New G4 Tower and \

Go2Mac.com has a pretty exciting posting of rumours surrounding the release of new G4 towers (in new "metallic" enclosures) and of "Tessera," the new iMac. Quotes from article (thru several updates):

"...the new PowerMac G4s will ship in 733 MHz, 850 MHz and dual 850 MHz configurations."
"The new G4s have 166 Mhz CPU bus asynchronous with 133Mhz DDR memory bus. They are not 733 and 850, but rather 750 and 833 MHz."

Interesting stuff. If true, it would seem the dual 850 will take the ~$2,999 high-end position, the 850 will sit at $2,499, and the 733 will fall at $2,199. Question is, what will be sitting at $1,699? The mystery unfolds...

Price Points...

Well...if the rumor is basically true, and the high-end is a dual 833 G4, then it will sit at the $2,999 pricepoint, unless for the first time in years Apple is going to omit a $2,999 pricepoint machine. That seems unlikely to me. (Yes, they could make the dual 866 + SuperDrive the $2,999 unit, but right now the SuperDrive added to the high-end Mac is at a ~$3,400 pricepoint.) They could put the single or dual 533 at $1,699. We'll have to see.

As for them doing what you suggest or 2GHz PC's are going to start looking awfully good to the consumer--you're a bit late on that one. I'd say the 1.5GHz P4, which has been around a good little while), look alot better to Joe Consumer than a 733MHz G4. Especially when it can be had for 1/2 the price of the G4!


blakespot

(I have sold my B&W G3 400 and want a new, high-end Mac. But I've got to say--I can build an Athlon 1.4GHz machine that will outpace anything but the dual high-end Mac coming, and do it for less than 1/2 the price. That's a significant thing to consider. Yes, I'm Mac-loyal... But my wife is not. See the issue against my lobbying for another Mac? Excellent.)

I think it's clear at least that the iMac will go LCD at this point. Which is good. Especially given the low quality of the iMac's screen (in my opinion--tho many seem to disagree... Anyone?)


blakespot