Why Apple still sells original iMac?

stratosfearstratosfear
Posted:
in Current Mac Hardware edited January 2014
Original iMac:



600MHz PowerPC G3

256K L2 cache (at 600MHz)

128MB SDRAM

40GB Ultra ATA drive

CD-ROM drive

ATI RAGE 128 Ultra

10/100BASE-T Ethernet

56K internal modem

15-inch display

VGA video mirroring

AirPort ready



It might be too slow for OS X, but OS9 should works nicely, if you put more RAM.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 25
    lucaluca Posts: 3,833member
    I suppose they'll discontinue them once all the other OS 9 machines are gone. They're pretty pathetic as it is... for OS X, no way. Maybe if you bought an iMac two years ago and you want to upgrade to OS X that's fine, but no way will the CRT iMac ever be incapable of booting into 9.



    The main problem is that the $799 price point is preventing other models from getting very low in price. I suppose by the time the CRT iMac is discontinued, Apple may be ready to offer the eMac for $899 or something. We'll see.
  • Reply 2 of 25
    pbpb Posts: 4,255member
    [quote]Originally posted by Stratosfear:

    <strong>

    It might be too slow for OS X, but OS9 should works nicely, if you put more RAM.</strong><hr></blockquote>



    OS9 works very nicely even with 128MB RAM in this machine.
  • Reply 3 of 25
    stratosfearstratosfear Posts: 150member
    [quote]Originally posted by PB:

    <strong>



    OS9 works very nicely even with 128MB RAM in this machine.</strong><hr></blockquote>



    Yeah, you can run MS-Office 2001, AppleWorks, Photoshop Elements 2 etc..., send emails and use www. Why buy expensive OS X machine for basic use?
  • Reply 4 of 25
    powerdocpowerdoc Posts: 8,123member
    Good question. In france all taxes included the original i mac is selled 999 euros, and the E mac 1195 euros.



    The E mac has a better screen, video card (geforce 2 mx instead of the terrible rage 128 ultra,) chip a 700 mhz G4 (instead of the poor 750 cxe at 600 mhz) and a combo drive (instead of CD rom driver).



    For such a small difference of prize , there is no hesistation possible. Screw up the old I mac, make disapear that Dinosaur : it's a shame for Apple.
  • Reply 5 of 25
    matt ftmatt ft Posts: 87member
    Im running OS 10.2 on a 400Mhz CRT iMac, and it's not too bad. All the ususal apps run fine. I use Office, Photoshop and other graphical stuff. It may take a while for Photoshop to load, but hell, it still runs. The trick is lots of ram.



    That said, I would not want to do some serious filter on it - thats why I use the Quicksilvers at Uni.
  • Reply 6 of 25
    spotcatbugspotcatbug Posts: 195member
    I know of an all-Mac office that bought one of those iMacs recently. They're using it as a dedicated machine to run one specific app (Time Clock software). Why'd they buy that, particular Mac? Because it was the cheapest, new Mac they could get. Apple can definitely still sell these, so why not?
  • Reply 7 of 25
    trailmaster308trailmaster308 Posts: 699member
    I bet they could sell a lot more if they lowered the price to something less than a slap in the face.
  • Reply 8 of 25
    aquaticaquatic Posts: 5,602member
    like $399.
  • Reply 9 of 25
    brunobruinbrunobruin Posts: 552member
    According to Apple's Q4 conference call last year (the most recent one seems to list G3 iMac, iMac and eMac as one product line - sneaky), Apple had sold 76,000 G3 iMacs, compared to 113,000 G4s and 129,000 eMacs. I have no idea who's buying them, but considering the specs, the margins have to be pretty good. They're certainly not spending anything on R&D or promotion.
  • Reply 10 of 25
    neutrino23neutrino23 Posts: 1,562member
    The simple answer is that Apple sells them because people buy them.



    As noted above, an iMac is s useful platform for applications that don't tax the machine very much. I setup a couple of 400MHz DVD iMacs on OS X for relatives and they work fine for email and browsing. In an office if you are runnng spread sheets, File Maker Pro or similar stuff then an iMac is a great client. It is compact, quiet, reliable, has all the ports needed and relatively cheap.



