Quanta to Produce New iMacs

MacRumors · Oct 30, 2003, 04:04 PM

Appleinsider reports that Quanta will be producing the upcoming iMac, which is rumored to have "major cosmetic changes" for early next year.

Oirectine · Oct 30, 2003, 04:04 PM

Exciting! Any ideas what the new ones will look like?

x86isslow · Oct 30, 2003, 04:13 PM

i havent used a lcd imac, how can they make it better? (to those who do have experience with them)
the current crop of imacs look fabulous.

Mr. Anderson · Oct 30, 2003, 04:18 PM

If they do a redesign....hmmm.....around MacWorld SanFran......cosmetic? Say metalic? Could we be seeing a single G5 in the iMac and all dual G5s in the PowerMacs?

Seems to be better odds now that this will happen.

D

mvc · Oct 30, 2003, 04:19 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by x86isslow
i havent used a lcd imac, how can they make it better?

IMHO it needs to be cuter or sexier (quite apart from faster)! Currently the industrial design nods to the minimalist school of thought of the cube, which is great, but that's not the market its living in.

The original iMac nailed its market space from a design perspective, and while we can't go backwards, I reckon we will end up with a machine ya just want to cuddle again

Exponent · 05:02 PM

OK, while I like my stuff to be made in the U.S., I am cool with things being made in Taiwan, as they are a free country with good civil rights. They've held the line for freedom in the face of mainland China across the straits threatening them both with words and an ever-growing missile battery aimed at them.

But according to this article, which I hope isn't true, Quanta is shifting production over to Shanghai on the mainland. Crap.

For those that don't know why I'm throwing a conniption fit over this, China continues to have a horrible, horrible human rights record, and nobody seems to care about it, provided they make cheap stuff.

Are you a religious person? You better belong to the "Official" version of your church, or you may be prosecuted and your church leaders thrown in jail. The real Catholic Cardinal for China died in jail last year, because he wouldn't recognize the supremacy of the "Official Chinese" Catholic church.

Are you someone who'd like more than one kid? You better hide it well or bugger out of the country, because the government might just force an abortion on you or your spouse.

Are you an engineer wanting to design a cool chip, maybe for communication? Well, now Motorola engineering offices in China have Communist party political officers stationed in them, looking over your shoulder.

Are you a factory worker? Pay attention to this quote from the AI article: "In the new manufacturing facility, labor, electricity, tax and government fees will account for only 5 percent of manufacturing costs..." Nice to know your labor rates will support a nice livable community...

One last thing: When I first started working with Chinese engineers in this country, it was right after the Tiananmen Square massacre, and they seemed to truly appreciate the freedom of the west, and how wrong the Communists were.

Now the new ones coming over are just fine with repression - they have all kinds of excuses for why it is justified. I have yet to meet a new Chinese immigrant (in the last 5 years) with an interest in defending basic human rights. And they're coming over here, to California, by the boatloads.

So, a fine place to make an iMac, eh? Crap.

EDIT: Corrected spelling and grammar mistakes

x86isslow · Oct 30, 2003, 04:25 PM

woohoo, i've been upgraded to member.

Quote:

If they do a redesign...<snip> Say metalic? <snip>

don't you think that they'd keep the consumer and pro lines separate? white consumer line, metallic pro line seems to be the trend.

x86isslow · Oct 30, 2003, 04:34 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Exponent
[b]OK, while I like my stuff to be made in the U.S., I am cool with things being made in Taiwan, as they are a free country with good civil rights.

taiwan doesnt have a stellar human rights record either. martial law ended in 1987. wasnt the KMT a dictatorship?

Machead III · Oct 30, 2003, 04:42 PM

Well, Apple's notebooks pwn, so I'm all for such an adventure!

Exponent · 04:54 PM

A couple of years ago, Taiwan had a democratic election where (at least executive) power changed from the Kuomintang party to the DDP. It was a big deal because the official party line of the DDP is that Taiwan should be an independent country from China.

