$499 Headless iMac?

[GFLPraxis]

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?

The MX-440 is a good card, but I'd take a 60 or 40 GB hard drive in exchange for a Geforce FX 5200 Ultra instead.

 

[mattmack]

The MX-440 is a good card, but I'd take a 60 or 40 GB hard drive in exchange for a Geforce FX 5200 Ultra instead.

God no not that card. It is not a good card hopefully it will have at least 128 Mb of ram on the card

 

[wdlove]

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"?

It's all going to depend what what actual specifications that Steve ends up offering. I'm always amazed at this marketing ploy of $499 so that we don't catch that its $500. This concept bothers me.

 

[Mord]

it will have a 9200 or a 5200 both cards are faster than the pos card the pc guy suggested (geforce 4 mx440).

 

[Mord]

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

if you thought that article was serious you are an idiot.

 

[Sir_Giggles]

It's all going to depend what what actual specifications that Steve ends up offering. I'm always amazed at this marketing ploy of $499 so that we don't catch that its $500. This concept bothers me.

It'll either be we're joyous over the price but scornful of the specs, or the specs would kick ass, but we'd complain about the price. I think the headless mac would fall in the former.

 

[Geetar]

It's all going to depend what what actual specifications that Steve ends up offering. I'm always amazed at this marketing ploy of $499 so that we don't catch that its $500. This concept bothers me.

With all due respect, WDL, I've been living with an advertised $1 less than a given rounded amount for ......ooooh....20 or 30 years. I've kind of become inured to it by now.
While I appreciate your gentle and straightforward take on the world at large, I've learned to decode the language of advertising in my sleep. Are we catching anything that anyone with 2 functional neurons and a solitary ganglion to their name has failed to observe....?

Apologies for the Antisthenes-like take on the universe as it stands

 

[Sir_Giggles]

I hereby invoke Godwin's law.

 

[GFLPraxis]

it will have a 9200 or a 5200 both cards are faster than the pos card the pc guy suggested (geforce 4 mx440).

Not really. The 9200 is actually slower than the Radeon 9000.

The 64 and 128 MB editions of the Geforce 4 MX 440 were actually fairly powerful cards. They'd whoop the pants off a 32 MB Radeon 9200.

I'd rather have the FX 5200 Ultra though. I have a 5200 (non Ultra) on my PC, decent card.

 

[GFLPraxis]

With all due respect, WDL, I've been living with an advertised $1 less than a given rounded amount for ......ooooh....20 or 30 years. I've kind of become inured to it by now.
While I appreciate your gentle and straightforward take on the world at large, I've learned to decode the language of advertising in my sleep. Are we catching anything that anyone with 2 functional neurons and a solitary ganglion to their name has failed to observe....?

Apologies for the Antisthenes-like take on the universe as it stands

See, you think it's just advertisement. You have to think and figure out the truth!

If Apple released this new Mac for $500 instead of $499, the Dell lusers would shout, "See, Apple's overcharging for their system!!!" because, after all, Dell users are too idiotic to know the difference

 

[JRM]

For 600 bucks they sound quite good, hopefully though they are only 500.

Today when I was in an Apple store in Melbourne I asked the guy if he could put my name for one so I'd be first cab of the rank, the guy looked at me as if I was a lunatic, but i don't want to wait forever for one, for a student with limited funds they seem such a good idea and definitely better to have my own mac for uni than having to use the family computers all the time.

This should be a winner.

 

[Geetar]

See, you think it's just advertisement. You have to think and figure out the truth!

If Apple released this new Mac for $500 instead of $499, the Dell lusers would shout, "See, Apple's overcharging for their system!!!" because, after all, Dell users are too idiotic to know the difference

Oh, I don't know about the " have to think" bit.

I'd like to think it's a little less voluntary than that. Kind of like the "Praxis" without the "Theory", if you follow me.....

But I'm with you on the Dell bit

 

[dcollierp]

Where can you get a $499 PC with a graphics card that is not "Integrated" with out having to build it yourself?

 

[~Shard~]

I hereby invoke Godwin's law.

If you actually knew what Godwin's Law was, then you would know how to actually invoke it. My guess is that you read my reference to it a couple days ago, didn't know what it was until I mentioned it, and now are trying to be clever by referencing it yourself. Am I close?

 

[mattmack]

it will have a 9200 or a 5200 both cards are faster than the pos card the pc guy suggested (geforce 4 mx440).

that is true anything is better than the mx 440

 

[Photorun]

See, you think it's just advertisement. You have to think and figure out the truth!

If Apple released this new Mac for $500 instead of $499, the Dell lusers would shout, "See, Apple's overcharging for their system!!!" because, after all, Dell users are too idiotic to know the difference

Agreed, peecee apologists would come out of the woodwork, hell, they already have, read back in this thread all these trolls posting strawmen about how you can get this or that peecee for under $499 (when in fact, if you try to configure it with anything meaningful it jumps way past $500). They're the kings of not only believing misinformation the peecee luser lot, but of spreading it.

