Why can't they make a desktop tower for normal people? ****, solder in the parts and weld the box shut if you have to, but don't make me buy a new friggin 27" display every time I want to get a new computer.
Because people do not want to be forced to buy a new display every time they want to buy a new computer?
This issue's somewhat mitigated by the high (for the industry) residual resale value of the iMac you're done with, no?
That "hole" you are describing is the headless, expandable, user-upgradable mid-level desktop machine. I know exactly what you are talking about. Something along the lines of a Power Macintosh 7000 series machine.
...and 20+ similar posts.... ...however....
In other words, a dying paradigm that consumers have little interest in.
What computer nerds need to understand (and I'm one of them) is that nerd needs != consumer needs.
But, but, but.......
Your generalising everybody. Im a consumer and i have a BIG interest in that. Also the whole Hackintosh community (which isn't small) also obviously has a big interest.
Yes, it is VERY small
Keep in mind I'm talking about consumers, whom from working in retail, clearly have no ****ing clue about technology and will never need something like a hackintosh.
The long-running persistence of forum posters calling for the MMRM (Mythical Mid-Range Mac) over the last X years (quite a few now) in the face of Apple's utterly ignoring the ever-repeated calls is endearing by now. And a forum tradition.
However, Apple at least monitors Mac site forums in general, and if they weren't taking heed a decade ago when PC's were at the heart of their business and a still healthily growing market, they almost certainly won't do so now, even though the machine would clearly be modestly "successful," i.e., in generating an ongoing flow of sales over a period of years. And one which wouldn't even cannibalize most of its sales from existing Mac models.
Some reasons can be illustrated by looking at the new Mac Pro...
The Pro is Apple's "Aspirational Mac," i.e., a path for power and pro users that says not only is Mac OS the clear leader, you won't outgrow the hardware either, so there's virtually no ceiling to where a Mac users can go.
So even with low unit sales for an Apple product, it's strategic, iconic and in their interest whatever its marginal effect on either their top or bottom lines in any given quarter or year.
As for whether it's profitable, certainly Apple makes somewhere around its historic margins on each Pro sold from a bill of lading perspective. However the math on the development/building/marketing/support costs - R&D, setting up the production lines, etc., etc. - might (and I say might 'cos I dunno), the whole project is likely still underwater and likely to be there for a while yet.
Which makes it likely Apple's only "successful" product in that situation, but still well worth what the company's put into it in terms of its "halo effect."
No truly analogous set of realities applies to bringing out a MMRM. And certainly not a Mac-oriented personal computer platform gaming rig. The latter is totally a dead-in-the-water idea.
Apple could certainly "afford" to build a mid-range headless Mac with relatively low dev costs (almost trivial likely), but stocking an additional sizable SKU all across its distribution channels and high relative support costs (if it were truly an "open the case and start adding your own mods") doesn't really fit their volume/growing segment business philosophy and model.
And - as long as they tolerate the Hackintosh community (certainly "large" in its own eyes, but hardly likely in the millions) for true hobbyists - and they do tolerate it, as they benefit from having true hobbyists involved in the platform - having this "pressure-relief outlet" saves them the bother. Even if they're also leaving a potential hundred thousand or two units/quarter on the table.
Meanwhile, Apple probably also follows HackyT community with some interest for anything useful that comes out of it which might be applied to future Mac and Mac OS development.
So hang in there homies. You're proof that hope springs eternal. Just don't get yer hopes up....