Yes, Taiwan was under a military dictatorship when it was formed, (when Chang-Kai Sheck and crew retreated from the mainland), but they've been holding the line for freedom for well over a decade now. I'm sure things could be better, but it's head and shoulders better than the scumbuckets on the mainland.

For me, almost as troubling as the condions in the mainland are that a) they put up with it (you would think ex-pat chinese would be taking up arms for an overthrow), and b) leaders in U.S. industry love repression, if it makes manufacturing cheaper.

Dont Hurt Me · Oct 30, 2003, 04:51 PM

the original imac crt had 1 thing going for it. It was fun to look at and said lets play. the new lcd imac says i should be in a studio,dont touch! performance has allways been to low and cost to much. Emac should have been made the new imac and they should have done colors,anyways imac sales have sucked but what do you expect from low performance & high cost. Apple could have simply fixed this with a g5 imac in current form but i think they have something else in mind. Ill say it one more time just in case anybody who is somebody at APPLE see this.CONSUMERS ARE GAMERS take your fx5200 and shove it! they act like this card is supposed to be something.

x86isslow · Oct 30, 2003, 04:56 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Exponent
A couple of years agoTaiwan had a democratic election where (at least executive) power changed from the Kuomintang party to the DDP.

Yes, Taiwan was under a military dictatorship when it was formed, but they've been holding the line for freedom for well over a decade now.

and china has been liberalizing of late no?

i recall reading that the new prez is backing multi-candidate local elections, and reforming the communist party to provide accountability.

well in any case, the future will test the theory that capitalism (like china joining the wto) will bring forth change in commie nations.. this claim was made repeatedly about why we should end the cuba embargo.

JasonElise1983 · Oct 30, 2003, 05:13 PM

Well, i like the way the iMac looks currently. I do agree think more and more consumers are gamers now, but i don't the iMac is where they need to go with that. I think they need to throw the eMac away, update the imac, and make a lowend headless G4/G5 box as the consumer/gamer computer. If apple could make an affordable box that didn't have a monitor, i think they would reach a mouch wider audience. oh, the FX5200 is a piece of ****. The 128Mb one in a PC is pretty bad, but that 64Mb one just blows. They need to up the G5's to 256Mb ATI Radeon 9800 XT's. That would bring a few gamers in.

Exponent · Oct 30, 2003, 05:15 PM

Quote:

...and reforming the communist party to provide accountability.

This was a promise (not fufilled) after the disaster of dishonest SARS reporting.

Quote:

well in any case, the future will test the theory that capitalism (like china joining the wto) will bring forth change in commie nations.. this claim was made repeatedly about why we should end the cuba embargo.

I think all it does it does is screw over all of us who've been paying major taxes to support the cause of freedom around the world. If you'll notice, for all of the new prosperity mainland China has, a) they haven't reciprocated with IMPORTING anywhere near equivalent numbers of U.S. Goods, and b) they've been more and more beligerant to their neighbors. (Witness the attempted crackdown on civil rights in Hong Kong.)

Money doesn't make scum nice, it only makes them more powerful scum. Witness Cuba - they don't have an embargo with well over half of the world's economy - yet it is still a crummy dictatorship, and has been tightening the screws in the past few months.

I'm all for world trade - provided it is with free countries with some basic standards of living (as these cost money to implement), and the countries actually import as much as they export.

x86isslow · Oct 30, 2003, 05:23 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by JasonElise1983
...I think they need to throw the eMac away...

the emac is a solid computer for the classroom, where the toughest game played is oregon trail (oh! the memories) or whatnot.

i'm not quite sure apple is ready to slap a g5 and a top-of-the-line graphics card into the emac and sell it to schools..
ooh look at the kindergardner use fcp on the emac!

the_mole1314 · Oct 30, 2003, 05:31 PM

I've heard that there won't be any changes in the design, but some form factor, size, and other things will change.

Read: computer base with arm with LCD off of it style should stay.

iMax531 · Oct 30, 2003, 05:33 PM

I know that Apple (Steve) ahs decided that colors are out and white and grey and silver are in, but in reality, so many people were attracted to the original iMac because it was (god forbid) cute. People liked that they could choose the best color to suit them, it was a little more personalized. That's an important thing for the mind of a consumer.

