I love posts like franksargent?s. Besides not adding a monitor to the price because he has a 37? 1080p, likely TN display with LCD backlight, which he thinks is better than the 27? 2560x1440 IPS display with LED backlight simply because it?s larger, he doesn?t consider the value of having the machine pre-built, having it as an AIO with less wires, the value of OS X, the cost of ?green components?, the value of having a single warranty for parts that is significantly less of a hassle and doens?t require shipping parts back on your dime, etc. Just read the reviews on that P55 MoBo. Talk about, ?see you, don?t want to be you."
Listing computer parts and prices from Newegg is utterly irrelevant. Unless you plan to do some serious modding and somehow cram them into the same form factor as an iMac, with comparable OS functionality, features, specs, and support.
You need to compare all-in-one systems from manufacturers like Dell, HP, etc.
Don't want an all-in-one? Hey, that's cool. Some people do. More and more people quite recently, actually.
I can't believe most of the posts have been whining about the lack of a BluRay drive. Just because the technology exists, doesn't mean a computer actually needs it. If you really want one, go buy an external drive and STFU. They have been around for years.
If the iMac had one, all of you would bitch and complain about the price increase over previous models, and then bitch about the high price of blank media, and bitch how slow it is to back up data.
.
Exactly. Thank god apple does not add everything everyone wants, otherwise we would end up with the equivalent of homers car..
Now if I didn't have a vast amount of previous experience, like all Mac users, major problem.
As it is? No problem, I can do it in my sleep, Bucko.
Let's see AIO's? Why constrain yourself? Oh, that's right, Apple doesen't have a true $1K desktop, they have a $10K desktop.
I can do it too, and have since the 1970's. So what?
What does that have to do with people who buy computers?
Nothing. Less than 1% of users build their own machines. And most only do it one time. The rest of the time after that, they buy complete machines.
You haven't set up a situation that matters. People who buy AIO's from Apple, Gateway, Dell, Hp and others are even LESS likely to want to build their own machine, and do the research involved. They want to take it home, plug it in, and start using it.
All in all a superb round of hardware updates. That new Macbook looks tempting, but in the meantime I'll snap up one of those Magic Mice. Might be the input device I've been waiting for, in light of the Wacom Bamboo Multifail tablet. Ugh.
BR drives are flaky and unreliable, prone to draconian DRM schemes that might brick your BR installed in your Mac. Just like the firmware update did to thousands of PS3 owners. And the DRM/rookit thing that came on music cds.
And yes Sony can make good stuff, it's got a software and control issue though, which makes it too flaky to include their devices in Mac's.
Stop talking absolute crap. DRM in blu-ray doesn't effect anyone, there is just as much DRM in the Apple movie downloads.
And the CD thing was by SonyBMG, not Sony.
And get it through your head that Blu-Ray isn't a Sony technology, there are a lot of companies involved, Sony is just one of them
There are quite a few companies supporting it, but mini-DisplayPort hasn?t seemed to catch on outside of Apple. It?s a very small issue so long as DP itself is adopted widely, given the free license I see no reason why it won?t be, but perhaps we?ll have to wait until DP v1.2 is out as that is when mDP will be added to the spec. So far, I can find no information about 1.2 being completed at this point.
It would be even less of an issue if Apple would just include a few adapters in the box.
I can do it too, and have since the 1970's. So what?
What does that have to do with people who buy computers?
Nothing. Less than 1% of users build their own machines. And most only do it one time. The rest of the time after that, they buy complete machines.
You haven't set up a situation that matters. People who buy AIO's from Apple, Gateway, Dell, Hp and others are even LESS likely to want to build their own machine, and do the research involved. They want to take it home, plug it in, and start using it.
Take it home, plug it in, and use.
That's the ideal of engineering. Simplify, simplify. It's a winning system.
frank, why wouldn't you overclock that thing? Who spends 1150 on a system and doesn't overclock it? lol
That's another thing people like you and I value immensely, but not everyone thinks like us. I wouldn't spend this much on an imac unless I had some real cash to throw around. Until I'm comfortable like that, I'll continue to build systems that run circles around these types of machines, and I guess i'll just have to settle for stinky ol Windows (like I care.) The way people around here talk about windows, you'd think their keyboards had thumbtacks on them.
An imac would be cool to have in the living room or something though. It's a slick and pretty machine, completely impractical, but pleasing when you forget about price.
But ya know, even when you can afford a corvette, isn't there something far more rewarding, and valuable, in building your own hot rod?
It would be even less of an issue if Apple would just include a few adapters in the box.
