$499 Headless iMac?

[Kagetenshi]

Yeah you could, but you have to stop momentarily to switch weapons, especially when strafing right. And with button 2, you can bind it to a grenade launcher, while you use button 1 to shoot rockets.

Not a meaningful problem. Trust me, I've gamed with this configuration for about five and a half years now, and one would be hard pressed to tell exactly when I switch weapons. Furthermore, it's not difficult at all to reallocate the fingers on your left hand such that you're still moving. Say you're moving forward and right and want to switch to your next weapon (the worst situation). You just slide your fourth finger to W, your third finger to D, and use your index finger to hit R. A maneuver that isn't at all difficult to perform (barely more difficult than scrolling a mousewheel, and about as difficult as scrolling a mousewheel without also clicking it while under duress) and takes a fraction of a second.

And I'm not seeing your point with the grenade launcher. If you've got a key or button, of course you can bind it to something while you use another key to do something else.

~J

 

[Sir_Giggles]

I dont care too much for the iPod flash rumor, since only the very cheap and runners would care for such a device. I prefer it if Apple just lopped off $60-$100 from the mini.

 

[Sir_Giggles]

And I'm not seeing your point with the grenade launcher. If you've got a key or button, of course you can bind it to something while you use another key to do something else.

~J

Suppose you got an enemy trapped inside a ditch. You can press button 2 to lob grenades into the water, while keeping aim at the wall of the ledge. In case the enemy decides to make a dash out of the ditch, you can then fire off rockets as he is getting out without having to take your left hand from the WASD keys. It just makes it easier. THat is all.

 

[Sir_Giggles]

One thing's for sure, Apple will have to cope with bad press if the rumour is based on false information. But I don't think Apple will announce that $499 Mac just because it has got so much attention. If it's not set to materialise it just won't. It's amazing what a well placed rumour can do, in a positive and in a negative sense. Like I said, I'm skeptical, on the other hand, if it's just rubbish, shouldn't Apple say so? What could they win if the keynote comes and goes without the big announcement so many people are waiting for?

That's why Apple needs to be a little more forthcoming in product announcements, if they want to quash speculation rumors. But since they are secretive and that's the appeal, they are in a pickle in regards to fanatical expectations.

 

[Kagetenshi]

Suppose you got an enemy trapped inside a ditch. You can press button 2 to lob grenades into the water, while keeping aim at the wall of the ledge. In case the enemy decides to make a dash out of the ditch, you can then fire off rockets as he is getting out without having to take your left hand from the WASD keys. It just makes it easier. THat is all.

Still not seeing it. Are you talking about off-hand grenades? The all-important shift key is your friend for most of what people would use a second mouse button for. If that's occupied, Q is reachable by two fingers and results in a sub-quarter-second noncoverage of all four movement keys.

If you're talking about actually binding a key to change weapons to the grenade launcher specifically, well, same answer.

~J

 

[Rootman]

I play that one too. See what you quoted but replace "zoom" with "secondary fire".

If you'll note, UT2k4 doesn't actually have a zoom feature extrinsic to the weapons, but just to cover my arse in case there really is one, control will do just fine for that.

~J

One button or two, do you think this headless Mac will run UT 2k4 OK? That and Garageband are my priorities.

 

[takao]

I use a two button mouse at home, mostly becouse my wife replaced the broken Apple mouse with one from Microsoft. It is nice for web browsing and such, I dont play games so dont know about that. However I'm not so sure I would like it for work. My left hand is usually near the keyboard for shortcut keystokes anyway so modifier buttons are just as easy as they would be with a 2 button mouse, and the one button is more ergonomic causing less strain than the Microsoft mouse does. The combination of the modifiers also offers me more "complex" behavior than a mear 2 button mouse does as well. This is my preference based on my experience, so take it as that and not an insult.

offtopic:
well normal i only use 2 mouse+keyboard keystrokes and thats shift + left mouse button and crtl + left mouse button for selecting files
and last time i did that (perhaps fast) to delete some files i was asked "HEY how did you do that so fast ?" and was looked uppon with big eyes like i was doing magical stuff

perhaps it might be more intuitive for a long time apple user

i discover by _accident_ after 8 months that if i hold "shift" in itunes that buttons change their meaning..i always had to create smart playlists over the menu because i didn't find a way to do it otherwise (the first thing i tried was right clicking the empty space below the other playlists, then right clicking _and_ crtl-clicking on the button ..because right clicking brings a up a context menu when clicking a playlist )

(and a short cut like strl+alt+n displayed in the menu is hardly ergonomically for something with smaller hands)

apple is good with making intutive programs but they are not the holy grail

another thing that really annoys me about iTunes is that you have to click the _label_ on the bottom to display the correct overall "playing time" with seconds ..very frustrating for burning cds for burning cds..i was searching through all the "display options" etc. untill i got it with frustrated clicking everywhere (reminded me of those old clicking adventure games)

and a way to display the total time of those tracks you have selected would be nice

 

[Zaty]

The source of the aforementioned rumour is THINK SECRET.
Nick deplume.
He is by far the most accurate rumour monger......almost ALL of his prophecies have come to pass.
The fact that he dropped the "sub-$500 mac bomb" upon us makes it even more compelling.
He is saying this device is an imac class COMPUTER.
He did not say it was a DLD(Digital Lifestyle Device).
I must admit I am skeptical about this rumour.
We shall see.