Colored iPods? HOT
Colored iMacs? HOT
Colored ibooks? HOT

Colored Powerbooks/G5s? Bad idea. Keep those industrial and cool - give the consumers some color.

Exponent · Oct 30, 2003, 05:39 PM

I think a lot of the colors / lack thereof has to do with the state of the economy. I saw the same thing back in Michigan with the car industry: in bad times, people want less noticable colors, in good times they're willing to be flamboyant.

Considering the good economic news coming out this week, I think we could be seeing more colorful Apple stuff before too long....

Superdrive · Oct 30, 2003, 05:40 PM

I love my FP! I wonder how Apple will make improvements cosmetically. I have faith, but I don't have money. This machine is still running like new (esp. w/ panther) and it is 1 1/2 years old. Gotta love the life span of Macs.

uiop · Oct 30, 2003, 05:44 PM

I knew apple was redesigning the iMac about 5 months ago.

Someone close to apple had told me that they were unable to get the monitor holder/handle metal thing at a reasonable price and were going for a redesign.

macMaestro · Oct 30, 2003, 05:47 PM

Throw away the eMac? Heck no!

Apple NEEDS a low-cost low-end mac.

Replace eMac with low-cost headless Cube like thing? I could live with that...

crenz · Oct 30, 2003, 05:50 PM

Hmm... I hope they will not continue to cripple them, since now the PowerMacs are at a significant distance from the iMacs, and cheap word-processing PCs abound...

Design-wise, it's going to be interesting. I can't imagine them going back to CRT. Either they find another way to attach a TFT, or they'll allow you to connect an external monitor... Either way, I'm curious what will come out of it.

Mudbug · Oct 30, 2003, 05:50 PM

It's hard to think of the current FPiMac as being the "oldest" design product in the run - but I guess it really is. Kinda sad to me - I love the looks of the current model - so futuristic, minimal, inviting, and functional.

It really does make me wonder "what's next..."

Sabenth · Oct 30, 2003, 06:07 PM

I love the fp iMac there is one problem with them thats the price compared to an eMac.. but dont chuck the eMac away its a great system.

Design wise i think it might be a cube with a flip screen oh look its a huge PB intresting idea but very bad i guess..

Maybe it would be a plastic arm and a little wider and higher maybe a bit of room for upgrades

sethypoo · Oct 30, 2003, 06:10 PM

Maybe they could give cunsumers a choice: White, lower end, cheaper FP iMac's for basic computing needs, and metallic, high end, more expensive G5 based iMac's for pro's/power hungry folks.

Makes sense to me!

Oct 30, 2003, 04:04 PM	#1
MacRumors macrumors bot Join Date: Apr 2001	Quanta to Produce New iMacs Appleinsider reports that Quanta will be producing the upcoming iMac, which is rumored to have "major cosmetic changes" for early next year.

Oct 30, 2003, 04:13 PM	#3
x86isslow macrumors 6502a Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: Philadelphia, PA	i havent used a lcd imac, how can they make it better? (to those who do have experience with them) the current crop of imacs look fabulous. __________________ 2009 Mac Mini: C2D 2.0Ghz, 4Gb RAM RevC 12" PowerBook G4: 1.33Ghz, 1.25Gb RAM 2G iPod Touch 16 Gb

Oct 30, 2003, 04:18 PM	#4
Mr. Anderson Demi-God (Moderator) Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Back in VA	If they do a redesign....hmmm.....around MacWorld SanFran......cosmetic? Say metalic? Could we be seeing a single G5 in the iMac and all dual G5s in the PowerMacs? Seems to be better odds now that this will happen. D __________________ "Klaatu varada nikto!"