I?m glad they don?t add extraneous adapters. I am not one to use external monitors and never liked that I felt I was paying for adapters I?ll never use when they were included with my Macs.
Obv. they mean from the iTunes store. Technically 720p is HD.
edit: flame if you want, but a 27" screen will not significantly benefit from 1080p over 720p. Actually I doubt anyone could tell the difference.
I know that isn't the only reason for BRD though.
How far away do you sit from your computer when you use it? At 5m, you're right, but that's not comfortable computer use for a 27" screen. At 1m away, 1080p does make a very clear difference.
Quote:
Originally Posted by BenRoethig
If you want a real keyboard with a number or decent sized arrow keys, looks like you're SOL from here on out.
A keyboard with number keys is still a BTO option. Third parties still make keyboards too.
Quote:
Originally Posted by extremeskater
Everyone thought when HD-DVD died Blu Ray would jump and it hasn't, in fact numbers keep falling. Most people don't seem interested.
That's not true, Nielsen Videoscan showed the HD formats fighting for 1% of the market when they were both active, after HD DVD exited the market, Blu-Ray has gotten to something like 10-15% of the market within a year. Even with combined disc sales going down a bit, that's still a major growth.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Hattig
He should stop using 100 pixel high fonts then.
1920x1080 at 21.5" is better in many ways that 1680x1050 at 20" or 22", which are probably the most common monitor sizes.
Don't think of it as losing vertical resolution from 1920x1200.
The 27" 2560x1440 is lovely. The price is less so! The Core i7 has hyper threading, so it should appear as 8 cores, but I don't know if Snow Leopard uses this. I hope Apple replaced their 24" Cinema Display with a 27" Cinema Display with these specs.
The issue that I have is that I don't need the additional width. If I needed the additional width, I can easily buy an additional monitor to the side. I do want height, but portrait mode doesn't really do it for me. I think it's pretty silly that all the computer screens are expected to converge on a single aspect ratio which only serves one use.
Quote:
Originally Posted by addabox
Breathless stories of big gains for Blu-Ray are meaningless unless they account for a baseline. Since Blu-Ray was starting from pretty much nothing as of recently, it's not that impressive to cite percentage gains in shipments.
Meanwhile, the trend lines are clear: streaming and downloads are growing rapidly, while optical media are stagnant. Blu-Rays gains sound impressive until you note that the $500 million in Blu-Ray sales are a drop in the bucket compared to the overall home video market, with even direct view and downloads taking in $1.4 billion.
What's the baseline for streaming then? Streaming started from nothing too, didn't it? The streaming in question is generally also SD only.
frank, why wouldn't you overclock that thing? Who spends 1150 on a system and doesn't overclock it? lol
That's another thing people like you and I value immensely, but not everyone thinks like us. I wouldn't spend this much on an imac unless I had some real cash to throw around. Until I'm comfortable like that, I'll continue to build systems that run circles around these types of machines, and I guess i'll just have to settle for stinky ol Windows (like I care.) The way people around here talk about windows, you'd think their keyboards had thumbtacks on them.
An imac would be cool to have in the living room or something though. It's a slick and pretty machine, completely impractical, but pleasing when you forget about price.
But ya know, even when you can afford a corvette, isn't there something far more rewarding, and valuable, in building your own hot rod?
Only when you can't afford the Corvette. Then you convince yourself that it's just as good.
But ya know, even when you can afford a corvette, isn't there something far more rewarding, and valuable, in building your own hot rod?
Analogies like that are like shooting yourself in the foot.
Sure, it must be "fun" to build your own hot rod. It can have the engine of a corvette. You could use suspension parts equal or better to a corvette etc. But will it drive as well as a vette? No. Will it be as reliable as a vette? No. Will it be suited for everyday use? No.
No matter how many fancy parts on NewEgg you an cram into some plastic Chinese case, it'll never offer the total experience an iMac does. If you simply can't see the added value of an all-aluminum, beautifully designed, full-featured all-in-one package versus the DIY Lego-Technic equivalent (which is barely equivalent since you omit some very crucial components) you simply don't belong on these forums, and are not one of the customers Apple chooses to service. No matter how hard it trumps the iMac in artificial benchmarks.
If a self-assembled win7 HTPC is what you really want, fine, just don't come bothering us with it, we don't consider it to be equivalent to an iMac at all.
Can you link to any figures giving the breakdown of DVD/Blu-ray sales vs. rental profits? I can't see to find anything very informative, but I would also guess that "sales" are heavily skewed by Blockbuster and Netflix purchasing discs for rental.
