Apple should re-release the G4 towers with Intel.

macgeek2005 said:

Wouldn't it be great if they had consumer towers? Tower with the same design as the G4, but slightly less powerfull than what the Mac Pro's will be?

Something like this.

1.83Ghz Intel Core Duo
80GB Hard Drive
512mb of ram
Combo Drive
ATI Radeon X1400/128mb
Front Row/Remote

$1499

2.0Ghz Intel Core Duo
100GB Hard Drive
512mb of ram
8x Superdrive
ATI Radeon X1600/128mb
Front Row/Remote

$1699

Click to expand...

I agree in principle, but they'd have to be at least competitive in specs to the iMacs.

As much as I like the design of the G4 tower, I don't think Apple should move back to it. If you look at their history, they're a company of moving on.

They need something in-between the Mini and the iMac, and in-between the iMac and the PowerMac. The one in-between the Mini and the iMac could have a slightly more powerful processor then the Mini and a real graphic card. The one in-between the iMac and the PowerMac could have one of the top-of-the-line processors, and a video card slightly more powerful then the iMac. They could both have the same design, and be tower in form. Just have two configurations. There would have to be some price ajustments in the entire line, though. The Mini would have to drop to $300-$400, the low-end "display-less iMac" could cost around $600-$800, the iMac could drop to $1,000-$1,200, the high end "display-less iMac" could be $1,200-$1,400, and the PowerMacs could be over $2,000. They'd also have to ajust their displays. They'd have to introduce a smaller model (maybe 15 inch) and sell it for $150-$200, bump the 17 inch down to $250-$300, bump the 23 inch down to $400, and make the 30 inch $500-$800.

Yawn. You could at least come up with an original thread idea.

Yes: lots of people think Apple should make a cheaper Mac tower computer.

No: Apple aren't doing it.

The G4 was never a consumer tower. It was the Pro machine from the get go.

I think that might be cool. Apple could use the G5 case for the Mac Pro and the G4 case for a mid range tower.


Doubt it will ever happen though...

Hi,
Or how about the power macintosh G3 cases? I miss seeing those.

Wellander said:

Hi,
Or how about the power macintosh G3 cases? I miss seeing those.

Click to expand...

They were nice, but I like the G4 cases better (especially the later models).

CanadaRAM said:

The G4 was never a consumer tower. It was the Pro machine from the get go.

Click to expand...

...and it cost big bucks!

It would be nice to be have a cheaper tower at the lower end though...there is some room in the lineup underneath the "entry level" $2000 tower.

back to the headless Mac again a?



so -

Mac Mini
Media Mac ( i wish )
eMac (headless Powermac G4 case with intel, and for education only)
iMac
Mac Pro

Macbook 13"
Macbook pro 15" 17"


dam that actually looks good as well

Well, if Apple's Mac sales continues to grow, I think there will be more demand for a more affordable version of the tower.

I'd love to see a pro tower that goes back to more drive bays plus a budget tower with one or two slots and otherwise same specs as the imac.

Something for users who want to be able to upgrade a video card or add an extra card for something else, but don't need a full blown tower.

All together now! Bring Back the Peforma!

as long as it's not another wind tunnel

My g4, i love it to death btw, is a frickin' wind tunnel!!! I can hear if it's on FROM UPSTAIRS

sure, i could replace the fans, but i doubt it would make much of a difference and plus....i love it for all it's little quirks

Why not use the current G5 case for the new "midrange" towers, and come up with a cool new design for the new bleeding-edge computer? Other than the fact that Apple will probably never have a mid-priced tower, that seems like a better idea than reviving a 7-year-old design.

liketom said:

back to the headless Mac again a?



so -

Mac Mini
Media Mac ( i wish )
eMac (headless Powermac G4 case with intel, and for education only)
iMac
Mac Pro

Macbook 13"
Macbook pro 15" 17"


dam that actually looks good as well

Click to expand...

Good, except I think maybe add Mac Pro Extreme after Mac Pro

I agree with you 100%. I love the G4 towers. I'd still buy one of the later ones if I came across the right one for the right money.

Intel 'em up and I'd buy in a second (or as fast as is feasible)

Size wise, I love the G4 towers, however, I like the design of the G5 more. (better air flow, expandability, etc) I am all for a G4 sized G5 case, just without the G5 heft.

A consumer Tower would be fantastic.

I don't really want to spend £1400 on an Intel Powermac, but will eventually find myself being forced to.

wordmunger said:

Why not use the current G5 case for the new "midrange" towers

Click to expand...

The G5 case is enormous. That's why. Too much space for midrange expandability needs. No one needs 8/16 GB of Ram, 4 harddrives in a midrange computer.

Yes, a consumer tower would be nice. I have my doubts Apple would do it, but then I didn't see the Mini coming (even though I envisioned it as being a great option--sort of a modern LC) either. With the distinction between the Core 2 desktop and server flavors coming up, there is a chance they'll do this. That is, offer a prosumer desktop with reasonable specs and the Conroe processor, then offer a full-on workstation (which is what the G5s are right now, without doubt) with Woodcrest. That would be pretty cool, as it would give people like me who want pro power but don't quite need a full workstation (I'm not going to buy a Quadro graphics card, for example, nor do I really need 16GB of EEC RAM) an option.

Hey, could happen.

iMetroid said:

There would have to be some price ajustments in the entire line, though. [...] They'd also have to ajust their displays. ...bump the 23 inch down to $400, and make the 30 inch $500-$800.

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I like your fantasy display lineup, but your prices on the high end really are fantasy for at least several years. Have you looked at what big monitors cost these days? Even Dell, master of cheap displays, can't sell anything nearly that cheap, and Apple's industrial design commands a premium even if it's not worth it to a lot of people. Remember that Dell's 24" usually runs around $800, and their 30" is $2200, only a bit cheaper than Apple's. Heck, even a decent brand 30" LCD TV costs well over $800, and that's not even worth comparing due to the low resolution.

Keebler said:

My g4, i love it to death btw, is a frickin' wind tunnel!!! I can hear if it's on FROM UPSTAIRS

sure, i could replace the fans, but i doubt it would make much of a difference and plus....i love it for all it's little quirks

Click to expand...

With you all the way. Sawtooth Rules!
One gig of RAM, and even the 400 runs Tiger smoothly. Hell of a machine.

But no, let's not go back.

macgeek2005 said:

Wouldn't it be great if they had consumer towers?

Click to expand...

I love my G4/933 tower. It looks great to me.

While the G5 towers are a much better computer, I don't like their looks as much so I hear what you are saying.

Plus I like how the G4 towers open to see the insides. Very nice design looks wise.

Having said that, right now I want to chuck my G4 off the balcony since it is so noisy!

These old designs are proving their worth.

Mmm, I recently brought a B+W G3 tower for £50 to serve as a LAN RAID disk array case. Very nice - it looks good, is easy to use, cheap, has OSX and is smaller than my old PC mid-height case.

My brother was waiting to buy a new Apple laptop. When the new Intel MacBook came out, he took one look, and promptly brought a second hand one year old Powerbook 12'' 1.5GHZ for £600.

It's a smaller and lighter laptop than ANYTHING apple currently produces. He brought it over for me to have a look. Sweet.

..RedTomato..