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G5 iMac Specs?
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SeaFox
macrumors 68030
comictimes said:
That's only for the low-end eduactional target version (like we're-building-a-computer-lab version). Unless you're a school employee or a student, you don't even have the option of buying it. So why do you care? 🙄
I don't know why they are making it optical-delete though. You'd think they would carry on the tradition of CD-ROM only like the edu verion of the eMac. I mean, if the machine gets hosed in the lab, how are they going to reinstall the OS? (ooooo, wait! Network-install like a linux distro!).
The graphics cards are crap, though. I mean I guess if you're doing a web and word processing lab then a GeForce 4MX is fine. But the consumer machines should allow upgrading if that's all Apple is offering from the factory. There's no real limit on what graphics card you can put in even a low end basic PC. Locking Consumer Mac machines to outdated graphics technology will only reinforce the idea the Mac is not the platform to choose if you like games at all.
Overall the specs are what I expected. I'm more interested in what the machine will look like.
smaller monitors?
I'm hoping for some versions with smaller monitors and lower price tags. I don't want a 17" LCD when a 14" would do, plus, I'd love to have a smaller iMac.
I'm hoping for some versions with smaller monitors and lower price tags. I don't want a 17" LCD when a 14" would do, plus, I'd love to have a smaller iMac.
FW800
I think not including FW800 in the high end can be a little off-putting or indicate that the specs are wrong.
And another thing....
Why not remove the hard drive in the Education model (or make it optional). NetBoot machines would be fantastic in the Edu market. No maintenance what so ever and only a couple of moving parts.
I think not including FW800 in the high end can be a little off-putting or indicate that the specs are wrong.
And another thing....
Why not remove the hard drive in the Education model (or make it optional). NetBoot machines would be fantastic in the Edu market. No maintenance what so ever and only a couple of moving parts.
If these are the same price and still have a screen attached, I truly can't see why they would sell better then the old imac. Yes, a speed increase is nice but Apple really does need to make a low end machine without a monitor.
Example: Grandfather, a Apple user 15+ years, just bought a Dell because of price. For those who say "its not an Apple", "he'll be the sorry one", etc., it doesn't matter. Apple lost the sale period.
Having the flat panel monitor included keeps the price high. Apple, bring out a mini tower at a lower price. Put 128mb of ram in it just like Dell does. Yes, the computer, Dells as well, barely run on that, but ya know what? You will have made the sale.
Businesses would also buy more if they could dictate which monitor they could buy.
Argh!!!!
Example: Grandfather, a Apple user 15+ years, just bought a Dell because of price. For those who say "its not an Apple", "he'll be the sorry one", etc., it doesn't matter. Apple lost the sale period.
Having the flat panel monitor included keeps the price high. Apple, bring out a mini tower at a lower price. Put 128mb of ram in it just like Dell does. Yes, the computer, Dells as well, barely run on that, but ya know what? You will have made the sale.
Businesses would also buy more if they could dictate which monitor they could buy.
Argh!!!!
SeaFox
macrumors 68030
OT: Powerbooks
Hey! Good point! (but off topic since this is a discussion of the new iMacs)
I was going to get a Powerbook this fall, but since the release of Tiger has been delayed until next year so has my new laptop order. I may get a Powerbook with a G5 in it now! Although I really don't care, I was thinking it would be a 1.5Ghz G4 12" (expecting an update in the fall). Not having to pay for Tiger was more important to me than whether it was a G4 or G5, both are very usable right now.
h00ligan said:
Hey! Good point! (but off topic since this is a discussion of the new iMacs)
I was going to get a Powerbook this fall, but since the release of Tiger has been delayed until next year so has my new laptop order. I may get a Powerbook with a G5 in it now! Although I really don't care, I was thinking it would be a 1.5Ghz G4 12" (expecting an update in the fall). Not having to pay for Tiger was more important to me than whether it was a G4 or G5, both are very usable right now.
