eMac G5?

[SteveC]

None of us know for sure. I hope no one banks on anything they read.

I will say this. The low-end Mac mini is $499. The low-end eMac is $799. The low-end iMac is $1299. If Apple gets rid of the eMac, their low-end desktop offering will be cut to two choices--$499 and $1299. That's an $800 difference! An $800 difference from a company that just released a computer with a $499 price tag so they could attract people shopping with that price range in mind. An $800 gap would not be a consumer-friendly, competitive selection. The eMac is the perfect computer to have in the middle of the lineup, and I can't see it going anywhere (getting dropped from the lineup) unless it's replaced with something else. The Mac mini is not its replacement. The eMac has several advantages over the mini... Much more RAM friendly (2 slots, user-accessible, and cheaper to upgrade since you can keep the standard RAM and add to it, instead of having to "swap" it), faster optical drive, more ports, and with a Mac-branded keyboard, mouse, and 17" monitor included, it's actually an equal or better VALUE than the Mac mini.

Having the Mac mini as the ONLY sub-$1000 desktop option does not seem like a very good selection to me. How can someone believe Apple will remove a mid-priced desktop that still sells well, and offer only a Mac mini as their sub-$1000 computer.

 

[Dont Hurt Me]

I was just over at think secret and didnt see anything about new G5 emacs coming?

 

[SteveC]

I think it was AI who said it?
https://www.macrumors.com/pages/2004/11/20041125003454.shtml

 

[aswitcher]

I was just over at think secret and didnt see anything about new G5 emacs coming?

Damn, your right. In fact they speculate it wont get a G5 http://www.thinksecret.com/news/0501expo6.html ... although an LCD may be in order due to CRT problems???

Too many rumors...

 

[SteveC]

Yep, too many rumors is right. I'm about ready to sit back and watch, rather than getting caught up in it.

 

[Chip NoVaMac]

Damn, your right. In fact they speculate it wont get a G5 http://www.thinksecret.com/news/0501expo6.html ... although an LCD may be in order due to CRT problems???

Too many rumors...

Yeah but IIRC the eMac G4 had it production stopped, and then restarted. I doubt that they would have done this for the intro of the Mac mini. The Mac mini really needed to be at MWSF, a eMac G5 less so. Unless of course someone at Apple decided that the Mac mini was too close in final walk away price from a eMac G5.

 

[aswitcher]

Yeah but IIRC the eMac G4 had it production stopped, and then restarted. I doubt that they would have done this for the intro of the Mac mini. The Mac mini really needed to be at MWSF, a eMac G5 less so. Unless of course someone at Apple decided that the Mac mini was too close in final walk away price from a eMac G5.

Maybe. An eMac G4 with LCD, say 15" 4:3 would pretty much be a mini iMac in function if not form factor...and would be a pretty compelling new machine for switchers without LCDs already. Plus because its all real computer parts not laptop parts, you could get a nice big harddisk cheap.

Personally I think this would be a great move although arguably the low end iMac sales would be canabised as well as some Mac Mini's...but its all money to Apple in the end. Plus the use of a 15" screen would still push many to buy the other two to get a bigger screen.

 

[Platform]

To answer your question about which different displays they would use: the eMac would use a CRT and the iMac would use an LCD.

To your second point: CRTs are not outdated to those for whom color accuracy is important.

OK

But in a short time the LCD's will go past CRT's and even Plasmas

 

[Dont Hurt Me]

Steve has wanted to get rid of the crts for a long long time. When you think of shipping cost,breakage,repair work etc getting away from the crt makes sense. I really feel Apple cranked up the production again because they were going to run out and the new mini cant meet demand at the moment. Shipping is now out 6 weeks i heard. So Apple made the wise choice of cranking some more Emacs out. If specs were to change they would have changed them then. Remember how long imac crt was selling after the lcd came out? Same with Emac. I think Macmini along with iMac prices dropping this year sometime could fill the void and offer way more options then they had before with just the all in ones. There isnt any reason to sell Emac anymore with the intro of Mini. You want a crt,lcd or tv? they all hook up to Mini. You want a all in one? Imac.

 

[OnaMacSince1989]

It's time to dump the CRT once and for all, but it's also not necessary that new macs have built in monitors. A computer becomes obsolete much faster than a monitor goes bad. I'd like to buy a nice monitor that I could keep for awhile and just get a new Mac as needed. I want the speed of an iMac, but want a lower price version sans built-in monitor.

I'd like to see a more powerful 'MacMini' or similarly designed model take the place of the eMac. It definitely should be a low-end G5 (especially if they do a speed bump on the pricier iMac at the same time). This would truly be a headless-iMac in the features and speed department and could be priced at $899 with a combo drive and $999 with a Superdrive and bigger HD.

And, ALL new Macs should definitely be pre-loaded with 512MB or better! We shouldn't have to add more memory right off the bat. No more excuses Apple!

 

[Yvan256]

It's time to dump the CRT once and for all, but it's also not necessary that new macs have built in monitors. A computer becomes obsolete much faster than a monitor goes bad. I'd like to buy a nice monitor that I could keep for awhile and just get a new Mac as needed. I want the speed of an iMac, but want a lower price version sans built-in monitor.