    Apple should drop the price a couple hundred dollars. They'd probably sell quite a few more. Maybe they could make a special offer by bundling them with the Xserve. Buy one Xserve and 10 iMacs for a special price.
  • Reply 11 of 25
    lucaluca Posts: 3,833member
    Hopefully once the iMac CRT disappears (if it ever does...) then the eMac will take over the $799 price point. Apple needs to have at least one computer down there in price, and the eMac fits the bill fine. Something like eMacs at $799 and $999 with the iMac at $1199, $1399 and $1699. That would be cool.
  • Reply 12 of 25
    voxappsvoxapps Posts: 236member
    I think the CRT iMac is still popular in many schools, particularly elementary schools. It has several advantages over the eMac: it costs less, which is a huge deal when a school is trying to update an entire computer lab or purchase a new desktop computer for each classroom; it weighs less and has a handle so a small/petite teacher can move it herself if necessary; and it is almost silent so a teacher can leave it sleeping when not in use and it won't disturb the class.



    Sure the eMac is faster and has a bigger display, but speed isn't much of an issue with most elementary school educational software and many schools have VGA hookups to TVs so the size of the monitor is less critical.
  • Reply 13 of 25
    kingofsomewherehotkingofsomewherehot Posts: 4,180member
    Let's be honest here folks .... the G3 iMac runs OSX just fine.



    No, it's not a good machine for intense photoshop filters and such, but it IS a decent machine.



    I am running X.2 on a 266 iMac with a 66 mHtz sys bus... it runs just fine, and NEVER crashes.... I use it for mail, web, appleworks, quicken. The RAM is at 192, and I would recommend upgrading even the new ones, but they work GREAT for thier target audience.



    When I get around to replacing this, It'll be with a G4, but because I need a SuperDrive and a bigger screen (getting into the home DV studio), not because I need a G4.



    I'd bet the G3 iMac would outsell the G4 iMac if it were sold at $499
  • Reply 14 of 25
    stagflation stevestagflation steve Posts: 294member
    Apple will sell the CRT iMac to schools for as little as $450, it costs virtually nothing to make and there is still a reasonable demand for it.
  • Reply 15 of 25
    cubecube Posts: 142member
    Im running Mac OS X on a 400 G4 Powerbook 384 mb memory, and its wonderful. Its fast and smooth and newer crashes. Its mutch faster than my 800 MHZ p3, i would say twice as fast and it docent make a sound! But the p3 has a better graficcard so it can run games...
  • Reply 16 of 25
    outsideroutsider Posts: 6,008member
    Guys, i have a beige G3 upgraded to 500MHz (66MHz bus) with 320MB RAM and an 8MB IX micro video card running Jaguar just fine here at work. this imac should be adequate as long as you upgrade the memory.
  • Reply 17 of 25
    thegeldingthegelding Posts: 3,230member
    when i got our FP iMac G4 800 i moved the old iMac 400 DV G3 into the kids room....it is running 10.2.3 and the kids love it....they mostly do email, IM and games (the sims and internet games mostly) and use office for papers and powerpoint....it is almost the perfect machine for them...of course we added some ram and they have an external firewire cd burner....

    schools rightly love the iMac G3....if they upped the chip to the 800 mhz G3 apple is using in the iBooks and schools can get them for under 500 bucks, i can see apple selling these for many years...they are rock solid performers and elementary and middle schools probably don't need G4 chips.....g



    i see that they don't want to compete with the new iMacs and eMacs....but if they added a combo 32x burner model at 800 mhz for say $699 it would sell quite a bit probably...throw in a cdrw for $599...



    [ 02-06-2003: Message edited by: thegelding ]</p>
  • Reply 18 of 25
    emaneman Posts: 7,204member
    [quote]Originally posted by KingOfSomewhereHot:

    <strong>I'd bet the G3 iMac would outsell the G4 iMac if it were sold at $499</strong><hr></blockquote>

    No.
  • Reply 19 of 25
    salmonstksalmonstk Posts: 568member
    I run OS X on a Bondi rev b



    Works great for iTunes, surfing, etc...



    I still love it like a child.
  • Reply 20 of 25
    guyguy Posts: 16member
    I'd buy one in a second as a cheap little internet/email/kids games machine at $499.
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