That's because the industry is very protective and selective about the information that they release. The last comprehensive report I've seen that had a full disclosure breakdown of revenues by format came out more than two years ago, and it was something that Sony paid for.
The revenues from Blockbuster and Netflix are counted as rentals. Sales revenues only account for sell-through by end users.
Quote:
Originally Posted by addabox
As far as HD vs. SD vs. money, I can't see were it really matters. If consumers are content to download or stream or VoD SD content, that's part of the market we're talking about.
It matters if you want a true apples-to-apples comparison. Just comparing Blu-ray to digital distribution is hardly that. If you want an apples-to-apples comparison, then you need to either compare all optical media vs digital distribution, or compare only Blu-ray vs HD digital distribution.
Quote:
Originally Posted by addabox
I dunno, that strikes me as dubious. I can't see why tech writers would "have it out" for Blu-ray-- presumably they're part of the very demographic (young, male, tech savvy) that we would expect to see the greatest uptake of the format.
Like I said, optical formats are not exciting to tech writers. They're pining away for the digital/networked living room, and yet another optical disc format is not part of that world order. Article after article that I've read from PC World, CNET, Engadget, and other sites throw out one negative article after another about how Blu-ray's dying or Blu-ray's not going to make it past the next year or Blu-ray's no better than DVD, etc. Much of it presents little to no evidence, other than the writer's all-too-apparent biases towards streaming/downloading. And considering that these guys are tech writers, the articles also frequently display a surprising lack of knowledge about digital video in general (i.e., the errant claims of unconverted DVD being the same resolution as Blu-ray, not knowing that ANY 1080p HDTV will upconvert a 480p DVD signal to 1080p, etc.). They might know their way around computers, but their appreciation for consumer electronics is often lacking.
Quote:
Right, but all of that-- the powerful establishment of slow to yield ground analog formats-- happened before the internet. And they all had plenty of time to put down roots before the next big thing came along.
But, look at what happened (or hasn't happened) on the audio side. Despite every publication out there having already written the CD format's obituary and despite the iTunes Music Store having been online for more than six years already (the amount of time it took for the DVD to overtake VHS), the CD format still has a 65% market share. Downloading has been hyped to no end by the tech press and mainstream press alike, yet the supposedly dead CD format is still very much alive.
Quote:
Originally Posted by addabox
The significant difference with Blu-ray is that there's a credible competitor on the scene at the same time that it's trying to get traction. And it's a competitor-- digital, on demand content-- that seems to have very powerful cultural and technological trends working in its favor.
This is the same tunnel visioned view of the world that the tech press has -- that market trends and consumer behavior patterns do not matter because we're talking about digital tech. Indeed, digital technology is a big part of our everyday lives, but its adoption and integration into an average household is an evolutionary process that takes years. Whether a consumer electronics format is digital or analog, it doesn't matter. Consumers do not make lifestyle changes or fundamentally shift their spending habits overnight. They do not adopt new technologies just because the tech press is enamored with it and makes wild predictions about it (most of them are wrong anyway -- witness the hype that accompanied the dotcom boom/bust a decade ago).
Consider that 40% of U.S. households do not currently have broadband. That part of the market is already excluded from this digital future.
The fact of the matter is that Blu-ray's growth trajectory is not that far behind the DVD at a comparable juncture. This is not bad considering that HDTV penetration remains just under 50%. Remember that Blu-ray also had its own competition with HD-DVD, and that format war split the market for about a year and a half. Blu-ray has had full support from the studios for less than two years.
When you look at the growth of downloads and other online media, you need to consider what the actual competition is. I don't see Blu-ray and online media as inherently competing for the same market. Downloads and online media are primarily replacements and/or enhancements to PPV, movie rentals, and recorded TV programming. Who does this affect directly? It affects Blockbuster, the satellite and cable companies, Netflix (though they do their own streaming), and it reduces time spent with DVR recordings. Sell-through disc media is affected to some degree, but it's not a direct competitor like those other options.
And if you choose to compare disc media with digital distribution, it's not even close right now. The type of market shift needed for digital distribution to overtake disc media takes years, and I don't see anything in the market trends that would indicate this happening soon. We're talking about shifting of billions of dollars, and anyone who does consumer expenditure research will tell you that it does not happen overnight. Just because digital technology enables a market change to happen quickly, does not mean that consumers will behave accordingly. Overestimation of how much technological change consumers will tolerate in a short-time is what doomed most of the dotcoms, and anyone who bets on downloads and streaming taking over TV and movie viewing in short order will probably face a similarly rude awakening.
