the future said:
Ahh, that makes more sense. It would be quite nice for video game setup in the living room, or my grandfather who use to use a magnifying glass to read email on his 17".
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Let's Hope the iMac Doesn't Look Like This Dell
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Ahh, that makes more sense. It would be quite nice for video game setup in the living room, or my grandfather who use to use a magnifying glass to read email on his 17".
The only good thing about this is that its a great example of what not to do. Hard to imagine Apple not coming out with something better.
Does make me wonder, though, on the LCD options.....how many will there be or will you just have one for the first version.
D
Does make me wonder, though, on the LCD options.....how many will there be or will you just have one for the first version.
D
honestly though, isnt this what the new imacs are rumored to look like anyway? i mean, with a little apple styling to them. i dont think it looks *terrible*, just a little funny...
Abstract said:Wow, I can't wait for Apple's version of this to come out so that Mac sheep can start talking about how everyone else is copying their designs and ideas.
Apple did do something like this back in the 90's. Did you ever hear of the 20th Anniversary Mac? Even that looked better than this copy.
Placing the drive vertically isn't really a problem, but when a drive is at an odd angle it vibrates and has to slow down considerably to compensate. I think this is why Apple avoided placing the parts behind the screen on the G4 iMac. If the display is adjustable I doubt they'd use such a design in the G5 iMac for the same reason.Chmeeee said:
KingSleaze said:
I think he refers to my post of the alienware 30" TV/PC thingie...
and we all know how long the 20th Anniversary Mac lasted... good basic concept... but it was slower than most macs produced then, and the screen was too small... 10" for a desktop...
get it back with a decent screen, and powerfull guts... and people will want to buy it...
and this like fashion: everybody steals/copies and points to another so people wouldn't see they're doing the same ;-)
as far as I know you can say on the TV thing: apple had TV option on their old beige perfoma's one day... yes true... but this alienware device is the first one to combine all in one in a working (sorry to say that about something Windows Powered) package... not like the media center pc's from gateway (the are just PC's with a remote...)
I was thinking about this idea a few years ago together with my brother... but our biggest issue was: software... because our old pc's could manage all the things we wanted (that was before I could afford my first mac) but they remained c's and the controlling stayed too much like operating a pc...
but still they don't have the final concept as we had it... but they now have the software to run it and the hardware for it (at the time of our concept dvd-recorders were still in labs... we thought about using Plasma screens... or projection systems, very expensive, low-res, certainly at that time...
if they made OSX Media Center Edition... I think it would be cooler than MS version... no teletubbies-design-os at least ;-)
IT USES APPLE'S NEW ALUMINUM MONITOR STANDS!!
I would expect these things to be wildly popular with institutions of all kinds, schools, libraries, offices, businesses large and small, government facilities,etc. because of the space-saving, the optional cable cover which makes it almost an all-in-one cable-less unit (important in schools, especially; having to check all units in an elementary or high school classroom for tight cable connections is logistically ridiculous), the new fun flexibility of wall-mounting the CPU unit, and the far-superior text readability of LCD monitors will give this design great appeal and salability.
BUT NO ONE'S EVER COPIED AN APPLE DESIGN STYLE THEME SO QUICKLY! Is this possible?
HOLY COW! Check out the "product view" page, close-up "side view" of "monitor solution" of this 270 model ----- It uses the SAME new Apple signature style of thick, curved and cantilevered sheet aluminum monitor stand, only even COOLER ---- the cantilever point is extended mind-bogglingly, impossibly far over because it's counterbalanced by the CPU unit snuggled into a curve in the sheet aluminum's back --- The thing's balanced like a Calder mobile!!!!Chmeeee said:
I would expect these things to be wildly popular with institutions of all kinds, schools, libraries, offices, businesses large and small, government facilities,etc. because of the space-saving, the optional cable cover which makes it almost an all-in-one cable-less unit (important in schools, especially; having to check all units in an elementary or high school classroom for tight cable connections is logistically ridiculous), the new fun flexibility of wall-mounting the CPU unit, and the far-superior text readability of LCD monitors will give this design great appeal and salability.
BUT NO ONE'S EVER COPIED AN APPLE DESIGN STYLE THEME SO QUICKLY! Is this possible?
Woah! Uuuugly!
Gosh... I almost feel sorry for Dell users sometimes... Not only is that a very bad looking computer, ALL of the computers on Dell.com's initial websites are using some type of the Intel Integrated Extreme Graphics... Blah! Poo on you Dell! Even for the usual PC user, that's just unacceptable! Any thoughts on this?