 

[mattmack]

For 600 bucks they sound quite good, hopefully though they are only 500.

Today when I was in an Apple store in Melbourne I asked the guy if he could put my name for one so I'd be first cab of the rank, the guy looked at me as if I was a lunatic, but i don't want to wait forever for one, for a student with limited funds they seem such a good idea and definitely better to have my own mac for uni than having to use the family computers all the time.

This should be a winner.

Even if they let the apple store people know (which they probably don't) they couldn't tell anyone about it or accept preorders. More than likely Apple will code the shipment saying expect xxx number of units and such and such height or weight for storage and distribution on this date. More than likely they will be accepting preorders as soon as it is announced for delivery at a later date

 

[wileypen]

Is it over now?

If Hitler were alive today, he'd want this computer.

 

[GFLPraxis]

Agreed, peecee apologists would come out of the woodwork, hell, they already have, read back in this thread all these trolls posting strawmen about how you can get this or that peecee for under $499 (when in fact, if you try to configure it with anything meaningful it jumps way past $500). They're the kings of not only believing misinformation the peecee luser lot, but of spreading it.

No kidding.

The $499 PC's generally have 2 GHz Celerons, when in fact a 2.5 GHz Celeron is outperformed by a 1.8 GHz P4. They also have no graphics card at all, 40 GB hard drives, and the crappiest components available. But hey, 2 GHz looks big and people don't realize just how bad Celerons are, soo...the computer with the big fat number must be better!

 

[Rootman]

Not really. The 9200 is actually slower than the Radeon 9000.

The 64 and 128 MB editions of the Geforce 4 MX 440 were actually fairly powerful cards. They'd whoop the pants off a 32 MB Radeon 9200.

I'd rather have the FX 5200 Ultra though. I have a 5200 (non Ultra) on my PC, decent card.

The prevailing theory is that this headless Mac has the guts of an existing G4 notebook (for small size and the economics of using an existing design). If the guts are an iBook, the video is a ATI 9200/32MB. It would be cooler if Apple used the guts of a Powerbook, with its faster system bus and 9600/64MB ATI Radeon which can be ordered BTO with 128MB. How much more could it possibly cost them to do this?

 

[Kagetenshi]

If Hitler were alive today, he'd want this computer.

Of course. This would be way better than ENIGMA, and wouldn't have been breakable.

~J

 

[Jsmit]

If Hitler were alive today, he'd want this computer.

Off topic:

No, you can't mention Hitler inorder in inact Godwin's Law. It has to be mentioned without the intent of ending the thread, like in post #1177 of this very thread made by Freg3000, two days ago and ~250 posts ago.

 

[Rootman]

This would be a nice computer to have in a bunker.

 

[bree]

So what would it be called?
bMac? (be the mac... the budget mac)
bBox? (Alas, poor Be... we barely knew ye)
sMac? (first hits... Its gonna sell like crack!)

In all seriousness, I would think that this would HAVE to replace the eMac. Apple has a tendency to make 'good, better, best' versions of their models, so the high end version of this headless beast would go smack into the eMac territory. Too close. So I would think that this would need to be the replacement for the current eMac. Otherwise, it would just clutter Apple's lineup too much. A possible exception would be if Apple only made ONE configuration of this beasty, but that seems unlikely.

Another requirement for this rumor to be true is cheap monitors. You can't sell a computer without at least the option of matching monitors. The problem here is that Apple has effectively dropped all CRT production from its line up, and its cheapest LCD is the 20 incher at $1300 – more than double the estimated price of the headless mac.

Thats the biggest stumbling block to me. If you check the buyer's guide here, you see that monitors are considered to be 'mid product cycle'. This would be a negative factor, except that there really isn't a bottom rung of 15" and 17" monitors. Apple could add smaller, cheaper monitors.. but the catch is that they have to be LESS than the cost of the computer to appear reasonable.
Seems like a lot of things need line up for this to be true, but thats my brain talking. My gut says I hope to god this is true.

Regardless of if they sell well or not, they WILL pull people in. People usually go to Dell because they want the $500 computer, but end up buying something $1000 or more. I don't doubt this will also apply here, especially considering people will want to go to the retail stores to check it out. And then they get pulled into the retail experience....

 

[Sir_Giggles]

No, you can't mention Hitler inorder in inact Godwin's Law. It has to be mentioned without the intent of ending the thread, like in post #1177 of this very thread made by Freg3000, two days ago and ~250 posts ago.

No no. This has become Shard's Law. By stating Godwin's law, you supersede the possibility of enacting said law to end a thread, thus making it impossible to thereby use Godwin's law as the mechanism to proceed with said changes.