MacinDoc
macrumors 68020
I'm not sure that I believe the video, HD and RAM specs, since they are exactly the same as the old specs. Why introduce a completely new machine and saddle it with last year's technology?
I especially hope that the graphics cards will be better than this suggests, since I doubt they will be upgradeable. When the FX 5200 Ultra was introduced MONTHS ago for the Power Mac, everyone was trashing it. Surely, for the extra $50, they could at least add the Radeon 9600 to the 20" model🙄. Better yet, how about using the 64 and 128 MB versions of the Radeon 9700 - if they're small and fast enough for a Powerbook, they're small and fast enough for an iMac.
Similarly, the HD configurations seem a bit lame. After all, even the current eMacs sport 40-80 GB HDs (I know, the low end model is supposed to replace the eMacs, but would you replace an old machine with a new one whose specs were no better? For that matter, when the 60 GB iPod comes out, how would it look to be selling a desktop than had a smaller HD than an iPod?). And why not go with SATA across the board? It's not that much more expensive than ultra ATA, and using one standard on the MBs should reduce costs.
And still only 256 MB base RAM for the top model? Once again, no better than the previous models. I sure hope not! 256 MB doesn't exactly showcase OS X...
Oh, one more thing...
Apple will NOT discontinue the $799 eMac and replace it with a $1299 low-end model. That would be corporate suicide...
I especially hope that the graphics cards will be better than this suggests, since I doubt they will be upgradeable. When the FX 5200 Ultra was introduced MONTHS ago for the Power Mac, everyone was trashing it. Surely, for the extra $50, they could at least add the Radeon 9600 to the 20" model🙄. Better yet, how about using the 64 and 128 MB versions of the Radeon 9700 - if they're small and fast enough for a Powerbook, they're small and fast enough for an iMac.
Similarly, the HD configurations seem a bit lame. After all, even the current eMacs sport 40-80 GB HDs (I know, the low end model is supposed to replace the eMacs, but would you replace an old machine with a new one whose specs were no better? For that matter, when the 60 GB iPod comes out, how would it look to be selling a desktop than had a smaller HD than an iPod?). And why not go with SATA across the board? It's not that much more expensive than ultra ATA, and using one standard on the MBs should reduce costs.
And still only 256 MB base RAM for the top model? Once again, no better than the previous models. I sure hope not! 256 MB doesn't exactly showcase OS X...
Oh, one more thing...
Apple will NOT discontinue the $799 eMac and replace it with a $1299 low-end model. That would be corporate suicide...
tex210
macrumors 6502
I'm with you...
I like small. Just give me vga or tv out tho. May i suggest a 'book?
Job... by Must upgrade I mean when the software will no longer support G4. You will be good for a while with an eMac. When there is the "Next Killer App" I'm sure we will all want to upgrade anyway.
stylewriter said:
I like small. Just give me vga or tv out tho. May i suggest a 'book?
Job... by Must upgrade I mean when the software will no longer support G4. You will be good for a while with an eMac. When there is the "Next Killer App" I'm sure we will all want to upgrade anyway.
Lets hope my credit card application goes through cause I'd love to make a big dent in it with one of these 🙂
LAME!
How could any company release a "high end" comsumer system that is too pathetic to play current games descently? If this comes to pass, then its clear to me that Apple has no intention of ever increasing marketshare and gaining new customers.
Where is the Macintosh for the average person? You know the single processer 2-2.5Ghz mid-tower, with a mid-range to highend graphics card, and 512MB of ram, in the $1000-1500 price range. Something that can show off OS X, play modern games, and not leave you broke. Something to actually stand up against the PC competition, to increase marketshare and keep developer interest alive?
How could any company release a "high end" comsumer system that is too pathetic to play current games descently? If this comes to pass, then its clear to me that Apple has no intention of ever increasing marketshare and gaining new customers.
Where is the Macintosh for the average person? You know the single processer 2-2.5Ghz mid-tower, with a mid-range to highend graphics card, and 512MB of ram, in the $1000-1500 price range. Something that can show off OS X, play modern games, and not leave you broke. Something to actually stand up against the PC competition, to increase marketshare and keep developer interest alive?