Gosh... I almost feel sorry for Dell users sometimes... Not only is that a very bad looking computer, ALL of the computers on Dell.com's initial websites are using some type of the Intel Integrated Extreme Graphics... Blah! Poo on you Dell! Even for the usual PC user, that's just unacceptable! Any thoughts on this?
No odd angles on the Dell
Notice the Dell's have a much more complex design than just attaching a computer to the back of an LCD screen as in previous designs a la Gateway and 20th anniversary Mac. The new Dell CPU and drive units always remain perfectly vertical or horizontal, even as the attached LCD screen is free to rotate.Finiksa said:
No firewire
In addition, notice, no firewire ports available, even though it's got 7 USB 2.0 ports.Littleodie914 said:Gosh... I almost feel sorry for Dell users sometimes... Not only is that a very bad looking computer, ALL of the computers on Dell.com's initial websites are using some type of the Intel Integrated Extreme Graphics... Blah! Poo on you Dell! Even for the usual PC user, that's just unacceptable! Any thoughts on this?
alanbuilds said:
please tell me you're joking. It's an LCD that's base happens to be shaped so that you can sit a small computer on the back of it. Look at some of the close up pics from links mentioned before. What it is happens to be exactally this: attaching a computer to the back of an LCD screen.
Well, yes
Still, I think it will be an enormously popular design.
Hey, what I said is technically true. When I first saw it, it was a shock, and I posted quickly; but now, seeing it again, thanks to you, I had to laugh out loud --- It's not quite beautiful, is it? (Or "cooler")mac_gal said:
Still, I think it will be an enormously popular design.
Watch and use the Dell page's 360*VR viewer for this poduct. It clearly shows the screen articulating on a very clearly visible independent pivot while the CPU remains stationary. You can zoom in as much as you want, and rotate on all axes. (I'm sorry, I don't know how to attach links or pictures to posts.)mkaake said:
alanbuilds said:
I assume you are talking about the monitor base looking similar to the new style Apple displays? These computers have been in our library for about 8 or 10 months now, so they predate that design (unless they have some inside info that we dont see here
)
Abstract said:Wow, I can't wait for Apple's version of this to come out so that Mac sheep can start talking about how everyone else is copying their designs and ideas.Jo-Kun said:
Actually no one was saying they were copying Apple. They do seem to have copied the IBM that garybUK mentioned.
OMG! The world ended!!
8-10 months old?!?
OMG!
Hell freezes over!
Pigs fly!
The world ended and I didn't notice!
APPLE COPIES DELL STYLE!!!!!
(I'm seriously, seriously disoriented . . . no kidding.)
Regading Finiksa's post:
I doubt Apple could ever make anything inelegant (just as I doubt any other computer company is capable of making anything elegant or beautiful -- sounds like impossible overgeneralization, but given the entire history of personal computer manufacture, one just has got to accept it as fact, like the speed of light universal speed limit). And I think that the current iMac, especially the 20", is the most beautiful, best designed computer ever made, possibly the most beautiful item ever manufactured by man. I don't think the FP iMac's lackluster sales history is a design problem, but a powerbook problem. A portable powerbook is just so much more useful, productive, and fun, how can anyone justify purchasing a big, immovable hunk with the same features and only slight cost reduction? My grandparents had a big polished carved wood console tube radio in their victorian parlor. It was as tall as a piano and probably half as heavy. You don't see them around anymore, even though it was a traditional piece of furniture in people's family lives for some years. Now you can buy any number of little microchip radios that fit right inside your ear for $5 at the impuse-buy bin at any retailer's checkout register. 10,000 songs on the iPod in your pocket!
Try to fit desktop computers in a classroom. In a computer lab. Schools all over the country are buying iBooks (and Thinkpads) instead of desktops, even though they have the tightest budgets imaginable. Why? Any portability cost premium is insignificant compared to the cost of classroom space. So, schools buy either portables or the cheapest (eMacs), not iMacs. And pros still need the fastest towers. So, where is the market for Apple's signature all-in-one desktop?
Shrunk. And shrinking.
New form factors will appear.
Then, why is the current iMac so great?
20" screen. That FLOATS. FLOATS!! That moves effortlessly, weightlessly, in any direction, anywhere your thoughts want the computer visions to appear. 20" of the best apple screen! And now the beautiful frosty half dome that initially looked so huge to this spoiled Powerbook user ("What's it so big for?") is just the perfect minimum size and weight to be a stable pedestal for the 20" screen, even if there was no computer inside! I think the 20" iMac is worth the price premium over any other 20" screen alone, just for the magic arm it's mounted on, and the inspiration it provides.
