Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
GHz-nerds don´t get it. This product is not targeted in your way. Think: Dumb people that want a mac in the kitchen or something. Or just want a mac and do not care if it has 1 core or 50 cores.
 
This machine isn't for you.

This machine is for organizations that buy huge numbers of iMacs that stay running 24/7/365 and rarely do more than operate Safari.

So in that case, the HDD is not really important, and the low power chip (which isn't a real ULV a-la Macbook Air, it's just a de-clocked desktop chip, they wouldn't design a brand new motherboard for that) make a huge amount of sense.

Who are these organizations?

Universities.

Safari and Office-like programs probably. Printing, scanning, emailing yourself projects, etc. Universities and most colleges usually have networked storage for students so 450/500 GB will likely remain free on most computers anyways. The integrated GPU is probably even acceptable enough for something like light AutoCAD use (or equivalent) for when you don't have access to the faster computers, though I doubt they would install it on them.

Overall, I think you are probably correct.
 
1.4 GHz in a desktop computer at this price?

Surely that's a typo...

Just checked Apple's store and it says the same thing.

1.4 GHz for $1099 or 2.7 GHz for $1299. They're the same line of CPU, so it's an apples to apples comparison. For an 18% increase in price, you double the CPU and the storage capacity. The GPU also changes, but it changes lines entirely so there's no easy way to say how much better one is than the other.

Actually it seems worse than that. It's 1.4 Ghz dual vs a 2.7 Ghz quad. More like 4x the CPU.

EDIT: Ouch, and it gets worse. 8G of onboard RAM, no slots.
 
Not saying I expect the price to be less, because the iMac is a beautiful thing, but I can't think of many situations where someone would want a desktop computer that is slower than a MBA (no SSD). I could be wrong, but I am guessing this thing isn't exactly going to fly off the shelves.
 
GHz-nerds don´t get it. This product is not targeted in your way. Think: Dumb people that want a mac in the kitchen or something. Or just want a mac and do not care if it has 1 core or 50 cores.

Or want a second Mac to keep family members off the first when all they do is browse Facebook and watch youtube videos.
 
i find it worrying, that Apple is releasing low cost iMacs and cheaper Macbooks, but not even a slightly updated Mini - which was once considered as The Cheap One. Worrying for the beloved Mini.
 
I agree with Steve Jobs on this feature. It gives a great demo, but it's ergonomically terrible.

Also, I wouldn't enjoy wiping finger prints off my monitor all the time. Touching a monitor will not be faster than a mouse.

That's because touch isn't a primary input, its meant to be used as a secondary input - similar to voice commands or an IR remote. And the it becomes very handy to have. I've been using touch at work for the past. 2 years and would never buy a non-touch monitor again.
 
You: "If touch screens had come first, people would view the mouse as an incredible labor-saving device."

Me: I rarely read really good points here. This is actually really insightful. You could also add trackpads as they proportionally cover large screen real estate with gestures as well as pointing and click.

Thanks!
 
This is the first time I'm wonder "what in the world is Apple doing??"
NO Mac Mini in 2 years! (Yes I'm waiting)
NO Thunderbolt Display in 3 years (Yes I'm Waiting)
lame macbook air update for 2014
lame imac update for 2014
No new Apple TV update
No new iPod updates in 2 years
No new update for the beloved iPod Classic since 2009???!!!!

its june 2014 and still no new products

I mean, whats going on??????:mad:

Hopefully this is a stop gap to boost short term sales in the back to school period before they announce an all new design Retina MBA, iMac and Mac Mini later in the year rather than another lame spec boost.
 
i find it worrying, that Apple is releasing low cost Macs and cheaper Macbooks, but not even an updated Mini - which was once considered as The Cheap One. Worrying for the beloved Mini.
I for one am glad they are not focusing their efforts on the mini.
 
For that price you could get a 11" macbook air and a monitor and get a PCIe SSD for free and have the portability if you need it. This new option makes no sense at all.

Sure it does.. Not everyone cares about portability. If I'm buying my kids or grandma a PC, I'm not getting an Air and a separate display.
 
GHz-nerds don´t get it. This product is not targeted in your way. Think: Dumb people that want a mac in the kitchen or something. Or just want a mac and do not care if it has 1 core or 50 cores.

Yeah, these "dumb" people who want more of the things you're bragging about in your sig.
 
