Regarding iMacs and Mac Mini's

[CrackedButter]

I'm purely going to talk about an idea I had a couple of days ago regarding the 2 machines in the title.

A lot of people lament the fact that the iMac's screen is useless after a couple of years because its confined to being an all-in-one machine. After a while people want to upgrade but the screen isn't something they can take with them into a new computer purchase.

The Mac Mini lacks a screen however and my mentioning it here is because, wouldn't it be a real cost effective implementation to have the mini hook to directly to the iMac's screen?

So in theory if I wanted to upgrade my machine, all I would have to do is buy a mac mini (at this point, should have better internals than the iMacs' it's replacing) and plug it into the back of the iMac, overriding the resident hardware and merging both without having to waste a screen or buy an entire new computer, because buying a Mac Mini would involve just buying its base unit.

Anyway, I'm mentioning it for its discussion value only and I'm not serious about this but thought it was interesting, considering the modular approach, the various savings towards the customer, Apple and the environment.

I like the idea because it would also be a clean implementation. There would be nothing wrong with the iMac just serving as a screen considering how thin it is and knowing Apple they could put all the needed wires into one cable like they already do with other machines.

Anyway... there was my idea.

 

[Scarlet Fever]

not a bad concept. It increased the lifespan of the iMac, and makes it cheaper and more evironmentally friendly to upgrade. Now if only you were a designer at apple...

 

[FleurDuMal]

I see where you're coming from. However, one major flaw with that is that someone who at the moment would buy the 24" iMac would, chances are, in two years time want something that is more powerful by that days standards than what the most specced out Mac Mini could provide.

 

[wwooden]

Taking your idea to the next step, they should just make an iMac style screen (with iSight built in) that has an area cut out in the back or the side where you could slide in a Mac Mini. So the iMac style would have no computer in it initially, you would have to supply the computer yourself. It could end up looking similar to the iMacs now, but have the option of completely changing the computer part.

I think this is something that is possible now, maybe a third party company could make a screen like this.

 

[kalisphoenix]

Perhaps someday they could make something like the iMac, but without the computer inside, and have a standard input that can connect to the video output of other computers.

 

[CrackedButter]

I see where you're coming from. However, one major flaw with that is that someone who at the moment would buy the 24" iMac would, chances are, in two years time want something that is more powerful by that days standards than what the most specced out Mac Mini could provide.

You have just reminded me of something else which was part of my original idea. Imagine if the iMac took advantage of xgrid while having a Mac Mini attached to it, instead of simply turning off the components of the iMac when the Mini was connected. Surely there would be some benefit from buying that Mac Mini 2 years down the line having their processing abilities combined? Say if the Mac Mini in 2 year from now, only caught up with the iMac's superior processor from 2 years ago, you'd still at least only have in effect a machine which would be dual dual core running at the same processor frequency.

not a bad concept. It increased the lifespan of the iMac, and makes it cheaper and more evironmentally friendly to upgrade. Now if only you were a designer at apple...

Well I am a practicing designer... just not product design.

Taking your idea to the next step, they should just make an iMac style screen (with iSight built in) that has an area cut out in the back or the side where you could slide in a Mac Mini. So the iMac style would have no computer in it initially, you would have to supply the computer yourself. It could end up looking similar to the iMacs now, but have the option of completely changing the computer part.

I think this is something that is possible now, maybe a third party company could make a screen like this.

Perhaps someday they could make something like the iMac, but without the computer inside, and have a standard input that can connect to the video output of other computers.

I can see what you are both saying but my approach wouldn't really add anything to Apple's inventory, knowing that they like to keep things simple, your idea goes against that. All they would need to do is create the extra port write the software and supply a cable.