PowerMacs EOL'd?

[arn]

Cube-Zone reports that current PowerMacs have become EOL'd (End of Life).

One of our sources told us yesterday that the current PowerMac line (800 Mhz, 933 Mhz and dual 1 Ghz) has been EOled. Computers dealers cannot order those computers from Apple anymore.The current promotion indicates that Apple has a huge stock of those PowerMacs.



This could be a move to clear out current stock... most recent rumors target PowerMac release in Mid-August, rather than MWNY.

 

[job]

Great.

Well maybe that means I can get a dual 1Ghz sometime in August for a reduced price.

 

[TechKid]

If Apple had a "huge stock of those" you would think they would let retailers buy as many as they want to get rid of them???

 

[kettle]

mmm

one by one things will fall into place

just focus yer senses on that freshly unpacked mac smell

 

[gropo]

Notice:

*Quicksilvers are EOL'd

*The "Special Deals" online store is currently empty. (perhaps awaiting a whole slew of Quicksilver run-over that doesn't make it in to the distribution channels?)

*Apple's simmilar move in January, whereby they delayed the announcement of the "less buzz generating" New-gen Quicksilvers - To focus the spotlight on the new iMac

"something bigger" in a few days? Let's hope.

 

[job]

Re: Notice:

Originally posted by gropo
"something bigger" in a few days? Let's hope.

I don't think it will be in a few days. Remember the thread about 6 different cases. It's probably going to be sometime in August.

 

[wsteineker]

If the announcement isn't going to occur until August, don't you think it's a bit premature to go EOLing the current lin? Just a thought...

 

[job]

Originally posted by wsteineker
If the announcement isn't going to occur until August, don't you think it's a bit premature to go EOLing the current lin? Just a thought...

Wouldn't it depend on their inventory? If they had a lot of towers left over, wouldn't you need at least a month to get rid of them?

 

[gropo]

Re: Re: Notice:

Originally posted by hitman


I don't think it will be in a few days. Remember the thread about 6 different cases. It's probably going to be sometime in August.

"Something Bigger" would be in reference to another bit of (perhaps consumer oriented) kit that Apple desires' receive the Linus' Share of the attention (to best capitalize on the wonderful "free" publicity they receive after every Keynote)

 

[wsteineker]

Originally posted by hitman
Wouldn't it depend on their inventory? If they had a lot of towers left over, wouldn't you need at least a month to get rid of them?

Yes, but this would effectively make all of those systems sitting in Apple (not Ingram) warehouses unavailable. It's not wise to try and push a product that you're not selling. Still, stranger things have happened.

 

[crassusad44]

lets hope...

Think we'll just have to hope for the new towers to appear at MWNY. Many pro users were dissappointed at MWSF. It would be unwise for Apple to dissappoint them (including me) again. A release between expos usually mean a smaller update. The towers need more than that. The new iBooks and PowerBooks seem to have been the exception of the rule here though (Sahara chip (iBook) and L3 cache (PBs) have proved to be big performance boosters)...

My 2¢

 

[wsteineker]

Yeah, we should hope. But if Apple is serious about this whole updating products when they're ready and not waiting for expos thing, then they won't release a new run of towers until they're ready to ship. Let's be honest here, guys. We applauded Apple when they adopted teh new product announcement strategy, but now a lot of folks are bashing them becasue they just might stick to it. It's a double standard. I think we should just wait and see, knowing that new towers will coming down the pipe very soon no matter what. Just my $.02.

 

[trodel_post]

Originally posted by wsteineker
Yeah, we should hope. But if Apple is serious about this whole updating products when they're ready and not waiting for expos thing, then they won't release a new run of towers until they're ready to ship. Let's be honest here, guys. We applauded Apple when they adopted teh new product announcement strategy, but now a lot of folks are bashing them becasue they just might stick to it. It's a double standard. I think we should just wait and see, knowing that new towers will coming down the pipe very soon no matter what. Just my $.02.