These threads crack me up! Apple could put a baloney sandwhich in an iMac case and the Apple apologists here would compare it to the Mona Lisa! C'mon people, this super low performance iMac with the big price really has me scratching my head. I'm a big Apple fan but what is this?
 
I'm very surprised - this strikes me as nothing short of a terrible move. A dual core ULV iMac that is still on the wrong side of $1000?

Absurd.

And far too expensive for what it is.
You clearly don't understand the market for this machine. As the lowest priced all-in-one desktop Apple makes, it appeals directly to the everyday moms and dads who want the lowest price all-in-one computer that Apple makes. That's it. These people don't know a megahertz from a megabyte, they don't know what integrated graphics means, and they certainly aren't going on Internet forums to argue about it. What just happened is Apple lowered the cost of entry for the iMac line, and they will sell bucketloads as a result.

As far as it being slow, that is relative of course. Will this thing pump out sophisticated games at 60fps on the highest resolution setting? Certainly not - but the lowest level iMac never could do that. This is a machine for surfing the internet, checking twitter, liking things on Facebook, downloading some music... maybe writing a paper or two. We're at a point where even the slowest current-gen CPUs can do all of that without blinking an eye. Hell, even your phone does that. 1.4Ghz/dual core/ULV/etc. is just fine for those purposes.

Is it overpriced? By comparison to other offerings, yes it is. But there has always been a premium on Apple products. What does "overpriced" really mean, anyway? You realize the margin on electronics in general (and let's face it, all sorts of other things) is astronomical. If I can make a t-shirt for $5 and sell it for $40, is that overpriced? What about $30? $20? Something is worth whatever someone will pay for it. And in the time you've read this post, Apple has probably already sold a thousand of these models to people who always wanted an iMac, but just couldn't quite find it affordable enough. Or to the rich guy who wants a new email terminal in his kitchen and who wasn't looking at the pricetag anyway. Or to the guy who just walked into an Apple store and said "I'd like an iMac - what's the cheapest one?"

Are there better values out there to be had - especially for people like you and me who understand this stuff and do lots of research before making a purchase? There is no question about that. But you and I are not the target audience for the new iMac.
 
Well done Apple. This is an incredible offering - a gorgeous display, great specs, looks and a price almost nobody will believe.

Why would anyone choose a PC at this point? Apple has insanely affordable laptops, desktops and all-in-ones now to fit every budget.

Bill Gates will be seething with rage. This is the end of Microsoft Windows.
 
No, I'm not saying that you can't shoot some crows with an expensive gun, but cheaper gun will shoot the crows dead just the same.

Until it ********** jams for no reason a year after you buy it effectively shutting down your entire crow-shooting operation until you can either figure out why it jammed, or get a s***** new crow-shooting gun.

I don't go out a whole lot, but it seems like about ten percent of the time I'm trying to pay and whoever is behind the monitor says "I don't know what my computer is doing it's just being so slow today" and we sit there for five minutes while they click around trying to get their machine to do what they want it to do. I usually glance down at the Dell logo and just shake my head slowly. Most people still don't even know there is an alternative. Not only that, there is still a LOT of scary hocus-pocus out there about Apple & Macs too - even from people who use & like their iPhones! I see it every day! It's not even the expense a lot of times, it's simply complete or willful ignorance. I have seen quite a few businesses switching over to Mac, and every time I ask them about it I get "Oh yeah, I love it".
 
Last edited:
Clearly these are being marketed to people who want a home computer (I know people who have an iMac in the kitchen) that is going to be used for lightweight tasks - watching videos, email, Facebook, web surfing.

This is more than powerful enough for this. It's not meant for or being marketed to the people here.
 
To go . . . where?

This seems really strange. The CPU in this new cheaper imac is more expensive than the one in the more expensive model.

This new one would seem to have the i5 4260u whilst the others have the i5 4670. The 4260u is a $315 CPU, the 4670 is $213. I know Apple get preferential pricing, but this still seems very strange. Could it be they've decided to make less profit just to maintain product differentiation?

It could also be Intel is selling apple the worst i5s they have and rating them only for 1.4ghz and that's how Apple can sell it for less, but the specs match the CPU above identically. I would normally imagine they'd go for the desktop i5s and lower the speed than the more expensive mobile i5s.


Maybe Intel knows something about Apple in house CPU development and they're angry? I'm totally speculating here.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.