Would you buy a midrange mac tower?

[petej]

Apple need a mid-range headless option.
The reason is not about usability but serviability especially in the corporate sector. When you have to maintain hundreds and thousands of desktop machines, servicability becomes part to the TCO equation. Running so many machines means that you tend to notice screens fading away, HD failures, memory corruption, PSU deaths etc. The iMac whilst a great machine is not serviceable. Replacing a hard disk or a screen is not a 5 min task. The mac mini is essentially a disposable computer. Great for building into kiosks and display units where space is at a premium and for granny to check her e-mail with but it is not servicable.
The mac pro is beautifully servicable for most common faults (the logic board is a bit of a challenge). It is however way too extreme for most corporate desktops, i.e. 4 hd bays and RAM that is just too exotic.
There is therefore nothing in the current lineup would be fit the corporate requirement.

I also expect AAPL to target corporates after 10.5. The foundations will be there in the OS. This will reveal the gaping hole in the model range that I expect will be filled pretty quickly afterwards.

 

[Stevez0r]

Only if I can use it for PC Games (WoW), Internet, eMail, iTunes and MS Office to get things done for work when I'm at home. Wait didn't I just describe a iMac?

 

[matticus008]

They used to sell a lower end desktop.

The past offers little guidance on the future. They used to sell computers with wooden cases. Things have a tendency to change.

If they do the same with the Intels, I will be happy. As will many others.

Fair enough.

The iMac whilst a great machine is not serviceable.

Which doesn't matter to corporations. Nearly every big organization, including the three I've worked for, purchases extended warranty coverage and phases out systems no longer supported. If Apple has a problem, it's that its computers last longer than the warranties, but they won't be able to capitalize on that benefit because big business doesn't gamble with out-of-warranty systems in any significant role.

The exceptions are the general purpose office drone machines--which are kept until they break (beyond HD failure) and then discarded. These machines do not exceed Mac mini specifications or prices. These policies include systems from Dell (x2) and HP in my past experiences, including a major university.

It's cheaper to replace an out-of-warranty machine than to attempt to stock parts for it and to pay a hardware staff. For the salary of a single qualified hardware engineer, you can replace dozens of computers each year, which is more than break in a typical department.

 

[elbruelsio]

Narrow Market??

I respectfully disagree. I for one am in the market for my first Mac and here the main reason why it has taken me so long to make the decision to switch.

Upgrade-ability: I want a computer that I can open up and upgrade graphics or RAM on easily after the system is a couple years old for a lower price point than the Mac Pros. I think this would bring a lot of PC users that are casual gamers over to the Mac. This is evidenced by the fact that myself and all my friends agree that the Mac OS is far superior to Windows. We all want Macs but don't want to pay the price for a Mac Pro in order to get the upgrade-ability that we are used to on the PC side.

If there was a Mac Pro available for about $1800 I would be all over it as would four of my friends as well as several other people I know that would seriously consider it. I don't think its a narrow market, I think most PC users are control freaks that want to tinker and upgrade.

 

[solvs]

The past offers little guidance on the future. They used to sell computers with wooden cases. Things have a tendency to change.

I'm expecting them to have headless desktops cheaper than $2000 before they have wooden ones.

 

[combatcolin]

I'm expecting them to have headless desktops cheaper than $2000 before they have wooden ones.

Saw a flat panel monitor with a real wooden beezle finish once in a department store in London.

looked very odd.

 

[CEAbiscuit]

Probably been said before, but I'd buy a mini right now that had the following:

2x the height, same footprint
Easy to access inside for:
- Room for more ram
- Independent Video Card
A few more Firewire and USB ports

It doesn't sound like much, but I guess it is

 

[Naimfan]

I tend to agree with Petej--I think he made some very good points.

Would I buy a smaller Mac Pro? Probably. I just went through that decision tree in changing out my iMac--I loved the power and the screen (I had a 20" iMac G5 2GHz), but wanted something portable, and not being able to change anything in the iMac--and thus having to replace the whole thing--biased me against a new iMac.

I suppose my ideal would be something in between the Mini and the Mac Pro, where I could use a 23" ACD, and that would be a bit more future-proof. I wound up with a MBP C2D base model with a 20" ACD. So I now have portability and a larger screen than on the MBP, but am very limited in expandability and upgradability. As others have noted, a Mac Pro is just silly for me, and I think there might well be a market for such a machine.

The biggest problem for Apple is that it would probably cannibalize iMac sales. That said, I think it would probably make up for lost iMac sales, but that's frankly more just hopeful speculation than anything else. Then again, a number of my friends have said they'd buy one--we all have solo or small law practices, and some of them need more than a Mini can deliver, but not as much as a Mac Pro. I suppose our real answer is to find a Mac Pro refurb or a used one.....but we don't want to go that route!

Best,

Bob

 

[yadmonkey]

I think a lot more PC users would be tempted by a "headless iMac". In fact, I know for certain that many PC users simply don't want a built-in monitor, don't want to buy a full Mac Pro, yet want something with a little more expandability and balls than a Mini. If there were a headless iMac with some open PCI ports and maybe another hard drive bay, I'd buy it in a second.

 

[freiheit]

I would LOVE a Dual Core Mac Pro

Apple's previous "entry level" pro desktop, the single processor G5 PowerMac, was essentially an iMac without the display but for the same price. It wasn't very convincing.

The current MacPro is both too expensive and too powerful for "power users" or "prosumers". We don't really need dual Xeon processors when a Core 2 Duo would suffice, and 16GB of RAM is a bit much again for that prosumer/poweruser market.

What I'd jump at is something just like the MacPro but with a single dual-core processor >2GHz (say a 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo or even a 2.66GHz Xeon would be acceptable) with only one RAM board for a maximum of 8GB instead of 16. I would prefer it to be otherwise identical to the MacPro (after all, I'm NOT buying an iMac because I DO want expandability). Now make the price $300-500 less than the comparably equipped MacPro (eg. $1999 instead of $2499 for Apple's baseline model) and I'd buy it in an instant. I'll probably end up with an iMac since I don't imagine Apple will do a "dual core Mac Pro" and I can't justify the cost and power of a quad Mac Pro, although I thoroughly dislike the idea of losing the use of my computer if the display should go bad and vice versa.

 

[wongulous]

I am so distraught. I want the power of the Mac Pro, and the ability to use my own display, as well as have two graphics cards for two separate displays (a machine that will be serving as a desktop computer and also a Personal Video Recorder and Home Theater PC).

Sure, it's two cores versus four, four times the memory card slots, tower form factor with multiple HDD bays (god, I'd love that too)... but I just can't justify the cost. Fairly-similarly-equipped iMac and Mac Pro models (well, top of the line iMac 24" and mid-range sweet spot Mac Pro) are within $80 in price... for double the computer! But--and this is a huge but--that's not including the display for the Mac Pro. That means another $700 (Dell 2407WFP) to $900 (Apple display) or even more.

iMac 24"
2.33GHz Intel Core 2 Duo +$225
7600 upgrade +$113
Wireless kb&mouse +$54
AppleCare +$119
Subtotal $2411

+1GBx2 $133

Total $2544


Mac Pro
Two 2.66GHz Dual-Core Intel Xeon +$269
BT&EDR +$71
Wireless kb&mouse +$53
AppleCare +$199
Subtotal $2622

+512MBx2 $170
+Dell 2407WFP 24" LCD $700

Total $3492

There's no way I can swing 3500 bucks for a setup until I somehow turn it into a profitable venture, because this would really just be for communication, school tasks, entertainment, and to replace TiVo and take advantage of ATSC HD signals.