ZildjianKX
macrumors 68000
Wow, the videocard is a real crippler.
Just make a less expensive iMac without an LCD or CRT attached (aka cube) and I think a lot of people would be more happy...
Just make a less expensive iMac without an LCD or CRT attached (aka cube) and I think a lot of people would be more happy...
Optical Drive-Less eMac
Not sure if you guys are aware, but in Australia the eMac is available without an optical drive.
Obviously this is only for Education, but it is a measly AUS$889 (which equates to US$600 approx.).
Not sure if you guys are aware, but in Australia the eMac is available without an optical drive.
Obviously this is only for Education, but it is a measly AUS$889 (which equates to US$600 approx.).
LaMerVipere
macrumors 6502a
These specs are NOT sounding that fab...
am I the only one who is definitely not thrilled by these possible specs? GAH, it's definitely not a great value, couldn't they have at least thrown in more ram, bigger HD, better graphics standard??? 😕
am I the only one who is definitely not thrilled by these possible specs? GAH, it's definitely not a great value, couldn't they have at least thrown in more ram, bigger HD, better graphics standard??? 😕
Not very happy with the sounds of these new Imacs
I mean I'm sure Apple will do a better job than Sony but I really thought this was the time to dump the all in one idea. An Apple tower for the masses, at least one more people can afford is where Apple should be heading. After all this may be the most important desktop Apple has ever introduced to solidify the success of iTunes. Why?? Because they need to capitalize on the giant success of iTunes and iPod and give those PC users impressed with those products a reason to move over the OSX platform.
I cannot wait to see them and whatever it they look it. And it would be even a bigger joy to see Steve in good health at the announcement!
Bill
I mean I'm sure Apple will do a better job than Sony but I really thought this was the time to dump the all in one idea. An Apple tower for the masses, at least one more people can afford is where Apple should be heading. After all this may be the most important desktop Apple has ever introduced to solidify the success of iTunes. Why?? Because they need to capitalize on the giant success of iTunes and iPod and give those PC users impressed with those products a reason to move over the OSX platform.
I cannot wait to see them and whatever it they look it. And it would be even a bigger joy to see Steve in good health at the announcement!
Bill
swissmann
macrumors 6502a
$1,300 for the cheapest Mac available (ouch). I know that the screen adds a lot of cost. If you are going to compare the iMac to a PowerMac price wise you need to throw in the cost of an apple display of the same dimensions for a good comparison I think. The low end eMac is so cheap right now $749 edu price and that includes a combodrive. I also think Apple needs a cheap headless mac. How many $500 headless G4 macs with relatively low specs across the board could apple sell to education markets? Sorry but you don't need a G5 to learn ABC's on.
no optical drive = no problem
These "low-end" Macs don't need any optical drive. Apple assumes in the educational setting that you will shell out the $300 to buy Apple Remote Desktop, you can install packages directly, so no optical drive is really not an issue. Kids save all the work to the server, it keeps things secure and kids can't cut bootleg CDs at school, or play games, etc...
psxndc said:
These "low-end" Macs don't need any optical drive. Apple assumes in the educational setting that you will shell out the $300 to buy Apple Remote Desktop, you can install packages directly, so no optical drive is really not an issue. Kids save all the work to the server, it keeps things secure and kids can't cut bootleg CDs at school, or play games, etc...
One point about the video card: according to the specs for the recently released Motion, some of the new iMacs will not meet the minimum reqs. Wouldn't it suck if you just bought a shiny new computer only to find out there is software already out there that requires something more powerful than what you just bought? 😕
If this is true, there will still be no Mac without monitor and with upgradable graphics card that isn't totally overdimensioned. That's really sad. I have a really beautiful 17" TFT display and would love to buy a G5 for about $1000 (without dual processors, 1,6GHz would be enough). You can buy a really great PC for $800, but you cannot buy a comparable Mac for $1000. That's so stupid... 😡