It's not just about the thinness thing, what I said was that an all-in-one should only have things that are vital to the majority. An all-in-one is not something you should cram with "good to have sometimes" stuff, that would be like forcing everyone who wants a car to buy an RV, because you never know, once a year you might need a vehicle with beds.
If this were an entry-level computer, I might agree with you.
If this were a configurable computer, where you could CHOOSE what you want or don't want, I would agree with you.
But this is not.
It is not below 1000$. It is not configurable. What you buy is what you have until it is obsolete or replaced, for the most part.
With a fleet of desktop external devices, each with a data cable, and some with another power cable needing another power strip spot... is NOT supposed to be the AIO idiom.
ALL-in-one. Not majority-in-one, or barely-anything-in-one, or Apples-way-or-the-highway-in-one.
Retina and Air Laptops have dispensed with things, with the tacit caveat being that your desktop system still has an optical drive that it shares on the local subnet, that the laptop can access. That a firewire storage drive can be shared on the network for the laptop to access, or more money for an adapter.
An
ALL-in-one that requires more money for adapters, for external devices, defeats the premise of
ALL-in-one, now doesn't it?
The desktop doesn't need to be thinner and lighter than the iMac already was. It isn't meant to be portable, it is meant to be versatile and compatible.
If Apple wants to go this direction with the iMac... they need to drop it's price, and quit pretending to make this a pro-grade machine, and actually step to the plate with a new Mac Pro.
Mac Pro could stand to spawn a second, thinner, smaller and lighter modest form factor, and not so much OVERKILL for a workstation desktop.
Something between MacMini and Mac Pro, and thunderbolt screens. yes, plural, as an option.
A thin computer for people who don't need much more, I get it. Some home users, data entry and data consumption, office work on a local network, customer service... seems fine, but overpriced.
But it needs to be less expensive for being less compatible, and less upgradeable, and less versatile.
Then Apple needs to fill the hole above the MacMini, including the Mac Pro, and not make attempts to cast the iMac as a machine for professionals who produce things and use versatility features with their desktop computer.
Something that doesn't take up an acre of space, and weigh 50lbs for a workstation, but yet with some versatility and upgradeability, with desktop modular components.
I would not specify such a limited laptop-hardware AIO as the new iMac for a workstation, and most workstations don't require a full Mac Pro tower, but Apple doesn't offer a desktop mini-tower with desktop componentry.
Plus, a good screen, or more than one... don't go obsolete as fast as computer tech should be upgraded for pro use, especially if you can allow a budget for high-end monitors that can last through 2 CPU useage cycles. The display tech doesn't get obsolete at the same rate as the internal CPU hardware does.
I said it before, and it bears repeating. This new iMac only underscores the huge hole in Apple's lineup for professional desktop users, by the lack of competitive desktop CPU units, both non-existent mini-towers and obsolete full-size towers.
