Time for iMac price cut

satchmosatchmo
Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
We now know Apple is being a bit more aggressive on pricing with the recent ibook and PB upgrades.



The one thing that's still out of whack is the iMac LCD. The 17" still costs over $3000 CDN.

I'd love to pick this up for the studio and replace my G4 450 tower (never used one PCI in 3 years!)

Hopefully this will happen at MWSF.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 5
    matsumatsu Posts: 6,558member
    It needs to drop to at least 2500 Canadian, About a 300USD price drop. If the iBook could drop 200 across the board, with all the difficulties of engineering a laptop, the iMac can drop 300. Superdrives and LCD's are falling dramatically in price, 3.5" drives are cheap, cheap, cheap, there's no battery to accomodate and the PSU is indoubitably cheaper.
  • Reply 2 of 5
    junkyard dawgjunkyard dawg Posts: 2,801member
    It's hard to figure out Apple's strategy with the G4 iMac.



    When originally introduced, prices were ok, and it seemed reasonable that in a year or so, prices would drop to very reasonable levels. I was very surprised that Apple didn't intro the iMac with a 17" LCD option from the beginning, but other than that it seemed like a solid computer.



    Now here we are 10 months after the iMac's intro, and Apple has only made two changes to the lineup. First, they raised prices to quench demand, apparently because Apple wants to keep their market-share nice and low. Then they added a 17" LCD with an improved video chipset.



    Now rumors suggest that it will be a full year before the iMac gets a true update. A YEAR! What other computer manufacturer waits a year to update any of their products? It's insane to gamble profits and market-share like Apple has done with the iMac. I suppose they saved a bit in R&D by letting the iMac stagnate, but is that really where Apple wants to save money? It's bizarre!



    Here's what I'd like to see at MWSF for the iMac:



    1. Minimum of 1 GHz G4 in ALL iMac models, with a 166 MHz FSB and DDR RAM. The towers are all duals, so there isn't any reason for the iMac's MHz to be held to artificially low levels. Best case scenario would be:

    1 GHz low and midrange iMacs.

    1.25 GHz high end iMac.



    2. 17" LCD across the board, with a single 19" LCD model at the high end.



    3. Keep the tray-loading optical drives. They are cheaper and compatible with a wider range of media.



    4. Add extra USB and FW ports and to the front of the iMac's base. These are essential for flash RAM media and of course the iPod.



    5. Add a full set of audio I/O ports, including both line-in and mic-in. After buying a $2000 computer, nobody should be forced to spend extra money on a USB adaptor for a simple line or microphone input.



    6. Give it the ATI Radeon 9000 with 32 MB RAM on the mid-range models, and 64 MB RAM on the high end models. Keep the Geforce 4 mx w/32 MB RAM for the low end model.



    With these specs, the iMac should span the $1000-$2000 range very nicely. Apple dearly needs to offer a $999 LCD iMac, even if it's got a CDRW drive and a small HD.



    That's what I'd like to see Apple do. Here's what I think they'll do:



    1. 800 MHz to 1 GHz G4 CPU, 100 MHz FSB.

    2. 17" LCD on all but the low end model. Low end model stays with the 15" LCD

    3. Geforce 4 MX video chipset across the line, w/32 MB RAM.

    4. Superdrive on all but the low end model.

    5. Price range: $1199-$1999.



    A full year to go from 800 MHz to 1 GHz, and few other improvements. It seems as if Apple doesn't care about the iMac's sales, nor about their market-share. If I didn't know any better, I'd say that Apple's management is trying to ruin sales and market-share. The iMac is a tribute to Apple's total lack of commitment to improving their hardware performance.
  • Reply 3 of 5
    matsumatsu Posts: 6,558member
    yep.
  • Reply 4 of 5
    torifiletorifile Posts: 4,024member
    Now that the Ti is up to 1ghz, the iMac will follow soon. It's been unusual for Apple to have the iMac clocked higher than the powerbook and things are back to normal now. There's some more wiggle room now that the pro line is faster than the consumer line again. It'll be probably Jan before the iMac gets bumped, though.
  • Reply 5 of 5
    spartspart Posts: 2,060member
    [quote]Originally posted by Torifile:

    <strong>Now that the Ti is up to 1ghz, the iMac will follow soon. It's been unusual for Apple to have the iMac clocked higher than the powerbook and things are back to normal now. There's some more wiggle room now that the pro line is faster than the consumer line again. It'll be probably Jan before the iMac gets bumped, though.</strong><hr></blockquote>



    Agreed.



    [ 11-10-2002: Message edited by: Spart ]</p>
Sign In or Register to comment.