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Apple Looking to Launch Lower-Cost iMac in 2014
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Really, so you must have been the guy I saw everyone laughing at at a Starbucks with an iMac on a table browsing away a while back.
I love you, man. but, perhaps, it's time to buy a portable.
Except the iMac is thin enough for him to carry it around with him. Why should he have to buy a portable?
I'm surprised nobody mentions the real problem with these thin iMacs, which only becomes a bigger issue as they continue to get thinner: they're completely unsuitable to be used as iMacquariums in later life.
What is Jonny Ive thinking??
What is Jonny Ive thinking??
Or maybe they will introduce the Retina's in the 2014 while selling the new cheap one with the 2560x1440 technology.
Here's an idea. Stop me if you've heard this one before...
Remove the screen and package the components into Mac Mini-like boxes (maybe a little taller to make room for the necessary cooling and graphics card.)
This is a no-brainer.
For the life of me, I cannot figure out why Apple has yet to realize what everyone else has known (and griped about) for years: a headless iMac needs to exist.
I remember for years after Apple switched the Mac to Intel, many of my Windows using friends were eager to switch to Macs, but I repeatedly heard the same thing: how come Apple doesn't offer a decent desktop machine without a screen attached and that doesn't cost >$2K?
There was back then and remains to this day a massive, gaping and screamingly obvious hole in Apple's offerings.
Ultimately, very few of those friends of mine made the switch and are still Windows users. From what I can tell, Apple blew an amazing opportunity to welcome loads of Windows users into their ranks, but the machine those users wanted didn't exist on the Apple Store.
Many of you might remember the rapid rise in the "Hackintosh" machines. That was driven largely by people who were frustrated that the Mac they wanted did not exist in Apple's line-up.
I've long wondered what Apple is waiting for. That machine needs to exist.
Remove the screen and package the components into Mac Mini-like boxes (maybe a little taller to make room for the necessary cooling and graphics card.)
This is a no-brainer.
For the life of me, I cannot figure out why Apple has yet to realize what everyone else has known (and griped about) for years: a headless iMac needs to exist.
I remember for years after Apple switched the Mac to Intel, many of my Windows using friends were eager to switch to Macs, but I repeatedly heard the same thing: how come Apple doesn't offer a decent desktop machine without a screen attached and that doesn't cost >$2K?
There was back then and remains to this day a massive, gaping and screamingly obvious hole in Apple's offerings.
Ultimately, very few of those friends of mine made the switch and are still Windows users. From what I can tell, Apple blew an amazing opportunity to welcome loads of Windows users into their ranks, but the machine those users wanted didn't exist on the Apple Store.
Many of you might remember the rapid rise in the "Hackintosh" machines. That was driven largely by people who were frustrated that the Mac they wanted did not exist in Apple's line-up.
I've long wondered what Apple is waiting for. That machine needs to exist.
People have been saying this as a joke but I think the iPhone5C vs 5S model can work for the iMac. Offering iMac's in different coloured shiny plastics would look great. Imagine a red iMac for example! Apple needs to bring the colour back to the Mac and this could be the year they do it.
Before the announcement I was set on getting the 2012 version of iMac. However, the previous models started at £999 in the U.K and for that price you got, Firewire, SD Card Slot in a usable location), a faster 7200 RPM Hard drive, optical drive, the ability to upgrade the ram whenever you wanted etc.
Then after the announcement of the new slim ones new they became a £100 more expensive with less features. So I went to my local stormfront my local Apple dealer and bought the previous gen 2011 model which they still had in stock, got my education discount and Apple Care thrown in all for about £920. To get the base model current iMac up to a similar spec (with adaptors and external optical drive) as the previous model it replaced I would have had to have spent almost £1,200 and I love my iMac's but the only way you'd get a good value product out of the iMac range these days is by buying the 27'' model, which is just perhaps slightly too big, since I have a 17'' iMac G4 on my desk as well.
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Yes that was when the initial design was launched, but they were updated with Core i3, Core i5's and i7's etc. when they became available. Through 2010 and 2011 they also added better graphics and stuff as well.
Then after the announcement of the new slim ones new they became a £100 more expensive with less features. So I went to my local stormfront my local Apple dealer and bought the previous gen 2011 model which they still had in stock, got my education discount and Apple Care thrown in all for about £920. To get the base model current iMac up to a similar spec (with adaptors and external optical drive) as the previous model it replaced I would have had to have spent almost £1,200 and I love my iMac's but the only way you'd get a good value product out of the iMac range these days is by buying the 27'' model, which is just perhaps slightly too big, since I have a 17'' iMac G4 on my desk as well.
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Yes that was when the initial design was launched, but they were updated with Core i3, Core i5's and i7's etc. when they became available. Through 2010 and 2011 they also added better graphics and stuff as well.
I remember roumors of lower-cost iMacs existed back in 2011 and they might have existed even earlier but 2011 was when I got interested in Apple. Such roumors never materialized.
The lower-cost iMac:
21.5" display 1920x1080 (full HD, I'm not sure if this is the real full HD resolution, but who cares?)
4GB soldered RAM, upgradeable to 8GB at the time of purchase
500GB 5200rpm HDD, no other storage options
HD4400 graphics
2-core i3 @whatever MHz
$1150
The lower-cost iMac:
21.5" display 1920x1080 (full HD, I'm not sure if this is the real full HD resolution, but who cares?)
