Isn't it time for a plain old Macintosh again?

anklosaur

Seriously... We have:



MacBook



MacBook Pro



Mac Mini



iMac



??????????



Mac Pro



Doesn't it seem like there's an empty space in there somewhere for a "Mac"? Something with a bit of expandability, tower enclosure, something mid-range... something similar to this maybe:



Single item with multiple configurations and a case similar to the Mac Pro



2.13 or 2.66 ghz Core 2 Duo

512 mb expandable to 4 gig

160 gb SATA hard drive (1 empty bay)

16x Superdrive

ATI X1800XT (Available Geforce 7600GT, Geforce 7900GT, ATI X1900XT)

1 x 16 PCI-Express slot

2 x 1 PCI-Express slot

2 Front USB 2.0, 3 rear USB 2.0

1 Front, 1 Rear Firewire 400

single Gigabit Ethernet

Front headphone

Airport Extreme and Bluetooth 2.0EDR



SLI or Crossfire would be nice as a BTO, but unlikely due to the multiple motherboards this would require, so we do without it for now to keep costs down. Then we bring the basic system in at a price point around $1,299.



I know there are many that would like something like this... question is, how likely is Apple to provide this solution?

chucker

How often are we going to have these "OMG headless Mac" threads?

placebo

As long as there aren't any?

chucker

So, forever, then?

cubit

Mac mini? For most users it is perfect; now you can even add a 23" monitor for just a grand more.

kim kap sol

Two words...Mac mini. One day it'll have those specs.

chucker

But you can't add an OMGWTFBBQ SLI GPU to a Mac mini! Millions of pimplefaces with too much time and allowance on their hands care!

anklosaur

I don't pretend to know whether it would be a good idea for Apple or not. But, somebody is selling a boat load of Windows boxes at around $1,000 to $1,400 and they are NOT AIW designs. No, they aren't nearly as elegant as an iMac arguably is, and may canibalize some iMac sales, but like it or not, there are a lot of people out there willing to drop $1,000-$1,200 on a decent tower and roll their own monitor or $1,500-$1,800 with an Apple display.



How many? No tellling... possibly lots.



Worth Apple's trouble at a potentially lower margin? Profit is profit, even at 10-15% margin.

anklosaur

Quote:

Originally Posted by kim kap sol


Two words...Mac mini. One day it'll have those specs.

I can't imagine a Mac Mini ever having those specs...

mr. dirk

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anklosaur


I don't pretend to know whether it would be a good idea for Apple or not. But, somebody is selling a boat load of Windows boxes at around $1,000 to $1,400 and they are NOT AIW designs. No, they aren't nearly as elegant as an iMac arguably is, and may canibalize some iMac sales, but like it or not, there are a lot of people out there willing to drop $1,000-$1,200 on a decent tower and roll their own monitor or $1,500-$1,800 with an Apple display.



How many? No tellling... possibly lots.



Worth Apple's trouble at a potentially lower margin? Profit is profit, even at 10-15% margin.

Apple's not going to run the risk of cannibalizing iMac sales UNLESS margins on the headless mac are better than the average iMac sold. Also, one of the reason Apple's "survived" for so long despite very low market share is its higher-than-average profit margins--while cutting price might boost market share in the short term, look at what's happened to Dell: their extensive "$1000 coupon for 24 hours only" price cuts have ended up devaluing their business.



Mind you, I don't think a headless mac is a bad idea; in fact, I think it's one of those areas where we'll see Apple come up with something in the next year or so (in addition to adding an ultraportable offering), especially becaues Intel offers a considerably broader line of processors (whereas before the only differentiation was speed or G4/G5).

adezero

this "mac" notion has been brought up and argued like 100 different times, your idea is not new

leonis

Headless Mac, even with compromised spec, is still good for many people and companies (ie. print design houses). They can buy many of that instead of just one or two MacPros

atari

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chucker


But you can't add an OMGWTFBBQ SLI GPU to a Mac mini! Millions of pimplefaces with too much time and allowance on their hands care!

Geeks,spending all their money on gadgets and tech toys?