He must be extremely confident. His credibility would suffer if it turns out he was wrong. The same applies to AI who either got the story independently or they just altered the original story in a way that makes it even more plausible, especially the higher price. January 11 will be an important day for the future of rumours sites. After Apple filed suit against those who leaked the Asteroid story, I assume they will do it again if it's real. Regardless if it's fake or real, business won't be the same anymore for the likes of TS and AI.

 

[GFLPraxis]

One button or two, do you think this headless Mac will run UT 2k4 OK? That and Garageband are my priorities.

We won't know until they tell us the graphics card.

I'd say...
At worst: Radeon 9200 32 MB. The same card thats in the eMac and iBook. It's a good card for a cheap laptop (most Dell's don't even have 3d graphics), but for a desktop it's COMPLETELY obsolete.
At best: Geforce FX 5200 Ultra. This card is in the iMac G5. It's still a near-obsolete, but can run some modern games.

I'm hoping for the FX 5200 Ultra. I'm currently using a standard FX 5200 in my PeeCee desktop, overclocked to Ultra speeds. It's good enough to play Jedi Academy, Star Wars Battlefront, and other games at 1024x768 resolution with most quality settings on medium to high, but it would probably choke on Doom 3.

 

[Kagetenshi]

One button or two, do you think this headless Mac will run UT 2k4 OK? That and Garageband are my priorities.

I'm running a 1.07 GHz iBook G4 with 32 megs VRAM and it runs UT2k4 just fine, so with a little extra RAM you should be just dandy.

Edit:

I'd say...
At worst: Radeon 9200 32 MB. The same card thats in the eMac and iBook.

If that's correct, you're golden.

~J

 

[GFLPraxis]

I'm running a 1.07 GHz iBook G4 with 32 megs VRAM and it runs UT2k4 just fine, so with a little extra RAM you should be just dandy.


If that's correct, you're golden.

~J

It couldn't be worse than that. Otherwise it couldn't even run Quartz Extreme. The hideous card used in the iBook G3 isn't made anymore, therefore the Radeon 9200 is the worst card used in any Mac that is currently still being produced.

 

[neutrino23]

One button mouse probably was needed when computers were still revolutionary, but most kids born in the age of computers have no use for a 1 button mouse. It's become a hinderance, not a feature. Steve Jobs should really re-think his thinking, considering he'll meet with more success by going with the flow.

Had he was against porting iTunes over to Windows, the iPod would still be a niche product among Mac users.

Dear Steve,

Get your head out of your ass and give us 2-button mouse with scrollwheel as standard equipment! Thank you.

There may be large groups of people comfortable with more than one button. However, many others find it confusing. I teach people to use computers (as part of larger machines) and some people who don't use or rarely use computers struggle with simple things like click and drag or shift click. Adding more buttons just adds to the confusion.

One of the hard things people find is a simple double click. They move the mouse while double clicking which is interpreted as two single clicks.

Back on topic, I'm skeptical about a $500 Mac. I'd love to see it for a number of reasons but I don't see Apple doing it. It would be easier for Apple to simply have a special sale bundling an iPod and an eMac or iBook with a $200 discount (as Apple often does in the fall for students). This would give them the same price for the bundle as if they had a $500 or $600 iMac without the expense of developing a new computer. And they could simply drop the program if there was not enough response.

As to the need for this product, in addition to being attractive to switchers this would be a great utility box for all sorts of people. Grad students in engineering and science could build these into various experiments as controllers and dataloggers. OEMs could build these in to products for the same purpose or as kiosks or set top boxes. Certainly there are existing products for this. However, imagine being able to use OS X for this. Something with great reliability, familiarity and great development tools and inexpensive to boot. If a remote kiosk or controller goes down it can cost $500 to $1,000 to send out a service person to reset it.

 

[CaptainCaveMann]

One button or two, do you think this headless Mac will run UT 2k4 OK? That and Garageband are my priorities.

Forget it, i have a nvidia 128 card in my desktop pc and still get lags on ut2004. No way on a ati 9200 card. Forget it,no way, not gonna happen, FORGET IT,throw the idea out of the door

 

[Kagetenshi]

Forget it, i have a nvidia 128 card in my desktop pc and still get lags on ut2004. No way on a ati 9200 card. Forget it,no way, not gonna happen, FORGET IT,throw the idea out of the door

Then explain to me how I was playing it just fine earlier today?

~J

 

[d.f]

2 interesting theories... conspiracy theories

after reading what seems like a million posts.... i think these 2 pieces of speculation are the most interesting (bearing in mind it's ALL still speculation)

1) miniMac & iWorks been 'officially' leaked to knowingly focus all the mainsteam media (& Wall St) on MacExpo - BECAUSE - they are going to confirm its existance AND drop another bomb - THE G5 POWERBOOK.
(if you're going to release someting as mamoth as the G5 PB, you have to do it with the world watching....)