Oct 30, 2003, 04:23 PM	#6
Exponent macrumors member Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Silicon Valley	Made in Communist China?!? OK, while I like my stuff to be made in the U.S., I am cool with things being made in Taiwan, as they are a free country with good civil rights. They've held the line for freedom in the face of mainland China across the straits threatening them both with words and an ever-growing missile battery aimed at them. But according to this article, which I hope isn't true, Quanta is shifting production over to Shanghai on the mainland. Crap. For those that don't know why I'm throwing a conniption fit over this, China continues to have a horrible, horrible human rights record, and nobody seems to care about it, provided they make cheap stuff. Are you a religious person? You better belong to the "Official" version of your church, or you may be prosecuted and your church leaders thrown in jail. The real Catholic Cardinal for China died in jail last year, because he wouldn't recognize the supremacy of the "Official Chinese" Catholic church. Are you someone who'd like more than one kid? You better hide it well or bugger out of the country, because the government might just force an abortion on you or your spouse. Are you an engineer wanting to design a cool chip, maybe for communication? Well, now Motorola engineering offices in China have Communist party political officers stationed in them, looking over your shoulder. Are you a factory worker? Pay attention to this quote from the AI article: "In the new manufacturing facility, labor, electricity, tax and government fees will account for only 5 percent of manufacturing costs..." Nice to know your labor rates will support a nice livable community... One last thing: When I first started working with Chinese engineers in this country, it was right after the Tiananmen Square massacre, and they seemed to truly appreciate the freedom of the west, and how wrong the Communists were. Now the new ones coming over are just fine with repression - they have all kinds of excuses for why it is justified. I have yet to meet a new Chinese immigrant (in the last 5 years) with an interest in defending basic human rights. And they're coming over here, to California, by the boatloads. So, a fine place to make an iMac, eh? Crap. EDIT: Corrected spelling and grammar mistakes Last edited by Exponent : Oct 30, 2003 at 05:02 PM.

Oct 30, 2003, 04:42 PM	#9
Machead III macrumors 6502 Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: UK, France	Well, Apple's notebooks pwn, so I'm all for such an adventure! __________________ "Radical means grasping things at the root!" - Angela Davis "If we don't believe in freedom of expression for people we despise, we don't believe in it all." - Noam Chomsky "I know you've come to kill me. Shoot, coward, you're only going to kill a man!" - Che Guevara (moments before assassination)

Oct 30, 2003, 04:04 PM	#2
Oirectine macrumors regular Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: Wuxi, China	Exciting! Any ideas what the new ones will look like?

Oct 30, 2003, 04:49 PM	#10
Exponent macrumors member Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Silicon Valley	A couple of years ago, Taiwan had a democratic election where (at least executive) power changed from the Kuomintang party to the DDP. It was a big deal because the official party line of the DDP is that Taiwan should be an independent country from China. Yes, Taiwan was under a military dictatorship when it was formed, (when Chang-Kai Sheck and crew retreated from the mainland), but they've been holding the line for freedom for well over a decade now. I'm sure things could be better, but it's head and shoulders better than the scumbuckets on the mainland. For me, almost as troubling as the condions in the mainland are that a) they put up with it (you would think ex-pat chinese would be taking up arms for an overthrow), and b) leaders in U.S. industry love repression, if it makes manufacturing cheaper. Last edited by Exponent : Oct 30, 2003 at 04:54 PM.

Oct 30, 2003, 04:51 PM	#11
Dont Hurt Me macrumors 601 Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Yahooville S.C.	the original imac crt had 1 thing going for it. It was fun to look at and said lets play. the new lcd imac says i should be in a studio,dont touch! performance has allways been to low and cost to much. Emac should have been made the new imac and they should have done colors,anyways imac sales have sucked but what do you expect from low performance & high cost. Apple could have simply fixed this with a g5 imac in current form but i think they have something else in mind. Ill say it one more time just in case anybody who is somebody at APPLE see this.CONSUMERS ARE GAMERS take your fx5200 and shove it! they act like this card is supposed to be something. __________________ Those that give up Liberty to have temporary Security deserve Neither......Benjamin Franklin.

Oct 30, 2003, 05:13 PM	#13
JasonElise1983 macrumors 6502a Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Between a rock and a midget	Well, i like the way the iMac looks currently. I do agree think more and more consumers are gamers now, but i don't the iMac is where they need to go with that. I think they need to throw the eMac away, update the imac, and make a lowend headless G4/G5 box as the consumer/gamer computer. If apple could make an affordable box that didn't have a monitor, i think they would reach a mouch wider audience. oh, the FX5200 is a piece of ****. The 128Mb one in a PC is pretty bad, but that 64Mb one just blows. They need to up the G5's to 256Mb ATI Radeon 9800 XT's. That would bring a few gamers in.