What do I hope the new iMac looks like? I'm pretty hopeless about Apple's new design directions, and look forward to Paris with more trepidation than enthusiasm. But I WISH it looked exactly the same as it does now . . . (no chance at all, of course).
Chmeeee said:I assume you are talking about the monitor base looking similar to the new style Apple displays? These computers have been in our library for about 8 or 10 months now, so they predate that design (unless they have some inside info that we dont see here
8-10 months old?!?
OMG!
Hell freezes over!
Pigs fly!
The world ended and I didn't notice!
APPLE COPIES DELL STYLE!!!!!
(I'm seriously, seriously disoriented . . . no kidding.)
Regading Finiksa's post:
I doubt Apple could ever make anything inelegant (just as I doubt any other computer company is capable of making anything elegant or beautiful -- sounds like impossible overgeneralization, but given the entire history of personal computer manufacture, one just has got to accept it as fact, like the speed of light universal speed limit). And I think that the current iMac, especially the 20", is the most beautiful, best designed computer ever made, possibly the most beautiful item ever manufactured by man. I don't think the FP iMac's lackluster sales history is a design problem, but a powerbook problem. A portable powerbook is just so much more useful, productive, and fun, how can anyone justify purchasing a big, immovable hunk with the same features and only slight cost reduction? My grandparents had a big polished carved wood console tube radio in their victorian parlor. It was as tall as a piano and probably half as heavy. You don't see them around anymore, even though it was a traditional piece of furniture in people's family lives for some years. Now you can buy any number of little microchip radios that fit right inside your ear for $5 at the impuse-buy bin at any retailer's checkout register. 10,000 songs on the iPod in your pocket!
Try to fit desktop computers in a classroom. In a computer lab. Schools all over the country are buying iBooks (and Thinkpads) instead of desktops, even though they have the tightest budgets imaginable. Why? Any portability cost premium is insignificant compared to the cost of classroom space. So, schools buy either portables or the cheapest (eMacs), not iMacs. And pros still need the fastest towers. So, where is the market for Apple's signature all-in-one desktop?
Shrunk. And shrinking.
New form factors will appear.
Then, why is the current iMac so great?
20" screen. That FLOATS. FLOATS!! That moves effortlessly, weightlessly, in any direction, anywhere your thoughts want the computer visions to appear. 20" of the best apple screen! And now the beautiful frosty half dome that initially looked so huge to this spoiled Powerbook user ("What's it so big for?") is just the perfect minimum size and weight to be a stable pedestal for the 20" screen, even if there was no computer inside! I think the 20" iMac is worth the price premium over any other 20" screen alone, just for the magic arm it's mounted on, and the inspiration it provides.
What do I hope the new iMac looks like? I'm pretty hopeless about Apple's new design directions, and look forward to Paris with more trepidation than enthusiasm. But I WISH it looked exactly the same as it does now . . . (no chance at all, of course).
edesignuk said:
We have one at work -- just the SX270, not the LCD with integrated CPU stand or whatever. Its performance doesn't match its specs. I have an HP e-PC 42 at home, and I like it a lot better despite its older specs. It's really quiet; I think Apple should take a look at the way its case fan is mounted right above the large passive CPU heat sink, making one large, low-RPM, quiet fan do two jobs. If the new iMac were like that (only styled like an Apple, and of course with a G5 and Panther) I'd be pretty happy.
Crikey
mac_gal said:So I've read the Thinksecret, etc. reports that claim the iMac will look like a pizza box, with the CPU unit mounted behind the monitor. (Note: I don't know exactly how this is a pizza box, but this is how it has been described.)
Anyway, I got the Dell catalog today and there's new Dells (Optiplex SX280, SX270) that kinda match the "CPU behind the LCD" description. It seems that you can hook the unit onto the LCD, or unhook it and use it as you would a tower.
I see the benefits of this design, but I think it's hideous.
Do you think the new iMac will be of a similar form factor?
-----
EDIT: That image is from Dell's site
I bet Apple could take even THAT basic design and wow us.
Ok its a pretty ugly looking thing but thats cos it has that dell look most of us hate. However the concept is pretty practical for the many uses. I've seen more and more of these kind of designs popping up all over the place, particularly at reception desks, internet cafes and in my gym.
I wouldn't be surprised if the new iMac was similar but I would think it would have some kind of new twist on the idea and be a hell of a lot prettier.
I wouldn't be surprised if the new iMac was similar but I would think it would have some kind of new twist on the idea and be a hell of a lot prettier.