Flat Panel iMac up to $1800?

[MacRumors]

MacMinute posted (http://www.macminute.com/lib/020103apple.shtml) a very similar report to [url="http://www.thinksecret.com"]ThinkSecret's expo report</> with the same revisions in the iBook, iMac, and iPhoto software.

Of note, MacMinute reports a price range with a $1000 entrylevel "traditional" iMac, and the flat-panel models topping out at $1800... filling in the Cube's price point... :)

[MacAztec]

That is impossible. The G4 Tower is 1699. There is no way apple is going to price an iMac G3 higher than a G4. No way...

[macrules929]

It may seem to be pricy, but one needs to remember that this does have an LCD monitor. LCD's aren't cheep! That's why it will cost more...

Don't get me wrong, i'm hoping that it's not that expensive!

[blackpeter]

Add in hte cost of an LCD monitor and the G4's cost goes up to at least $2,300.

[kishba]

you know i was going to buy one

but now i won't -- if the price is really this high

[SPG]

$1800 is justifible if:
DVD burner (would need a hardware MPEG encoder if it's a G3)
LCD with a good resolution.
1ghz
Firewire (or gigawire)
Airport.

Then $1800 is not that outrageous. Remember this would be the very high end iMac like the DP is the high end G4 costing $3500

[SPG]

There have been many credible reports that there will still be a "classic" iMac CRT version available with a speed bump at a more affordable price around $800.

[MacAztec]

What are you guys thinking. I would never pay 1800 for an iMac. Just recently, you could get a g4 with a 15" LCD for 1789, after the 500 dollar rebate. Now remember, an LCD is 600 dollars, the computer is not 1200, without a screen. I mean, a high end iMac WITH a screen was 1200, and now you are trying to tell me that without a screen it is 1200?!? This guy is nuts, and so are his sources...

[Falleron]

Originally posted by SPG
There have been many credible reports that there will still be a "classic" iMac CRT version available with a speed bump at a more affordable price around $800.

I think this version will be for education

[sparkleytone]

Originally posted by SPG
$1800 is justifible if:
DVD burner (would need a hardware MPEG encoder if it's a G3)
LCD with a good resolution.
1ghz
Firewire (or gigawire)
Airport.


really? i dont like to be mean but are you guys really stupid?

that type of machine ALONE (no monitor) sells for $1600 in the PC world without 802.11b and without apple software.

$1800 is justifiable if it is a good solid product that pleases aesthetically and realistically.

really, i know its a crazy time, but get your heads out of your a$$es.

[eyelikeart]

if the iMac was equipped with LCD and sold for $1800, then it wouldn't be consumer level computer anymore....way too much to be!

[Falleron]

I meant a low end version with the crt will still exist

[sparkleytone]

Originally posted by eyelikeart
if the iMac was equipped with LCD and sold for $1800, then it wouldn't be consumer level computer anymore....way too much to be!

so why not call it something different than iMac ?? ;D

[SPG]

Mr Sparkle, the point is that $1800 with those features is a hell of a deal. The PC with those features is less, much less.

[sparkleytone]

there is a difference between a hell of a deal and losing money. see the last sentence of my last post.

[spuncan]

ok whats ur problem one in the (better) mac world prices are a little different cuz we are a little smarter than who ever came up with that price so lets say and imac lowend 799? and minus the crt um 600?-700 so add a (mass produced) 15" lcd 300 to 400 so some where between 900 and 1100 for a new lcd imac and a high end being 1100 to 1300 so 1800 is not reasonable. Another thing buy MW Tokyo the price should drop to 899 lowend and highend 1100. this sounds cool to me.

[nahaliel]

they'll have imacs for the cheap crowd, around 1200$ ish, and then this $1800 for someone who doesnt like the noice of the tower and wants a small package that includs a DVDR... price is justified if it includes a DVDR (Without, I'd expect atleast $300 less)

[sparkleytone]

AGAIN THE LAST SENTENCE OF MY POST IS POIGNANT!

what about SOFTWARE canman? maybe apple should just stop paying everyone who makes things like say... OS X.

[Bophonic]

Do you guys think they might go fr a G4 iMac? G3 is starting to show its age, no??

