Apple Store will be back soon 1:42 AM
<a href="http://biz.yahoo.com/djus/020429/200204290322000111_3.html" target="_blank">http://biz.yahoo.com/djus/020429/200204290322000111_3.html</a>
What is this? WTF??? 1 GHz G4 in old iMac or something? What could warrant a $2000 price tag on an old form-factor iMac?
What's going on?
[ 04-29-2002: Message edited by: Eugene ]</p>
What is this? WTF??? 1 GHz G4 in old iMac or something? What could warrant a $2000 price tag on an old form-factor iMac?
What's going on?
[ 04-29-2002: Message edited by: Eugene ]</p>
Comments
"Apple Computer is unveiling the eMac, its first PC designed exclusively for schools and universities, in a bid to defend its place in the education market."
<a href="http://investor.cnet.com/investor/news/newsitem/0-9900-1028-9801037-0.html" target="_blank">News.com/WSJ</a>
-Snowster
[ 04-29-2002: Message edited by: Snowster ]
[ 04-29-2002: Message edited by: Snowster ]</p>
I suppose it's current hardware now.
[ 04-29-2002: Message edited by: Eugene ]</p>
<strong><a href="http://biz.yahoo.com/djus/020429/200204290322000111_3.html" target="_blank">http://biz.yahoo.com/djus/020429/200204290322000111_3.html</a>
What is this? WTF??? 1 GHz G4 in old iMac or something? What could warrant a $2000 price tag on an old form-factor iMac?
What's going on?
Isn't it priced at $1199 for the most expensive?
Wich seems pretty cheap compared to the new iMac.
[ 04-29-2002: Message edited by: Eugene ]</strong><hr></blockquote>
This is a gag right?
And look a decent looking PB spec!
.edu only...
600 MHz G3 eMac
128 MB RAM
20 GB HDD
CD-ROM Drive
~$750
700 MHz G3 eMac
256 MB RAM
40 GB HDD
CD-RW Drive
~$1000
[QB]Not too expensive, but the CRT iMac and eMac shouldn't coexist! get rid of the old iMacs, replace it with G3 eMacs...The old iMac is pretty much only selling in the .edu market anyway nowadays.
<hr></blockquote>
Any machine coming bundled with OS X will benefit from having a G4 under the hood. Apple should be phasing out the G3, not phasing it back in. And while I don't remember the specifics, I don't think G4 chips are significantly more expensive than G3s at all.
Mot has been SLOW compared to x86 progress, but their prices have been decent. IBM has been even Slower, and their prices for higher speed G3's have been/are too high.
[ 04-29-2002: Message edited by: Matsu ]</p>
The 600 MHz PPC 750CXe was $140 in February 2001. Imagine how cheap it is now. How much do you think a 600 MHz MPC7450/7455 is right now? In August 2001, a 667 MHz MPC7450 was $340.
Eventually OS X may be AltiVec optimized out the wazoo, but right now the altivec branch of the Apple/gcc project is very lame indeed. And Apple is still more focused on getting things to work right, and not fast.
I would not be surprised at all to find a 700Mhz G3 close in price to an 800Mhz G4.
Here you go, <a href="http://www.macinfo.de/archiv/2002-01.html" target="_blank">straight from my ass</a>
Apple certainly didn't put a 300 dollar CPU in a machine over which they can't stop crying about margins.
<strong>A 1Ghz G4 was $295 and an 800Mhz G4 was $125 US as of January 29th. Right now they can only be lower. I bet that no G3's over 500Mhz are currently availble from IBM are under 75USD, and that the 700 continues to carry a steep premium over the 600. Now since IBM doesn't have any G3 even close to 800Mhz G4 performance I think it safe to say that the chips in question(700Mhz G3 and 800Mhz G4) and the prices are comparable.</strong><hr></blockquote>
I bet you a pretty penny that a 700 MHz PPC 750CX is around or under $70 in quantities of 10K.
I bet you a 600 MHz is around $50.
A 400 MHz IBM PPC 750CX was $57 in February 2001
The 750CX and CXe series were designed to be exceptionally low-cost. And by taking away $50 in component pricing alone, that's quite an increase in sales margin. Plus consider you don't need to use such a large fan or perhaps no fan at all with a 700 MHz PPX 750 CXe since it runs at 6.5 watts typical instead of more 15 watts typical. You could probably use a lesser power supply too. You're looking at component savings of at least $100 if you combine a 600 MHz G3 with a CD-ROM instead of a CD-RW drive...that would translate into a decent price drop for the educator and Apple could stop selling the $699 and $899 iMacs, stop production of old iMacs completely.
[ 04-30-2002: Message edited by: Eugene ]</p>
Fact remains Apple dropped the 700Mhz G3 iMac. Why wouldn't an already slow machine at least use the fastest chip available? Price. Apple couldn't get a really cheap iMacG3 using the 700. Maybe they still can't, or they just won't bother now, since every sign points to it's eminent death. Another reason to keep G3's around must have been the well publicized inability of Mot to supply G4's from the very beginning -- ie. the infamous speed dropped G4 350 -- now that they seem to be able to supply good quantities of G4, Apple no longer has to scrounge every available proc for it's most expensive machines and it isn't. They ship G4's in 2/3rds of their line and 3/4 of their main quadrant.
Availabilty problems (from G4) kept the G3 around, not any particularly good pricing performance. Especially once Mot started to supply greater quantities (and drop prices in it's own right). Something must have been afoot in AIM during the time just before the G4 ramp-up, as IBM prices were not that cheap only shortly before. Sahara was talked about with an SIMD, and then SIMD discussion was dropped. IBM might have lost some supply bids once Apple figured it could get good yields, prices, and efficiency from upcoming Moto product.
[ 04-30-2002: Message edited by: Matsu ]</p>
Something must have been afoot in AIM during the time just before the G4 ramp-up, as IBM prices were not that cheap only shortly before. Sahara was talked about with an SIMD, and then SIMD discussion was dropped. IBM might have lost some supply bids once Apple figured it could get good yields, prices, and efficiency from upcoming Moto product.</strong>
As soon as Motorola redesigned the 4 stage pipeline 7400 based G4 to a 7 stage 7450 based G4, it was all over for IBM, even with the G3 being twice as small in die size as the G4. A 700 MHz G3 is a low yield high margin product for IBM at 0.18 micron. 700 MHz is pushing the MHz limits for the G3 at 0.18 micron. For Moto's 7450 based G4, 700 MHz chips are the dregs of the wafer. They could get 7450 based G4s to clock at 700 MHz with its eyes closed at 0.18 micron.
Clock-wise it will only get worse for IBM when the playing field moves to 0.13 micron.