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New iMac: What do YOU think?

T

Tomasz

macrumors regular
Original poster
Dec 30, 2001
102
0
Berkeley, California
Well, its been two days since I saw the new iMac. Day one I thought it was ugly... by day two I am thinking that it looks okay. And considering that it has one of the fastest processors available for macs and a reseanable graphic card for consumors, I think it is a pretty good computer.

The price may seem a little high, but you are basically getting a computer that is nearing the performance of the towers.

But that is my opinion regarding the iMac, what is yours?

Tomasz
 
The price seems great if you take into account the fact that it's basically a G4 tower with a studio display attached for $1299.
 
I agree with you asurace.

Exactly, so it makes me wonder if a person buying a computer may have a much better value with the iMac when compared to a tower. (Except for the upgradablity)

Tomasz
 
My math:
733 PowerMac = $1699
1699/733 = $2.32 per 1 MHz
2.32 * 700 = $1622 for a 700 MHz PowerMac

15" LCD with PowerMac (incl $100 rebate) = $499

15" LCD + 700 MHz PowerMac = $2121

I know the conversion from a 733 to a 700 doesn't work quite like that, but it's a good indication.

So, to get almost exactly the same package as the $1299 iMac, you'd have to spend $2121 on a PowerMac.

That's more than the top end iMac, which is better in almost every respect and at $1799, still $320 cheaper.

I hope you can follow that :D In short: iMac is very good value compared to the PowerMacs.
 
Exactly...

So if apple is making their "low end" machines come up to power with their pro machines, the new pro machines are going to be really good. Or at least one would think. It would make no sense to have the consumer and pro models be so close in features and performance.

Tomasz

I want my G5:0
 
[
My math:
733 PowerMac = $1699
1699/733 = $2.32 per 1 MHz
2.32 * 700 = $1622 for a 700 MHz PowerMac

15" LCD with PowerMac (incl $100 rebate) = $499

15" LCD + 700 MHz PowerMac = $2121

I know the conversion from a 733 to a 700 doesn't work quite like that, but it's a good indication.

So, to get almost exactly the same package as the $1299 iMac, you'd have to spend $2121 on a PowerMac.

That's more than the top end iMac, which is better in almost every respect and at $1799, still $320 cheaper.
Click to expand...

Factor in the top of the line tower gets the BTO superdrive option. Figure that one out:) Big price diff there.

I like the new iMac and my wife is begging for one, so we're selling her pre-LCD iMac and will get her the superdrive iMac.
 
It's controversial

Like most Apple designs, it's so striking that opinions are bound to be mixed. Some will love it, some will hate it, others won't care and will only notice that they can get what is essentially a $2500 powermac for 1800 bucks. (slightly slower processor, more ram, same HD, slower networking, monitor, speakers, less expansion, same graphics card).

Also, the 15" Studio Display costs $99 with the rebate, not $499.
 
I'm going for the 1799 model, but won't have enough $$$ for a couple months.. or perhaps ill go 1299 and throw in an ipod >=] (How much are kidney's worth today?)
 
well last time on ebay...

It went to around $80,000.... before it was taken off for legal reasons.

Who knew you couldn't sell body parts in America? j/k

Tomasz
 
Anyone who needs a tower but gets an iMac because "it is almost as fast as a new tower" will kick themselves when Apple comes out with the G5. If the G5 does to the G4 what the G3 did to the 604e the towers will look like very good deals.
Apple likes to make you think it does not know what it is doing but they know how to make the customer do what they want.
Maybe Apple put emphasis on its consumer line because they make more money for the company than the Powermacs do.
 
Of course they make more money. They sell many more of them. Besides, the old iMac changed how so many people (including Compaq) looked at computer and peripheral design. What will this one do? Finally make people think about form AND function for a change? Like it or not, the new iMac is revolutionary, and was more than anyone expected. It's the best deal as well.
 
kudos and complaints (minor)

Though I like the design, and as I've stated in another forum I believe Apple's real gambit here to be, as the head imac designer put it, to encourage users to "violate the sacred plane of the monitor," there are a few improvements I would like to see in later editions. One is a larger monitor. Who uses monitors smaller than 17" anymore in a desktop system? The most prohibitive factor here is probably price. But I also wonder how large the monitor could be before the base of the imac would no longer serve as effective ballast--though I suppose they could add weight to it as much as necessary for any size monitor. What about interchangeable monitors? What if you could plug whatever size LCD you wanted right into that swing-arm? This brings me to the speculation about "iwalk." One of my reactions upon first looking at pics of the new imac was that the monitor looks like it's begging to be removed. The new imac looks like a step in the direction of a "detachable-screen-with-base-station" appliance. Even the base of the thing provocatively resembles an airport base station, eh? Finally, why didn't Apple put a usb and firwire port in the FRONT of the thing. Why do you have to reach around to the back of the "digital hub" to plug anything in? Most TV's and other consumer entertainment devices now sport RCA, S-Video, and headphone ports right there on the front of the device, just so that consumers can plug in things like video cameras without having to fuss with the back of the device.
 
prices

Okay, why does a dual towers cost twice as much as the imac without the monitor? And all it has is another processor. Shouldn't they drop the price on the towers?

 
the new imac is great

i just have to say that i love it. If you dont like the way it looks, then you probably didnt like the first imac, the first ibooks (the colorful ones), the g4 cube, or many of apple's other weird designs. That is just what apple has done, be different from anything else. PCs are mostly all just beige boxes with a cd-rom drive. Apple has tried to be different and the imac is just a step in that direction.
 
To Kaneda

Exactly.... I am hoping for a major change soon with the towers! Maybe a surprise change? But probably at the next expo:(

I hope (am really hoping) that something new happens with the insides of the tower.

Tomasz
 
Re: kudos and complaints (minor)

Originally posted by phaedrus
Though I like the design, and as I've stated in another forum I believe Apple's real gambit here to be, as the head imac designer put it, to encourage users to "violate the sacred plane of the monitor," there are a few improvements I would like to see in later editions. One is a larger monitor. Who uses monitors smaller than 17" anymore in a desktop system? The most prohibitive factor here is probably price. But I also wonder how large the monitor could be before the base of the imac would no longer serve as effective ballast--though I suppose they could add weight to it as much as necessary for any size monitor. What about interchangeable monitors? What if you could plug whatever size LCD you wanted right into that swing-arm? This brings me to the speculation about "iwalk." One of my reactions upon first looking at pics of the new imac was that the monitor looks like it's begging to be removed. The new imac looks like a step in the direction of a "detachable-screen-with-base-station" appliance. Even the base of the thing provocatively resembles an airport base station, eh? Finally, why didn't Apple put a usb and firwire port in the FRONT of the thing. Why do you have to reach around to the back of the "digital hub" to plug anything in? Most TV's and other consumer entertainment devices now sport RCA, S-Video, and headphone ports right there on the front of the device, just so that consumers can plug in things like video cameras without having to fuss with the back of the device.
Click to expand...

Excellent speculation. Everyone should re-read this!
 
Respect of forms

More about the new imac. I speculate that one (there are others) advantage of the "hemispheric" design of the base is that it provides the best ballast for the LCD. "Cubes" and "towers" simply do not locate the bulk of their weight as low as a half-sphere. The new imac is indeed a challenge to our sense of aesthetics, for it claims audiciously, as Jobs put it, that the elements comprising a PC should be what they want to be "naturally," rather than being "glommed" onto each other in a morass of compromised forms. The difficult sublimnity of the new imac is attributable to this respect of forms. It's beauty is an intellectual one that must be appreciated, not for its capacity to immediately titillate the eye, but for its respect of organicity, not to mention its functionality.
 
Lets not play that game

I don't subscribe to the practice of waiting and speculating over and for the Perfect Mac. The specifications of the Macs will change every three months FOREVER, and we all know it. I'm going to buy the new iMac now because it is lurrrrvely. I could wait three months for a G5. I could wait 6 months for USB2 and Gigawire. I could wait 9 months for a G5 powerbook. But I could do that forever and ever.

Moore's Law - in two years, a piece of hardware will be double the spec and half the price. 4 years ago I bought a Beige233-G3 for £1450. Shocking! Just get buying!
 
The new iMac, I missed the keynote (despite my best efforts at logging onto the server) but fair enough, from one point of view for specific models there's no reason to keep to a particular shape, etc. However, some degree of uniformity does have its advantages - economies of scale, reduced design costs. Steve Jobs line of designing each machine independently might lead to cool designs but will definately lead to higher costs & slower development cycles.

My own comments on the new iMac, 2 years design and what they came up with was a desk lamp?? Copied from the Pixar logo and all! Ok, creativity takes time but what were these guys doing that took 2 years???

That chrome arm is interesting, but has anyone used anything with a moveable arm that didn't eventually lose its 'strength' and sag? I dont see how this would be any different.

Its a consumer machine, I would have much preferred to see a much lower priced machine even if that meant a much lower spec. Apple machines have always been a lot more expensive than the PC counterparts, and market share isn't going to increase until thats sorted out.
 
am I stupid?

Am I stupid of having bought a 867 PowerPC 2 1/2 months ago?
Does new iMac have the AltiVec????
 
Re: am I stupid?

Originally posted by totoro
Am I stupid of having bought a 867 PowerPC 2 1/2 months ago?
Does new iMac have the AltiVec????
Click to expand...

The iMacs have less Cash. The 867 is still a faster Box and more upgradable, expandable, and probably more ruggid. I wonder if you cant leave and iMac one for a month strait with no problems. True. The 867 is not THAT much faster out of the box but hey... thats the way it works. In a nother 3 months there will be a new G4 tower (I bet) and someone will want to shoot them selvs in to foot for Buying an iMac.

It just all depends on your needs, cash flow, and you "must have the absolute newses fastests toys".
 
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