Indeed. I'd rather buy a Mac mini since the price is lower and the money I save can go toward a better monitor (using an old 13" CRT with my PC right now. Yep, that's a 13"... I just measured it. And here I thought this was a 14")

I'd like to see a more powerful 'MacMini' or similarly designed model take the place of the eMac. It definitely should be a low-end G5 (especially if they do a speed bump on the pricier iMac at the same time). This would truly be a headless-iMac in the features and speed department and could be priced at $899 with a combo drive and $999 with a Superdrive and bigger HD.

Indeed. I'd rather see a "Mac mini G5" at the current pricepoints of the eMac. Same specs as the iMacs, but without the LCD.

Mac mini. The three things that really bug me about it:

- The low VRAM. I suppose the Radeon 9200 is ok for such a small system, but 32MB is a joke. Apple needs to wake up on this. The GeForce4 MX440 I bought two years ago had 64MB, and that was a budget card that I paid 99$CAN). How can gaming grow on Macs when programmers have to cut down everything for the Mac versions simply because they lack in GPU and especially VRAM compared to the PC side. IMO the low-end needs 64MB VRAM (Mac mini, iBook, eMac), the middle-end needs 128MB (iMacs, 12" Powerbook) and the high-end needs 256MB VRAM (PowerMacs, 15/17" PowerBooks). And yes, the FX 5200 Ultra is a piece of crap (as far as power/price ratio is concerned). There's much better GPUs out there, even in the low-cost group. If Apple is currently lacking in anything, it's the GPU/VRAM situation. Apple makes computers, not gaming consoles. Put more VRAM in your systems already! (yes, I know how this sounds silly saying this after everything I said, but compare gaming on computers vs gaming on consoles, not gaming vs computers).

- The laptop HD. I do wish they shipped with 5400RPM drives. I mean, it's not like we need to save battery power with the Mac mini. Yes I heard that some units have a 5400RPM, but I don't want to gamble on system specs! A 5400RPM HD should be the default drive.

- The fact there's only one memory slot. That's really not a good idea for a "low-cost" computer. In fact, a "low-cost" computer should have at least 2 slots, but 3 or 4 would be even better. That way, you can go up to 1GB by using the hand-me-down 256MB modules from your friends. Or with two slots, order the Mac mini with the default 256MB and add a 3rd party 256MB or 512MB to keep things low-cost.

Sure, there's a lack of USB ports on the Mac mini. But that's easily fixed with a USB hub. Sure, 40 or 80GB isn't that big. But that's easily fixed with an external FireWire HD (you can even use an old HD that you've had lying around for months, from an earlier PC upgrade). The result won't be pretty (or small), but they're not technical limits, the user can do something about it.

iMac G5: The one thing that really bug me about it is the built-in LCD display (or the built-in computer, if you see it the other way around). Upgrade computer? Pay extra for another AIO that has yet another display in it (while you still have a perfectly good one built-in the iMac G5) or pay extra for a headless computer with yet another display (while you still have a perfectly good one built-in the iMac G5). Both aren't good options. Unless we see Apple coming out with motherboard upgrades (since the iMac G5 is supposed to be "easy user access" and all). I'd sure like to see better choices for the GPU/VRAM, for one.

And, ALL new Macs should definitely be pre-loaded with 512MB or better! We shouldn't have to add more memory right off the bat. No more excuses Apple!

It seems Apple is waking up. All new PowerBooks come with 512MB. Here's hoping all new Macs/updates will follow.

 

[Yvan256]

Why not just remove the CRT and let the user put they own screen on it, headless Mac with little expandability for even less. Plus when school need to upgrade all they have to do is either replace the CPU or change a damaged CRT no need to get a whole new machine.

How much do you think an eMac minus the CRT will cost to make they have an iBook at 999 USD, however if you minus the LCD from the iBook you are looking at a ~500 USD Macintosh.

Hey, you predicted the specs (iBook) and price (500$US) for the Mac mini!

Congrats!

 

[stevehaslip]

Hey, you predicted the specs (iBook) and price (500$US) for the Mac mini!

Congrats!

Yvan, you monitor might be a 14", just with a 13" viewable area. It doesn't make too much difference but thought i would make you feel a little better!

 

[wrldwzrd89]

<snip>
iMac G5: The one thing that really bug me about it is the built-in LCD display (or the built-in computer, if you see it the other way around). Upgrade computer? Pay extra for another AIO that has yet another display in it (while you still have a perfectly good one built-in the iMac G5) or pay extra for a headless computer with yet another display (while you still have a perfectly good one built-in the iMac G5). Both aren't good options. Unless we see Apple coming out with motherboard upgrades (since the iMac G5 is supposed to be "easy user access" and all). I'd sure like to see better choices for the GPU/VRAM, for one.
<snip>

Really? That doesn't bother me in the slightest. This iMac I have now is the second all-in-one style desktop I've used from Apple (my first was an Apple IIgs), and I couldn't like the thing more if I tried. My planned replacement date for this iMac was two years and one day away when I posted this (for those lazy types, it's February 6, 2007). Odds are there won't be an iMac G5 by then (but I'm planning on buying a PowerMac, so it makes very little difference).