I, for one, made no such endoresement.

 

[JD2]

Confused are we?

Let us put things into perspective here,

Apple is bashing us around the ears (like we say it here in Belgium) with al sorts of rebate offers.

One: They would not lower the hurdle for us consumers if they did not have to, 484 € (counting TVA) is a lot of cash for some of the machines they take back.

Two: They even let you combine the "crystal clear offer" with the "power take back". Yet another 500 $....

This can only lead to one conclusion, they desperatly want to get rid of the current Powermac G4's even if they do not have G5's to replace them.

Mind you, the cristal clear offer does not exist (yet) here in Europe (to my knowledge) I onle recall an offer for a G4 combined with an 17" Lcd and Apple care that ran until 30/06/02.

We all saw what Xserve has to offer, as many of us have predicted maybe this is what the new G4 will look like inside (DDR memory as an eyecatcher)

Like a lot of you I'd like Steve to leave us with an open mouth after his upcoming "speech". But then again we sometimes want to much more don't we?

For myself I am postponing my drive to the dealer for a few days, I have a buyer for my 8600/250 with XLR8 G3 450 (with an 466 chip) running at 500Mhz and I just owe it to my good mood just to wait until after NY.
I 'd hate to be disappointed just for not being able to wait one more week.

I 'm keeping my fingers crossed.

And I will never revert to that four letter word: PéCé ;-)))

 

[peterjhill]

So a quick look on Apple's store (for higher edu. personal purchases) shows the following shipping times. Things look pretty good if you're crazy enough to buy a Mac a week before a Macworld Keynote.

Power Mac G4 733MHz M8642LL/A 1-3 days (edu. only)
All other Power Macs 1-2 days

All iMacs 1-2 days

iBook 12.1TFT CDR M8600LL/A 5 days
iBook 12.1TFT Combo M8602LL/A 3 days
iBook 700MHz/14.1XGA Combo M8603LL/A 5 days

PowerBook 667 M8591LL/A 1-3 days
PowerBook 800 M8592LL/A 3 days

 

[wsteineker]

Originally posted by trodel_post
I, for one, made no such endoresement.

Never meant to point a finger at anyone in particular, man. I was just making a statement about the generally easy sway that the Mac community demonstrates in situations like these. That's all. No offense meant at all.

 

[edenwaith]

Re: Notice:

Originally posted by gropo

*The "Special Deals" online store is currently empty. (perhaps awaiting a whole slew of Quicksilver run-over that doesn't make it in to the distribution channels?)

What I found out in January when I purchased a refurbished iBook was Apple seems to wait a little bit after the expo, then puts up their older models up for sale.

So, my guess would be that there will be a lot more older and refurbished products in the Special Deals are of the Apple Store.

From what I read at one time, the January PowerMacs weren't announced at MacWorld since there was some controversy whether or not some part (it might have been the Nvidia video card) was going to be ready or not. Even if they had announced the improvements on the PowerMac, I don't think that would have stolen too much of the iMac's thunder. Maybe a little since the new iMac had similar strength to the PowerMac, so more consumers might have found the iMac more compelling.

So, I do hope that if there are going to be some improvements in the PowerMac line, announce them at macworld NY, but let the people know when they will be ready. I certainly don't want a MacWorld like last year which was fairly disappointing. Hopefully Apple has something big up its sleeves which no one has really discovered yet.

 

[drastik]

well, they are certianly acting like ther's something up their sleves, I think that this pretty much knocks out the no new Powermac rumor. We're going to at least get an announcement. There are a lot of fairly reputable sources out there saying different things right now. In light of Jobs penchoint for tight lips, and his obvious anger over TimeCanada fiasco, I still buy the misinformation ploy. This bit of info though, can't be misinformation. Apple would never, ever, discontinue a line and then resurect it, thats just silly. So, some change is comming. It may be till august with an announcement at NY, that's true. You may be able to buy it in an apple store next wendsday. Somehting is comming.

