to throw out my opinions as well.

 

[rinse]

kilowat, im going to battle your points...

1. do you mean it's expensive? or jarring looking? thins point seems to fall into other arguments you are already making below.

2. quite possibly yes... it loks as though as it a 100mhz bus -kinda slow, but not untolerable. this is an easy upgrade for future revisions

3. they still sell the crt mac... just look for the link on the apple store. starts at $799. also, im sure price will drop and bundles will appear, just like always... remember, then bondi iMac of 98 was $1299 (wasn't it orignally $1599?)

4. that is subjective. beauty and the eye of the beholder, you know. to me, it sure looks better than a cow colored gatway or a compaq with snap on color parts.

5. perhaps a new size will come out with the next revision, as the LCD is not nearly integrated into the design as the CRT was, i don't see why they wouldn't be able to upgrade the display as it becomes cost effective and necssary to do so.

6.what is this argument? balderdash, i say. (ha! i said balderdash!) how can you predict what people will be attracted to? are you a marketting specialist? an industrial designer in the computing biz?

7. practical? you know what is not practical? having a nearly unreachable tower under your desk so you have to bend down to insert an antiquated storage medium like a zip or floppy into a monstrous ATX case. expand it's storage? for crying out loud it has 60gb internal! if you need much more than that get a external firewire disk or a tower for 1600 and put some more ATA drives in it.


in conclusion....

i mean, c'mon.... apple puts out a great innovative new machine that is more like an appliance cuz it so damn easy to use and you complain.

 

[kilowatt]

no offence taken, themacko

Remember, though, it was personal preference which killed off the cube... it wasn't necessarily because it was ugly, but it just didn't get enough buyers, and had hardware probs.

And I can't stand having zip drives, usb hubs, etc all over my desk. I'd rather mount them in a case. But, thats just personal preference ;-)

In the end, I'm sure this product will pull through.

 

[StarScream]

Iam in Love with the new iMac its F A N T A S T I C !!!

I want one

My G4 400 is outdated Snik..

if the consumer line is moved to the G4 thats means that the Pro line is moved to the G5

 

[serpicolugnut]

5 months ago I spent $3499 for a G4/800DP with Superdrive. Now for half that price, I can get a single processor 800 with Superdrive and a 15" LCD Monitor!

This is why the new iMac will be such a hit. It could very well eat in to Pro sales, at least until Apple gets new speed bumped PowerMac G4's (or G5's) out the door.

 

[gerbick]

1024x768!? you know, for mac OS X, that's not high enough. one problem I have with my iBook is how quickly the screen fills up at the resolution.

besides, I run 1600x1200 normally. I need the monitor space... or maybe Apple will finally release a Virtual Windows Manager

 

[kilowatt]

Originally posted by testuser

* flat panel - who wants a CRT anymore? And this screen is far more adjustable, and easier to adjust, than any other LCD that comes with windows boxes.

I'd like a screen that does over 1024x768 when I pay $1799. CRT or LCD. I like lcd's plenty. Just not 14" lcd's that do only 1024x768.

And yes, it can burn dvd's. but do you really think the imac people want to burn dvd's?

And regardless of internal storage, data needs to go out, too. Yes, floppies are antiquated. But sometimes nothing will do like a zip for that photoshop file that can't fit in an email attachment and is to small to warrant a cd burn.

I know removable storage is on its way out, but that hasn't happened yet.

when everyone saw the cube, it was a hit. With this, people are split. The cube went on ice. And I think this will, too.

 

[ksv]

I'm 100 % sure it will be a hit. Just look at the iPod, which I absolutely thought would fail, there are already sold 125 000 of them!



And it's SOOO cool! And FAAST! Oh man!

And, it has a 15" LCD display!

Expanding it should also be possible. The original iMac wasn't built for expanding, but it IS possible. Wasn't THAT hard to put a new 100 GB in it

I can't wait!

 

[kenny]

I have to agree with you on this, but you are getting a TON for your money. The 15" display equals a 17" CRT (what 95% of the population uses). You're getting a huge harddrive and fast processor. Unfortunately, they should've kept the old iMac line for sale for a sub$1000 price.

Actually, the old style iMacs are still available @ the applestore, and it looks like they've refreshed the line a little; only indigo, graphite and snow are available, minimum memory is 128MB. Your choice of G3/500 or G3/600. The base config is $799 (500/20G/128MB) and $999 (600/40G/256M). It's not surprising that this was not mentioned @ the keynote; the darling of the show was the new one, but I suspect that the older, crt equipped iMacs to continue until it's affordable for Apple to drop the price on the new one to similar levels.

 

[edX]

i am certainly not an instant fan but the more i think about the new imac, the more i think it will succede in the long run.