2) miniMac & iWorks is an unfortunate leak from a recently fired, Very senior Apple Exec (weren't one of two 'let go' recently...?).
This is related to Apple's seemingly over reaction to stop a known person leaking any more info after the 'Asteroid' story got on the web...(i say over reaction as it was releated to a prevously 'known' rumour and the poduct was very niche itself - so no real drama people knowing it's coming...)
maybe they realised that this person would have MUCH BIGGER things to talk about and should be stopped before he can say any more...

well, they made me stop and think for a second, anyway.

 

[Doctor Q]

What will the reaction be if Think Secret is correct about the specs but incorrect about the price, i.e., if the price is $599 (matching AppleInsider's story), not $499? It would still be big news and open a new entry-level position in the Macintosh market, but will the widespread reporting of the $499 rumor make a $599 iMac a disappointment and give rise to complaints about the "extra $100"?

 

[barnett25]

What will the reaction be if Think Secret is correct about the specs but incorrect about the price, i.e., if the price is $599 (matching AppleInsider's story), not $499? It would still be big news and open a new entry-level position in the Macintosh market, but will the widespread reporting of the $499 rumor make a $599 iMac a disappointment and give rise to complaints about the "extra $100"?

There's something about that magic $500 price that seems ideal. $600 just wouldn't be that great to me for some reason.

 

[BillD222]

It can be confusing initially, but since 95% of the "idiot PC population" out there seem to be doing fine, I don't see how a 1-button mouse would serve a power user over the course of his/her life versus the initial 1-day confusion over using a 2-button mouse.

How many of the Win users actually use the right-click feature or use it to its potential? MOst of the people I've trained were Windows only users and have only had two-button mice and had no clue how to use, nor do they really need it.

With fortress running in our school, the 2nd button is all but useless, and even in Apps most of my students don't use it. Believe it or not the majority of PC users are not very tech savvy or even close to power users. Albeit most of the people in this forum probably are at least intermediate users or better.

 

[Thataboy]

What will the reaction be if Think Secret is correct about the specs but incorrect about the price, i.e., if the price is $599 (matching AppleInsider's story), not $499? It would still be big news and open a new entry-level position in the Macintosh market, but will the widespread reporting of the $499 rumor make a $599 iMac a disappointment and give rise to complaints about the "extra $100"?

Of course, it is possible that there are 2 configurations ($499 for 40GB HD, $599 for 80GB HD, for example).

But yeah, people will be pissed off if it is base $599, and that in a nutshell is why Apple and Steve Jobs HATE rumor sites.

 

[Sir_Giggles]

How many of the Win users actually use the right-click feature or use it to its potential? MOst of the people I've trained were Windows only users and have only had two-button mice and had no clue how to use, nor do they really need it.

The only analogy I can give to this is is if you worked in a hospital as a surgeon, you'd think the majority of the people were sick.

 

[morgantruce]

Apple to Announce $99 iMac !

I had a lot of fun writing that piece, but it is my serious opinion that a "mouse that reads you mind" is not too far in the future. I've been forcasting that for quite a few years... and, with the passage of time, the idea seems less preposterous.

Today you move and click with your hand to tell the computer what to do. Tomorrow you will only need to think it.... and the line between your computer and your brain will begin to dissolve.

Think how bad you will want such a contraption... and how much you will pay for it!

 

[LaMerVipere]

I know it's not scientific, BUT...

I made a poll on a heavily Windows (and by that, I mean, not Mac centered) website, to see how many would consider switching to or buying a Mac at that price, and look at the results!

Read some of the responses too, people. This would be our (or rather, the new iMac mini's) target audience.

For $500, sans monitor, this is what I'd expect:

* CPU Equivalent to P4 2.8GHz HT
* 512MB RAM
* Nvidia GeForce 440MX (but with the ability for me to upgrade because the 6800 Ultra means far more to me for what I need and do)
* 80GB HD (of course, as I can buy new WD 160GB HDs for $80, I should be demanding more here too)

and, the expected...

Macs definitely look better, arguably run better, but will never have the range of software available that Wintel machines do.

and...

It sounds like it's still priced about 2x higher than it should be, relative to current PC's. What's the news here?

 

[Poff]

One last thing. Everyone knows blueberries are better than strawberries which re better than raspberries. Blueberries have more antioxidants and they just taste so good. Can't wait until I can have a nice fresh watermelon again though, but I have quite a wait until watermelon season.

True. Nothing beats a fresh, warm blueberry pie with vanilla sauce..!

 

[Sir_Giggles]

I had a lot of fun writing that piece

So are you saying your article is fake? If so, how can we trust what you just wrote here?

 

[Sir_Giggles]

Would you consider one, if the price was that low?

I would consider it too, but not necessarily buy one. I sometimes consider buying myself a Ferrari and a house in the Hamptons.