Peace

[reyesg4]

Will you get the cheap low end iMac with the CRT screen, 32 meg Video card, and DVD drive for $1,199 or will you want to get the iMac with the LCD screen, 64meg Video card, bigger bus size and combo drive and airport card built in for $1,699? Forget about a Superdrive unless they don't charge for it and forget about mhz if it does not have a G4 in it or is not above 1Ghz. Its the other new features that will make it shine. Unfortunatly, the only one worth owning will still be expensive one. But, it should not come as a surprise because they did the same thing with the iBook. Most loved the combo drive model at $1,799. I think the Rev 2 iMac LCD will be worth all the money you spend for it though. Just like the iBook is today.
As far as the people saying that a LCD iMac can't cost as much as a high end iBook you are wrong. It costs more money to design the iMac with bigger parts, motherboard, screen than it does for an iBook. Unless they plan to lose money on the LCD model and make it up on the overpriced crt ones, the price must be high. Apple has not lowered prices on its computers since the blue & white g3, look at the prices from 3 years ago for its models, its more expensive now to buy them. Thats because Apple spends way more money designing their pc's than any competitor would ever want too. We all want Apple to try to beat its competitors on price of its computers, but Apple is only good at beating the other guys at products that are way ahead of their time. Products that the competitors have not invented yet. This macworld will only be revolutionary if it changes the way you look at Apple's computers. Low prices are revolutionary, excellent ahead-of-their-time products for a high price is something Apple has delivered since its creation and is nothing new.

[sparkleytone]

exactly.

[macboy]

A lot of talk about flat panel imac with an iBook look... could it be http://www.geocities.com/imac2k2 ?

The feet could be in a C which would provide support it there were only two like shown...

[lfrey1]

You know, this is in fact why we love Apple. Would we be nearly as excited ( or are our PC aquaintences nearly so) about an announcement by Dell? Don't think so.


Anyway: back on track:
I have heard several people postulate that we may be seeing 100% compatibility with Windows (since the API's have been released), meaning running ANY software on the Mac without additional emulators...

thoughts?

[Catfish_Man]

Apple is almost definetly going to be using the Sahara, and it's minimum clockspeed is 800mhz. So the prediction of 750mhz being the top is crap. As for the price, that seems a bit off too. Apple has always resisted raising the iMac's price, especially this drastically.

[Catfish_Man]

...is not possible. Windows runs on x86 processors only, and OSX/OS9 run on PowerPC processors only. A new OSX might have a built in emulator, but it would still have to emulate both the processor and the OS. (Classic is an emulator, but it only has to emulate the OS, so it can run at almost full speed.)

[amichalo]

Originally posted by spuncan
so add a (mass produced) 15" lcd 300 to 400

Where are you buying 15" LCDs for $300-400? And what's with the mass produced comment? Aren't ALL consumer electronics mass produced? I wouldn't even know how to order a custom LCD.

[amichalo]

Originally posted by lfrey1
I have heard several people postulate that we may be seeing 100% compatibility with Windows (since the API's have been released), meaning running ANY software on the Mac without additional emulators...

thoughts?

I have a thought - I hope not. Emulating Windows software on a Mac will be a step in the wrong direction.

Software written for windows won't take advantage of OS X, while giving developers no reason to write OS X native software. Further, runing through an emulator will always tip the hat to Windows, thus beging the question, why buy a Mac?

Just compare 3D Excel charts in Office XP and in Office v.X - the Mac makes a far more stimulating graphic because of Quartz in OS X. Can't do it with Windows.

[GigaWire]

Where are you buying 15" LCDs for $300-400? And what's with the mass produced comment? Aren't ALL consumer electronics mass produced? I wouldn't even know how to order a custom LCD.


He's referring to the fact that in quantity, per unit cost is lower. Ex. I bought over $500 worth of chocolate at a retailer this past Christmas. Because i bought so much, they gave me a 10% discount. Now if i bought it one box at a time, i would have paid 10% more than in quantity.

[dongmin]

The $1800 figure could be for an iMac targetted for offices. With a G4 instead of a G3 maybe. Basically a Cube without the Cube.

I agree with others that $1800 is high for a consumer- level, non-upgradable desktop machine. UNLESS it has the Superdrive. Steve Jobs seems to be wanting to push DVD-burning to consumers. An 15" LCD iMac with a 1-ghz G3, a GeForce2, and a Superdrive would be a bargain.

[lfrey1]

god don't let it be a game station.

[j763]

I believe that it is technically impossible to run Windows programs on a Mac without emulation. This is not to say that Apple wouldn't be able to make a OS update that would emulate windows in the background and run the program on top. They'd have to ensure that the emulation was slow enuf (vpc slow) so that there would still be a large enough advantage in running native OS X programs. We need some windows emulation for little programs but for other that are already avaliable for the mac, keep them OS X native. Making a GOOD windows emulator as part of the OS would be a *bad* decision considering Macs are only 4% of the desktop market...

[Djk515]

I don't really see what the big deal is for an $1800 iMac. Remember, you haven't seen it's specs yet. And if they do release one for $1800 then it probably will be the highest of the high end. There will most likely still be one for less than $1,000, then one or two better equipped iMacs, then the $1800 one that is really, really, really nicely equipped. The Cube was basically made to fill that gap between people who want a nice basic iMac and those who want a fancy G4. Why not just make a very well put-together iMac for $1800 to fill that space instead of a new machine? Doesn't seem all that crazy to me. Everyone keeps saying no one will pay $1800 for an iMac, but how can you say that if you haven't seen the computer yet? You're all making that presumption based only on past iMacs.

[elgruga]

Well, OK, as long as it has some pci slots (say 3 ) and a separate graphics card slot, and an LCD screen.
Run a couple of raided Firewire drives off the FW port and we have a reasonable small server/office box/mail server type machine.

Oh. Then its not an iMac anymore, is it?

Well if the iBook is going for $1199, then how do we get to $1800 for the iMac? The screen is what, another 2.5 inches bigger, and thats the only difference, except its cheaper to make an iMac because its bigger and the plastics are easier to mould, etc.etc.

You switch to all LCD's and now Apple is buying, say, 3.5 million screens a year. Now we got discount, boys.

There are presumably other savings on shipping costs, (LCD smaller and lighter) on lower voltage components, smaller transformers, etc.

So, the iMac with LCD for about 1299, with a CDRW drive and 1499 with DVD/CDRW drive.

$1800? Fuggeddabahdit.

[sparkleytone]

512MB RAM, 1GHz G3, DVD/CDRW, geforce2 ti, POSSIBLY gigawire (whatever it is) and maybe even OFFICE v.X ???

sounds like an $1800 winner to me

[Beej]

Well look at what costs $1800 now... you can get a G4 733/40GB/128MB/GF2MX for $1700.

After the expo this machine will cost a couple of hundred dollars less, so add in an LCD, and you'd have a spankin' fast G4 LCD $1800 iMac...

[rjgjonker]

Originally posted by amichalo
Originally posted by spuncan
so add a (mass produced) 15" lcd 300 to 400

Where are you buying 15" LCDs for $300-400? And what's with the mass produced comment? Aren't ALL consumer electronics mass produced? I wouldn't even know how to order a custom LCD.

The regular price for a no-name cheapo DVI LCD is about ¤400 ($360). Just the panels will cost Apple less than $250, if ordered in massive quantities. Only the top model will be as expensive as $1800.

[gooddog]

Don't worry lfrey1 ,

Tech TV says it's a Home Entertainment wonder ------

that's music ( iPod did this for now )

and TV < ======== this is the one !!!!

: ^ D !!!!!!!!

I predict a 27" version of the Cinema Display wrapped

around a do-it-all magic software wonder that takes

any signal or pixel shape --- HDTV , cable , satellilte,

digital , analog , progressive scan , interlaced , etc

and does whatever is needed to optimize it for the

display. Scale it down and do your computing too !

Tivo ? ..... Sure. Phone machine with all the flexibility

of a G5 included.

==============

There are only TWO THINGS of major import left to hub

----- TELEVISION and telephone / cellphone .

And DigiCams are already too well covered by other

manufacturers for Apple to compete with. B U T

when it comes to TV , HDTV , DVD , etc. ...... the

DVD 16 X 9 is going gangbusters but the HDTV with

16 X 9 sets ARE NOT MOVING NEARLY AS WELL ....

WHO WANTS TO BUY A CINEMA DISPLAY **AND**

A BEHEMOTH HDTV SET ------ I say Jobs is going to

combine these functions in one huge / POSSIBLY

ORGANIC LED or, more likely, FUSED MULTIPANEL

COMBINATION TV / COMPUTER / DVD PLAYER /

PHONE MANAGER.

/

: * ] AAAaaaRRRrrFFFff !!!

\

--- gooddog

[gooddog]

Gawd !!!!!!!

I hope it's not the Canadian Time Magazine thing !!!!

It's a lump with a chrome panel jammed into it !!!!!!

Totally non-evocative shape .... not even a little

asymmetry like a good bonsai planter !!!!!

Looks like Ives was angry with Jobs and pulled

a Richard Dreyfus on a clay mountain --- then kept the

wrong piece !!!!!!

The base clashes with the panel,

a dome retains heat too well,

the chrome is tacky,

Bondi looked like all good things past : this

iLump looks like none of them.

And it's not crystal clear , louvered lucite as I had hoped.


AAAAaauuuugggghhhhh !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

/

>: * (

\


---gooddog

[gooddog]

AFTER seeing it on TV coverage ---- IT GREW ON ME !!!

It's a snowball , or a coconut ---- anyway I like it.

It (1800) is so loaded that I can afford it in one month

--- wish it could drive the Cinema Display ....Hmmmm