1) cost - incredible value!! probably the only thing that killed the cube
2) dvd at that price - on roxio's discussion group, dvd burning is one of the single largest frustrations to users of toast - especially for pc users. lots of people want to put their home vids on disc. new imac can do it right out of the box. people will wow (or wheeeeeeee)
3) even easier to use than old imac. there isn't a desk style made that will cramp access to it. the size of the screen virtually assures nothing large enough to get in your way will get close to it. btw - screen size might be limited by balance. too much bigger screen might tip it over. and i wish some cable connections were right out front. that would be even easier.
4) appeal to girlfriends factor. don't take this one for granted.
5) this is just introductory model. just think of how short a wait it might be to get the new low end for $999 with free memory upgrade, free printer and a free digital camera to work with iphoto. by july maybe?
6)COST! COST!! COST!!!!! - getting an almost pr level mac at consumer prices!!!

still, i wish thay had either made the base with angles or the screen round so it looked more appealling but that is just my pref. with a round screen it would look like a vanity mirror - girlfriend factor times 2!!

 

[theed]

Girlfriend factor. You rock. Most geeks are too insecure and want to impress their geek friends so their egos feel OK. For impressing geek friends you get something in all black made by IBM and tout some horrible limitation as though it were a feature. "And the video card is monochrome, but that's great because I live on the command line anyway."

It takes a really secure man to actually wield a computer purchase as a girl grabber. Don't get me wrong, I think you're on to something. Hell if you bought me that iMac I might be your girl ... surgery and everything. I just don't think too many others are going to "get" the power of the iMac chick magnet.

 

[serpicolugnut]

And yes, it can burn dvd's. but do you really think the imac people want to burn dvd's?

I do. Many of the people who bought the original iMac DV did it to do video editing. Burning a DVD is a natural progression of that.

My fiancés cousin has an iMac DV. For Christmas, we made her a DVD with some footage of our family and some digtal photo slide shows. Their jaws dropped to the floor. When I told them how easy it was to do, they were ready to run out and buy a new $2500 PowerMac just to do that. Now, they can buy a new $1800 iMac to do the same thing.

Apple is positioned right now to capitalize on iDVD. There is nothing like it on the PC. The closest options are slower, less elegant, and the output isn't nearly as nice.

The only thing I don't like about iDVD is that damn Apple watermark it puts on all projects. I need to find a way to hack that out, because I've got several DVD projects coming up, and I doubt the clients want a watermarked Apple on them...undefined

 

[simX]

OK, a couple things:

I agree completely with everyone that this new iMac will be a hit. They pack so much power into so little space, and at a VERY cheap price for what you get.

Did anyone mention video mirroring? The new iMac now has it built-in (VGA video).

It has a 100 MHz system bus.

Pro speakers now included with the two high end iMacs? Those speakers rock.

One thing to bear in mind: the original iMac was priced at $1299. Did it die? No. It was a spectacular hit. This new iMac is such an innovative and power-packed machine that it will most certainly be a hit.

Oh, did I mention that I would buy one right now if I had the money? I don't care what other people think: it looks good.

 

[theed]

I want an additional monitor to go beside the original displaying a contiguous desktop. This would allow pretty much the machine I'm using now to be replaced be the iMac. ... we need a name to distinguish this thing from the CRT model. iMac is too generic a term now. For the moment I propose I iMacLamp.

 

[RacerX]

Lets compare Apples to Apples (or iMacs to iMacs in this case). What would $1300 get you yesterday? An iMac with a 15" (13.6" viewable) CRT with max res of 1024x768 running off a ATI Rage 128 with 16 MB VRAM, G3/600, 256 MB of RAM, a 40 GB hard drive and CD-RW. What do you get for the same price today? An iMac with a 15" (15" viewable) active LCD at 1024x768 running off a GeForce2 MMX with 32 MB of VRAM, G4/700, 256 MB of RAM, 40 GB hard drive and CD-RW.

Yeah, I can really see this not selling.

 

[AdmiralAK]

doesnt it come with a superdrive ? (DVD + CD-RW combo)

 

[mindbend]

The original 6 million mark may be a bit tough, but it'll sell at least half that, which I've got to believe is still a success. Other than multiple monitor outputs (not mirrowing, but a 2nd monitor port) it is better than what I'm using for professional work, looks better and is just cooler.

I'm a bit disappointed in the fan (I can't relate to how loud 25 db is, hopefully that's very quiet). That's one of the subtle things I love about my iMac. Dead quiet. I bring home my external firewire and can barely hear myself think it's so loud in comparison. And my mom's brand new Gateway, holy crap, it's like a blender! How do they put up with that noise?

 

[BlingBling 3k12]

The only thing I don't like about iDVD is that damn Apple watermark it puts on all projects. I need to find a way to hack that out, because I've got several DVD projects coming up, and I doubt the clients want a watermarked Apple on them...

really?! that's what I want iDVD for on my JUST PURCHASED new iMac! can you show me what you mean!

 

[MalinH]

As with many of Apple's recent products, after a few glances, iMac (2) grows on me. The more I think about it, the more I like the design when I think of it as a 'digital hub.'

As for the price, well, it's comparable to the original iMac, but with a lot more punch. A relatively fast G4, AND an LCD display, AND a small surface imprint (AND a Superdrive for a bit more cash.) It's cute in a different way from the original iMac, and while it's probably going to get a love/hate reception, it should be a hit...