 

[arn]

Originally posted by drastik
well, they are certianly acting like ther's something up their sleves, I think that this pretty much knocks out the no new Powermac rumor.

I don't think this precludes a non-PowerMac announcement.

1st... this is a rumor... not verified evidence.

2, they are going to want to clear our current inventory before introducing new machines.

arn

 

[dongmin]

all kinds of confusion

Everyone says that Apple is sitting on a huge inventory of PowerMacs. So if they're not selling those to retailers, what the heck are they going to do with them?

Can anyone, with connections to retailers, make an educated guess as to how long it takes Apple to announce replacements after a product line has been EoL'd? Is it a matter of days, in which case, we can still hold on to some hope for new Powermacs at the Expo? Or is it a matter of weeks, in which case, we'll probably have to wait til the end of August when the display promo is over?

A lot of confusing rumors. Damnit, I want absolute clarity and certain in my rumors!

 

[job]

Re: all kinds of confusion

Originally posted by dongmin
A lot of confusing rumors. Damnit, I want absolute clarity and certain in my rumors!

Clarity + rumors = oxymoron

Apple will have to update the Power Mac line soon. It cannot just sit on it's current towers and expect them to sell like hotcakes. Users are desperate for an updated motherboard, etc that will provide for substancial speed increases. It's going to happen, we just don't know when.

hitman

 

[wake up Jobs!!!]

that is strange

 

[MrEFord]

Apple'll probably announce the new G4s at MWNY but we're just have to wait for them, which could be a good thing or a bad thing depending on which view you have. The fact that the current ones have been EOLed leads to the idea that perhaps they will be announcing new hardware. They will probably try to get rid of the current G4s as fast as they can and by the time the new ones start shipping (at least a month after MWNY) then hopefully by then the stock of current G4s will be gone.

-E

 

[suzerain]

I got yer absolute clarity right here!

Originally posted by dongmin
Can anyone, with connections to retailers, make an educated guess as to how long it takes Apple to announce replacements after a product line has been EoL'd?

A lot of confusing rumors. Damnit, I want absolute clarity and certain in my rumors!

Disclaimer: I do not have direct connection to Apple retailers.

In the past, when Apple has EOL'd a product, it has meant one of two things: (1) a replacement has come within 1-2 weeks; or (2) the product line was canceled.

Since I highly doubt the entire Power Mac product line is to be canceled, it would seem to indicate there will at least be an announcement, if the Power Macs have indeed been EOL'd.

Ya know, something everyone here has been ignoring...a couple of weeks ago, there were a bunch of stories on the Web .just like this one. Other stories about Apple's financial health have claimed iMac sales of about 400,000 this year, though Apple predicted 550-600,000. That's an awful lot of unsold iMacs, assuming many of those were actually manufactured.

Now, the EOL story, if true, plus the stories from weeks ago talking about high iMac iinventories would seem to be evidence for exactly the opposite of the claims of the Think Secret and C|Net stories today: namely, that the 17" iMac would come in a few weeks, while the Power Macs would be at least announced.

 

[tk-421]

Re: all kinds of confusion

Originally posted by dongmin
Can anyone, with connections to retailers, make an educated guess as to how long it takes Apple to announce replacements after a product line has been EoL'd? Is it a matter of days, in which case, we can still hold on to some hope for new Powermacs at the Expo? Or is it a matter of weeks, in which case, we'll probably have to wait til the end of August when the display promo is over?

I work at an Apple Specialist here in town and I checked with purchasing and we're still able to order Powermacs.

As for how long for replacements to appear after an EoL. When the new ibooks were released, we couldn't order anything for about a week, maybe two. We didn't know what was coming until they were announced. We just knew we couldn't order ANY ibooks.

But at the same time, the Powerbook line got a revamp and the previous line never got an EoL status (at least none that I know of).