Customizability is both a curse and a blessing...
One thing that's been beautiful about Macs all these years is that it's always been relatively few hardware configurations to worry about, which probably makes software and drivers a little easier to deal with for Apple. Also, most of Apple's configurations come with the ideal price/performance part for the particular group the machine targets -- GeForce 4 MX is a perfect consumer card, Radeon 7500 is a great card if you're on the cheap like the eMac, etc. Another thing to consider is just how few users ever even open their comptuers, let alone upgrade them. For the consumer, which is what the iMac targets, and for folks on the cheap, which the eMac targets, upgradeability and tinkering ease are pretty useless. They're designed to be good, ergonomic machines first, and function is an afterthought; the function follows the form.
If you want a highly configurable machine that you can upgrade, configure, personalize, and tinker with, then you want a machine that was designed with function over form -- the Powermac. You can tinker all you like, you'll have tons of choices, etc.
The one group that Apple neglects, as it historically has, is enthusiasts on a budget. I know many PC using folks who would consider adding or switching if they could get a tinkerable Mac for about what they could buy/build a midrange PC for; so here's my idea of what this product line should be like:
Medium-Small Tower Form Factor case with standard cooling system (pc-style)
G4 Powered (similar to iMac)
256 MB DDR333 Memory, 3-4 Slots
GeForce 4 MX, with BTO Radeon 9100 Option, DVI/ADC connectors.
IDE Hard Drives; 80GB, with 120GB BTO option
Combo Drive with BTO superdrive option
Sound, LAN, onboard.
2 USB 2.0 Ports (rear)
2 Firewire Ports (rear)
It could be called the "iBox" perhaps...
The idea would be to keep the specs in line with current iMac, and keep the price hovering at about the same level; perhaps just a little below, say around the $1400-$1500 mark in a stock configuration, just enough that it might get a PC user to just dump his current "box" and pick up an "iBox."
I know that what I just described is basically a Powermac G4, but as this is a dying model, and such things aren't generally available, and a marketing bit to push this "iBox" woudl help it a lot, methinks.
Good Idea? It seems like it fills a missing niche in the market to me.