Apple certainly does not cater to them,do they?

anklosaur

Quote:

Originally Posted by adezero


this "mac" notion has been brought up and argued like 100 different times, your idea is not new

Sadly, I don't recall suggesting it was a new idea... as a matter of fact, I recall including the word "again" in the topic. Yes, it's been argued hundreds of times. But maybe now, with the already mentioned wider breadth of options Intel affords, it may actually be a viable project.



Chicken or egg... Market share or mass market system that garners market share?

anklosaur

Quote:

Originally Posted by atari


Geeks,spending all their money on gadgets and tech toys?

Apple certainly does not cater to them,do they?

Watch it, that's me you're referring to!



It's about time for my kids to turn over new iPods... and their laptops are getting a bit long in the tooth as well.

mr. dirk

Remember that AI story about Intel taking over motherboard design, and AI reported that the first boards to come out of Intel were "radically small" or something? I've long thought that those smaller boards may well have been for a smaller Conroe-based headless mac to complement the Mac Pro.

chucker

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anklosaur


I don't pretend to know whether it would be a good idea for Apple or not. But, somebody is selling a boat load of Windows boxes at around $1,000 to $1,400 and they are NOT AIW designs.

But they are not making money off of it. Several companies have gone out of business because of it. Others have been acquired. Others have given up. (Why do you think did IBM give up on desktops?)



What do you think does Dell make money off? "Inspiron" laptops? No. mid-end desktops? No. Workstations and servers. The high-end stuff. It's higher quality, and it's the huge majority of profits.

mr. me

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chucker


...



What do you think does Dell make money off? "Inspiron" laptops? No. mid-end desktops? No. Workstations and servers. The high-end stuff. It's higher quality, and it's the huge majority of profits.

I understand your point, but it is not correct. Dell makes its money off all of that crap it installs on your computer. The last I heard, Wintel OEMs receive $70/machine for every third-party icon on the Windows Desktop. When you consider how many anti-spyware utility demos and other annoyances you deal with on your new Dell, at $70 each it adds up. I presume that the high end machines don't have the crap. If this is the case, Dell either charges a much higher price or takes a bath.

a_greer

Why the hell cant they package a core 2 duo, 4 ram slots, 2 HDD (desktop size) bays, 1 PCIe GPU slot, one PCIe expantion slot and standard I/O be sold for the price of the dual core Mini or even $500 more?



To all who say "the Mini is the headles Mac" I say why cant I add a desktop HDD to it? What is so bad about the idea of the Mac Mini (or something say 2.5x the height, which would still be one of the smallest computers on the market) having a little expandability?





There is something wrong with the idea that because some of us dont need dual xeons, 2TB storage, 4 video cards, and 16 GB ram, we are left with a laptop CPU, RAM and HDD and integrated GPU as our ONLY choice! If you dont see something wrong with that, you are a blind fanboy, the kind of leming that would follow the Apple corperation over a proverbial cliff...

joe_the_dragon

Quote:

Originally Posted by a_greer


Why the hell cant they package a core 2 duo, 4 ram slots, 2 HDD (desktop size) bays, 1 PCIe GPU slot, one PCIe expantion slot and standard I/O be sold for the price of the dual core Mini or even $500 more?



To all who say "the Mini is the headles Mac" I say why cant I add a desktop HDD to it? What is so bad about the idea of the Mac Mini (or something say 2.5x the height, which would still be one of the smallest computers on the market) having a little expandability?





There is something wrong with the idea that because some of us dont need dual xeons, 2TB storage, 4 video cards, and 16 GB ram, we are left with a laptop CPU, RAM and HDD and integrated GPU as our ONLY choice! If you dont see something wrong with that, you are a blind fanboy, the kind of leming that would follow the Apple corperation over a proverbial cliff...

I see the problem and this is why apple will lose games, and people who have there own monitor and don't want gma 950.

mackilroy

Because, as has been said before, it would cannabalize sales of the iMac. Why should Apple render one product line defunct by making another computer that undercuts it in price and beats it in specs?