Oct 30, 2003, 05:31 PM	#16
the_mole1314 macrumors 6502a Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Dayton, OH	I've heard that there won't be any changes in the design, but some form factor, size, and other things will change. Read: computer base with arm with LCD off of it style should stay.

Oct 30, 2003, 05:33 PM	#17
iMax531 macrumors member Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: SF Bay Area/JHU	Colors I know that Apple (Steve) ahs decided that colors are out and white and grey and silver are in, but in reality, so many people were attracted to the original iMac because it was (god forbid) cute. People liked that they could choose the best color to suit them, it was a little more personalized. That's an important thing for the mind of a consumer. Colored iPods? HOT Colored iMacs? HOT Colored ibooks? HOT Colored Powerbooks/G5s? Bad idea. Keep those industrial and cool - give the consumers some color.

Oct 30, 2003, 05:39 PM	#18
Exponent macrumors member Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Silicon Valley	Re: Colors I think a lot of the colors / lack thereof has to do with the state of the economy. I saw the same thing back in Michigan with the car industry: in bad times, people want less noticable colors, in good times they're willing to be flamboyant. Considering the good economic news coming out this week, I think we could be seeing more colorful Apple stuff before too long....

Oct 30, 2003, 05:40 PM	#19
Superdrive macrumors 6502a Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Minneapolis, MN	I love my FP! I wonder how Apple will make improvements cosmetically. I have faith, but I don't have money. This machine is still running like new (esp. w/ panther) and it is 1 1/2 years old. Gotta love the life span of Macs.

Oct 30, 2003, 05:44 PM	#20
uiop macrumors newbie Join Date: Oct 2003	I knew apple was redesigning the iMac about 5 months ago. Someone close to apple had told me that they were unable to get the monitor holder/handle metal thing at a reasonable price and were going for a redesign.

Oct 30, 2003, 05:47 PM	#21
macMaestro macrumors regular Join Date: Sep 2003	Throw away the eMac? Heck no! Apple NEEDS a low-cost low-end mac. Replace eMac with low-cost headless Cube like thing? I could live with that...

Oct 30, 2003, 05:50 PM	#22
crenz macrumors 6502a Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Stuttgart, Germany	Hmm... I hope they will not continue to cripple them, since now the PowerMacs are at a significant distance from the iMacs, and cheap word-processing PCs abound... Design-wise, it's going to be interesting. I can't imagine them going back to CRT. Either they find another way to attach a TFT, or they'll allow you to connect an external monitor... Either way, I'm curious what will come out of it.

Oct 30, 2003, 05:50 PM	#23
Mudbug macrumors god Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Northwest Louisiana	It's hard to think of the current FPiMac as being the "oldest" design product in the run - but I guess it really is. Kinda sad to me - I love the looks of the current model - so futuristic, minimal, inviting, and functional. It really does make me wonder "what's next..." __________________ happy thankschrismahanakwaanzicasmasgiving.

Oct 30, 2003, 06:07 PM	#24
Sabenth macrumors 6502a Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: UK	I love the fp iMac there is one problem with them thats the price compared to an eMac.. but dont chuck the eMac away its a great system. Design wise i think it might be a cube with a flip screen oh look its a huge PB intresting idea but very bad i guess.. Maybe it would be a plastic arm and a little wider and higher maybe a bit of room for upgrades __________________ http://www.icompositions.com/artists/Lapskin/ Yep i am lapskin

Oct 30, 2003, 06:10 PM	#25
sethypoo macrumors 68000 Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Sacramento, CA, USA	Maybe they could give cunsumers a choice: White, lower end, cheaper FP iMac's for basic computing needs, and metallic, high end, more expensive G5 based iMac's for pro's/power hungry folks. Makes sense to me! __________________ Weeeeeee!

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