Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Interesting article on the Summer 2014 iMac

T

Thermonuclear

macrumors 6502
Original poster
May 23, 2009
362
21
An interesting article on the Summer 2014 iMac:

See: http://lowendmac.com/2014/the-mid-2014-21-5-imac-road-apple-edition/

Low End Mac has been around since before the iMac era and has over the years produced a list of Road Apple Macs -- models which were apparently deliberately limited in value for other than technical reasons. The site has not yet officially placed the new iMac on the list, but that posting may not be far off.

The Summer 2014 iMac reminds me of the 2006 Core Solo Mac Mini. For a small savings in price, a purchaser got a machine severely hobbled by a slow single core GPU, rather limited vampire video graphics, no 64 bit capability, and difficulty with upgrading any component.
 
K

khedden

macrumors member
Jun 18, 2014
70
0
Charleston, SC
Interesting article, but I don't agree that it's that bad. It's already been discussed to death on this board so I'll try not to get into it too much.

a) the article compares the new, retail price of the low end iMac to the refurbished price of the $1299 model. Not a fair comparison.

b) the main beef of the article seems to be the price. I agree with this. $999 would have been much better. Maybe when they refresh the other iMacs this fall (maybe), they'll drop the price on this one.

c) It's already $979 at best buy and B&H.

d) It's very similar to the Macbook Air (+more RAM, no SSD, bigger screen) and no one complains about the processor in that machine. Again, the iMac is about $100 too high.

e) Single-threaded performance is competitive, as the article points out. For price-sensitive people that aren't going to be doing heavy processing, it makes sense.
 
T

Thermonuclear

macrumors 6502
Original poster
May 23, 2009
362
21
That article along with other articles from the site show that this is not the first time that Apple has released a Clunker Mac. But it's the first time in many years and that's why the 2014 iMac release is a bit of a surprise to long time Apple watchers.

Apple released a lot of Road Apple Macs in the ten years or so leading up to the first iMac and I'd hoped that those days were gone for good.

Perhaps Apple will release something like the 20th Anniversary Mac: an overpriced machine with only mediocre performance, but a great fashion statement.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom