This One is Small, Even By Our Standards

[Bobd]

Thanks for your answer. I tend to feel the same way you do, but on the other side. I believe a lot (not ll, far from it) of the critics I hear on Mac forums about PCs are innacurate when not completely wrong. But be sure that when I am on a PC forum and read nonsense about Macs, I react the same way...

As for the Gocyrus=a$$hole thing, I was refering to AmbitiousLemon, and didn't mean it serioulsy anyway.

 

[me hate windows]

Originally posted by AmbitiousLemon
well to clarify my feelinsg on the imac situation i thought i would post what i had to say about it from another thread:

personally this last thing in a string of many has made the new iMac the biggest blunder in apple history.

apple finally made a consumer product that all people would want to own. they spent massive amounts of money generating hype for this computer, drawing world attention to it which would come back to bite them in the end when the problems started.

the price from the beginning was a about $200 too much but for many people they bit the bullet and ordered it.

it was such an attractive deal that record numbers of iMacs were being ordered.

the new iMac was catching the eye of many pc users and the potencial for new converts and the first step in increasing market share seemed to have been taken.

but apple couldnt ship enough of the product. people were waiting months not weeks to get their computers. what started off as record numbers of orders was met by record numbers of cancelations. in fact apple was actually encouraging people to cancel their orders.

apple customer care was doing its best to antagonize the customers even more with lies and rude behavior... and thats if you got any response at all.

so the converts left. but now they had a really bad experience with apple that they would run out into the pc world and tell to all their friends and collegues. "joe over there tried to muy a mac but after fighting with apple's customer care for 3 months he finally just bought that nice little dell over there instead. go it in 3 days"

many people wanted an imac but just couldnt get one. they held out hoping the new machine would finally start shipping. the unavailability and high price scared them off. the fact that you could buy a powermac at nearly the same price made them question the imac purchase but it was just such a beautiful and powerful machine they kept hoping it would finally become available.

apple annouces increased prices rather than icreased availability and in addition to that, they flat out lied to all of their customers as to why the prices were increasing. anyone left considering buying an imac would have to be kicking themsleves for not ordering earlier (even though if they had they probably would still not have a computer) and many of these people would finally give up the dream. more lost converts and now a bunch of people who feel cheated.

and then there is that lie hanging over apple's head. blaming the increased imac prices on lcd and ram costs. as if any intelligient person would believe this for long. i dont know if any of you have checked but um... ram hasnt increased in price since january (since december yes but not since january, in fact the trend since january has been down ever so slightly). apple's ram is already highly overpriced so i find it hard to believe apple could find ram costing anymore than they are already claiming it costs. further more the imac is not the only apple with ram in it. perhaps you forgot about the ibook, powerbook, powermac? no ram increases there. no changes in price there. now thats odd. so the only ram that is increasing in price is imac ram ... sure. and lcds... well wouldnt you know it all of apple's computers also have lcds... again the imac is the only one with a price bump. in fact the powermac lcds have a significant rebate right now. certainly not a sign of increased lcd prices if you ask me. maybe its just those little lcds... o wait the ibook and powerbook have little lcds. again no price bumps there. in fact apple just unveiled a new lcd. bigger and more expensive than ever, now if lcd prices were increasing why would apple try to sell a bigger lcd that would be very vulnerable to price increases since it is already so expensive?

kind of odd that apple blames the price increase in the imac on parts that dont seem to be causing any problems in any other apple product. nope just the computer that apple suddenly noticed was much more highly demanded than they anticipated is meeting price increases.

the price increase isnt due to hardware. no thats just a way of saving face. apple simply decided that they could make more money by raising the price since they couldnt sell in large numbers. simple as that. if you cant produce a lot then the ones you do produce should earn you a lot. but apple could hardly get up there and say "hey kids didnt realize you guys liked this thing so much, now that i know this its really gonna cost you." i just cant imagine that going over well. so they make up a story about lcd prices and ram prices and hope no one sees through their little scheme.

so apple took a product that had the potencial to:
1) finally deliver mac os x to the masses
2) finally take steps toward increasing market share steve jobs has lost since he returned to apple
3) and finally improve apple's image with the masses regardless of whether they buy one or not
and turn it into a product that
1) gave more bad press and bad impressions of apple
2) made it harder to increase market share by pissing off massive numbers of potencial converts
3) make running a computer capable of running osx (a g4) even more unattainable to the consumer level buyer.
4) and degrade current customer loyalty by lying to and cheating customers

what this all boils down to is apple was stupid and didnt anticipate the demand for the new imac. actually they probably werent prepared for any high level of manufacturing of the new imac. so they definitely werent prepared for the massive orders they recieved. their customer care service wasnt prepared for the massive amounts of calls complaining and inquirying about where their computer was. so apple first tried to get some people to cancel to hopefully alleviate the problem. then someone decided that raising prices would maintain revenue and decrease demand so that they could catch up in their manufacturing and maybe give a break to their customer care service. we blame it on someone else and we dont even come out looking too bad.

if apple had been smart they would have spent all the money they wasted hyping this thing and spent it making sure their manufacturing was up to the task.



or maybe i am just bitter because i finally decided to buy one last week spent a week selling things and getting enough money scraped together only to find i suddenly didnt have enough because of apple's price increase.

but i got all this money now... maybe ill go buy a dell (jk, but seriously im not planning on buying anything from apple for a very long time not a boycott just a moratorium)

Go Lemon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I totally agree with you about all of this Apple crap. The ram and LCD thing is obviously a scam, because(as you mentioned above) all other Apples have LCD's and ram. So why just the iMac? Hmmmmmmmmmm...........
Their iPod prices are also really screwy. You can get that 10gig Toshiba thin drive thingy off of OWC for 150 dollars(U.S) So why do they charge so frickin much for the new iPod and not lower the other one? Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...............................

Steve is just trying to scam us because he thinks that we are super loyal and will never leave nomatter how high their prices get. I am not that loyal. And I don't think any of you should be either.

 

[AlphaTech]

Originally posted by me hate windows


Go Lemon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I totally agree with you about all of this Apple crap. The ram and LCD thing is obviously a scam, because(as you mentioned above) all other Apples have LCD's and ram. So why just the iMac? Hmmmmmmmmmm...........
Their iPod prices are also really screwy. You can get that 10gig Toshiba thin drive thingy off of OWC for 150 dollars(U.S) So why do they charge so frickin much for the new iPod and not lower the other one? Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...............................

Steve is just trying to scam us because he thinks that we are super loyal and will never leave nomatter how high their prices get. I am not that loyal. And I don't think any of you should be either.

The drive that is listed at OWC is the 2.5" (standard laptop drive) NOT the 1.8" that is in the iPod... Get your facts straight.

 

[AmbitiousLemon]

the ipod price does seem about right when looking at the price of similiar 5-10gig drives. the price of the drive alone is about as much as the entire ipod.

so although i appreciate the agreement id have to say the ipod is quite reasonably priced

 

[jelloshotsrule]

Originally posted by agreenster

>And yeah, I know all about the consumer vs professional models. I have both the TiBook and a G4 tower. But I have seen the iMac (the old one) and I have seen the iBooks. Jesus--what a crock. The iBook is the size of a calculator and the old iMac is so dumbed down, you can barely consider it workable. The top of the line macs (as I have already said) should be the bottom rung-standard. I opted for the TiBook and the G4 Tower because anything less would just be simply unnacceptable.

you're saying that the imac can't be used for word processing, email, internet stuff, etc? and even some imovie type video editing? i haven't seen that to be the case. and if you're saying it can't render your 3D project in maya, well then i think that's perfectly fine. that's why there are the dual 8 or gigs...

>And ya know what? Consumers DO need the 23 inch monitor. And you know why? Because they are buying from Apple, supposedly the best computer company in the world. They SHOULD have a monitor that blows the competition away--and they should be able to afford it. Why should they settle for less just because computers arent involved in their way of making a living? Damn. How selfish is THAT?

so, by the same logic, anyone who gets a car should be able to afford a BMW or Lexus? that is not how capitalism works really. not to say that apple's computers are on that level, but you are the one calling them the best computer company in the world. i can't afford a BMW, which some might consider the best car company. but i could probably put together enough money for a mac.

>And yes---you ask anyone why they dont want to switch to a Mac --money. Money money money. MONEY! The fact that they would have to relearn some functions of OSX are secondary. It always comes back to the cost points. And whats all this you are saying about the "great" applications for the Mac? Huh? Like what? iTunes? Big deal. iPhoto? Whoopy. Any piece of software worth noting is always made third party. OSX is nice, and the power of Unix is nice, but touting Apple as a great app maker is kinda silly.

my friend's mom just got a new dell. not because of price. but because she didn't want to learn a new operating system. so it doesn't ALWAYS come back to money.

 

[IndyGopher]

Originally posted by me hate windows


Go Lemon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I totally agree with you about all of this Apple crap. The ram and LCD thing is obviously a scam, because(as you mentioned above) all other Apples have LCD's and ram. So why just the iMac? Hmmmmmmmmmm...........

Because the iMacs are sold at 20% GPM, the other machines at 30%.

Their iPod prices are also really screwy. You can get that 10gig Toshiba thin drive thingy off of OWC for 150 dollars(U.S) So why do they charge so frickin much for the new iPod and not lower the other one? Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...............................

First, no, you can't buy that drive for $150 from OWC (or anyone else) So take a pill. What IS it with you people and the iPod? Either buy it or don't. Judging the value of the machine by the cost of the drive, though, is just stupid. Yes, if you're curious, this IS a personal attack, and I AM calling you stupid. I can buy a 30 Gig laptop drive for $200, so that is all a G4 Titanium Powerbook is worth. Do you see how stupid that sounds??

Steve is just trying to scam us because he thinks that we are super loyal and will never leave nomatter how high their prices get. I am not that loyal. And I don't think any of you should be either.

Did you think he was your buddy? That Apple, with four BILLION dollars in the bank, was run by people who wanted you to get the best possible deal on the newest possible technology? Wake up. Grow up. And go buy your Dell. Please.

 

[Bobd]

Indygopher, I think you didn't get what me hate windows meant about the Toshiba drive price. He's definitely not saying that iPod price = HD price, but that since the Toshiba's HD costs $150 the new iPod should not be $100 more expensive than the previous one, since that's the only new feature (and, should I add, there are reasonnable chances that Toshiba's prices have gone down since iPod 5Gb). Anyway, I believe AphaTech posted to say that the numbers were not right... So no big deal. But I think you should read a little more carefully before you call anyone stupid.

 

[AlphaTech]

Originally posted by Bobd
Indygopher, I think you didn't get what me hate windows meant about the Toshiba drive price. He's definitely not saying that iPod price = HD price, but that since the Toshiba's HD costs $150 the new iPod should not be $100 more expensive than the previous one, since that's the only new feature (and, should I add, there are reasonnable chances that Toshiba's prices have gone down since iPod 5Gb). Anyway, I believe AphaTech posted to say that the numbers were not right... So no big deal. But I think you should read a little more carefully before you call anyone stupid.

AGAIN... The Toshiba drive that is listing for $150 is for LAPTOPS!!!! NOT THE IPOD!!!! I just did a search at www.googlegear.com (has some of the best prices around and a good customer support team to boot), they only have the 2GB and 5GB 1.8" Hard Drives... listing for $299.99 and $364.99 respectively. Considering how those prices shift, I WOULD NOT BE SURPRISED if the 10GB drive sells for close to $500.

Before you start pricing out drives, make sure you are looking at the correct one, or expect more comments along these lines. Considering how the iPod's OUTSIDE dimensions are at 2.43"wide by 4.02" long by .78" thick, how would you put a 2.5" hard drive inside???

Think people...

 

[Bobd]

Originally posted by AlphaTech


AGAIN... The Toshiba drive that is listing for $150 is for LAPTOPS!!!! NOT THE IPOD!!!! I just did a search at www.googlegear.com (has some of the best prices around and a good customer support team to boot), they only have the 2GB and 5GB 1.8" Hard Drives... listing for $299.99 and $364.99 respectively. Considering how those prices shift, I WOULD NOT BE SURPRISED if the 10GB drive sells for close to $500.

Before you start pricing out drives, make sure you are looking at the correct one, or expect more comments along these lines. Considering how the iPod's OUTSIDE dimensions are at 2.43"wide by 4.02" long by .78" thick, how would you put a 2.5" hard drive inside???

Think people...

Well, my post was only to react to IndyGopher judgment which I found too quickly made. I tried to explain me hate windows' point, and didn't say a word on wether or not I suscribed to it. Actually, I even mentionned you, saying you had already rectified IndyGopher's statement...

Read people...

Still, one can get the facts wrong but have a good explanation. Having not myself researched prices of HD and compared 5gb to 10Gb, and not willing to, I'm not going to debate about wether his point (too high a price deifference as compared to the HD prices) is valid or not; my post was only a reaction to IndyGopher's calling someone stupid for, I think, no valid reason.