4GB soldered RAM, upgradeable to 8GB at the time of purchase
500GB 5200rpm HDD, no other storage options
HD4400 graphics
2-core i3 @whatever MHz
$1150
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Apple has gradually become a lifestyle/fashion brand: form over function, with an arbitrarily set high price to exude exclusivity. It used to be that company for those who were different, now you're different if you don't buy into the iPhone-hype. Hack, I have friends who for years have been mocking me for using a Mac. Nowadays they almost seem to worship their iPhones and Steve Jobs, despite having never heard of the man two years ago.
It used to be a tech company, nowadays it might as well merge with Louis Vuitton.
It used to be a tech company, nowadays it might as well merge with Louis Vuitton.
Oh really? What can be a "lower cost iMac" than the base 21.5" at $1299 with measley Iris Pro graphic and bare bone basic Core i5? It barely runs latest OSX, let alone games or video editing. Maybe just for show off computer case or school/campus purchase.
I know Apple long enough to conclude that lower cost will not be low enough to justify the "low cost" label. It will be like $999 and the spec will be very suck at best. Look at iPhone 5C
Core i3, sub par Intel HD graphic, 4GB of RAM, 500GB HDD. I love Mac but hey, you can do a lot better than that at $999. You're not that low, are you?
I know Apple long enough to conclude that lower cost will not be low enough to justify the "low cost" label. It will be like $999 and the spec will be very suck at best. Look at iPhone 5C
Core i3, sub par Intel HD graphic, 4GB of RAM, 500GB HDD. I love Mac but hey, you can do a lot better than that at $999. You're not that low, are you?
Just put on a clunkier, old-style casing like the previous iMacs or the current Cinema Display. Use a 15" screen. Use "last-year's" tech. Limit down the ports. Done--$999.
They need to make a sub $800 model if they ever want to compete with their own growing portable market. Apple should look at jumping into the portables being completely autonomous--that would be the prudent move. It's time to accept the wrinkling and vanishing of the desktop; by 2020 there will be a micro-market(pro) for the un-portable computer.
They need to make a sub $800 model if they ever want to compete with their own growing portable market. Apple should look at jumping into the portables being completely autonomous--that would be the prudent move. It's time to accept the wrinkling and vanishing of the desktop; by 2020 there will be a micro-market(pro) for the un-portable computer.
The problem is that everyone expected a cheaper iPhone because Apple isn't able to penetrate the Asian markets with phones this expensive.
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the eMac happened.
Apple don't understand the meaning of cheap - cheap to Apple means 100 bucks cheaper than an equivalent model, with greatly reduced specs (and options to bump the price back up again!), reduced quality materials and reduced functionality (I.e. take away the optical drive!).
Apple needs to increase the iMac mini spec and half the price to not only bring it inline with the competition, but smash the competition!!!
Apple needs to increase the iMac mini spec and half the price to not only bring it inline with the competition, but smash the competition!!!
The iMac's have been steadily creeping up in price, so this is a rare occasion when I have little sympathy for Apple. In this day and age, £1149 for an all-in-one without Fusion Drive as standard is insane.
Here's an idea. Stop me if you've heard this one before...
Remove the screen and package the components into Mac Mini-like boxes (maybe a little taller to make room for the necessary cooling and graphics card.)
This is a no-brainer.
For the life of me, I cannot figure out why Apple has yet to realize what everyone else has known (and griped about) for years: a headless iMac needs to exist.
I remember for years after Apple switched the Mac to Intel, many of my Windows using friends were eager to switch to Macs, but I repeatedly heard the same thing: how come Apple doesn't offer a decent desktop machine without a screen attached and that doesn't cost >$2K?
There was back then and remains to this day a massive, gaping and screamingly obvious hole in Apple's offerings.
Ultimately, very few of those friends of mine made the switch and are still Windows users. From what I can tell, Apple blew an amazing opportunity to welcome loads of Windows users into their ranks, but the machine those users wanted didn't exist on the Apple Store.
Many of you might remember the rapid rise in the "Hackintosh" machines. That was driven largely by people who were frustrated that the Mac they wanted did not exist in Apple's line-up.
I've long wondered what Apple is waiting for. That machine needs to exist.
Apple don't give people what they want, they tell people what they want!!!
won't be surprised if it's gonna be the previous generation imac clad in plastic, and a few hundred bucks off.
Apple drop the DVD from iMac, up the price and wonder why sales are dropping.
Before iPads , both my better half and me had laptops...now both are gathering dust and we have IPads, although I use aPC for some programmes that Apple has no equivalent, and I have a 2012 iMac for web design and eBooks.
I dropped plans to get a new iMac because I think Apple - if the remove a dvd slot are saving money, so the price should reflect that, especially as they are more expensive than a PC and made cheap in China. Brand loyalty is one thing, but these days not everybody can afford to keep changing machines.
Before iPads , both my better half and me had laptops...now both are gathering dust and we have IPads, although I use aPC for some programmes that Apple has no equivalent, and I have a 2012 iMac for web design and eBooks.
I dropped plans to get a new iMac because I think Apple - if the remove a dvd slot are saving money, so the price should reflect that, especially as they are more expensive than a PC and made cheap in China. Brand loyalty is one thing, but these days not everybody can afford to keep changing machines.
Are you actually asking for a different specification on the Mac Mini? Or a budget Mac Pro?
Not sure I follow...
The iMac without a display won't happen anyway, because being an AIO system is the point of the iMac. It's what distinguishes it from almost all of the PC desktop market, except very few competitors.