Comments
I love posts like franksargent?s. Besides not adding a monitor to the price because he has a 37? 1080p, likely TN display with LCD backlight, which he thinks is better than the 27? 2560x1440 IPS display with LED backlight simply because it?s larger, he doesn?t consider the value of having the machine pre-built, having it as an AIO with less wires, the value of OS X, the cost of ?green components?, the value of having a single warranty for parts that is significantly less of a hassle and doens?t require shipping parts back on your dime, etc. Just read the reviews on that P55 MoBo. Talk about, ?see you, don?t want to be you."
Money talks louder than any words you might say.
Sorry for the reality check, dude.
You're just making stuff up now. Keep it to the facts.
I am stating facts. Just search Slashdot for the articles.
i feel like weeping for you actually
have you ever used a mac? if you haven't, then you have no idea of what you're missing out on
Three Macs, in fact.
But when you can get a better OS and HW for less than half the price, 100X the software options, it's a no brainer.
Bye.
I'm done trolling.
Well, let's see, I have (blah, blah, blah...)
Why are Macs twice the price for half the speed?
See you, don't want to be you!
Not even close to an accurate comparison.
Listing computer parts and prices from Newegg is utterly irrelevant. Unless you plan to do some serious modding and somehow cram them into the same form factor as an iMac, with comparable OS functionality, features, specs, and support.
You need to compare all-in-one systems from manufacturers like Dell, HP, etc.
Don't want an all-in-one? Hey, that's cool. Some people do. More and more people quite recently, actually.
I can't believe most of the posts have been whining about the lack of a BluRay drive. Just because the technology exists, doesn't mean a computer actually needs it. If you really want one, go buy an external drive and STFU. They have been around for years.
If the iMac had one, all of you would bitch and complain about the price increase over previous models, and then bitch about the high price of blank media, and bitch how slow it is to back up data.
.
Exactly. Thank god apple does not add everything everyone wants, otherwise we would end up with the equivalent of homers car..
ZERO!
Now if I didn't have a vast amount of previous experience, like all Mac users, major problem.
As it is? No problem, I can do it in my sleep, Bucko.
Let's see AIO's? Why constrain yourself? Oh, that's right, Apple doesen't have a true $1K desktop, they have a $10K desktop.
I can do it too, and have since the 1970's. So what?
What does that have to do with people who buy computers?
Nothing. Less than 1% of users build their own machines. And most only do it one time. The rest of the time after that, they buy complete machines.
You haven't set up a situation that matters. People who buy AIO's from Apple, Gateway, Dell, Hp and others are even LESS likely to want to build their own machine, and do the research involved. They want to take it home, plug it in, and start using it.
I am stating facts. Just search Slashdot for the articles.
Since they're YOUR "facts" why don't you post them?
Mainstream for TV, not for Mac's.
BR drives are flaky and unreliable, prone to draconian DRM schemes that might brick your BR installed in your Mac. Just like the firmware update did to thousands of PS3 owners. And the DRM/rookit thing that came on music cds.
And yes Sony can make good stuff, it's got a software and control issue though, which makes it too flaky to include their devices in Mac's.
Stop talking absolute crap. DRM in blu-ray doesn't effect anyone, there is just as much DRM in the Apple movie downloads.
And the CD thing was by SonyBMG, not Sony.
And get it through your head that Blu-Ray isn't a Sony technology, there are a lot of companies involved, Sony is just one of them
There are quite a few companies supporting it, but mini-DisplayPort hasn?t seemed to catch on outside of Apple. It?s a very small issue so long as DP itself is adopted widely, given the free license I see no reason why it won?t be, but perhaps we?ll have to wait until DP v1.2 is out as that is when mDP will be added to the spec. So far, I can find no information about 1.2 being completed at this point.
It would be even less of an issue if Apple would just include a few adapters in the box.
Bye.
I'm done trolling.
I can do it too, and have since the 1970's. So what?
What does that have to do with people who buy computers?
Nothing. Less than 1% of users build their own machines. And most only do it one time. The rest of the time after that, they buy complete machines.
You haven't set up a situation that matters. People who buy AIO's from Apple, Gateway, Dell, Hp and others are even LESS likely to want to build their own machine, and do the research involved. They want to take it home, plug it in, and start using it.
Take it home, plug it in, and use.
That's the ideal of engineering. Simplify, simplify. It's a winning system.
That's another thing people like you and I value immensely, but not everyone thinks like us. I wouldn't spend this much on an imac unless I had some real cash to throw around. Until I'm comfortable like that, I'll continue to build systems that run circles around these types of machines, and I guess i'll just have to settle for stinky ol Windows (like I care.) The way people around here talk about windows, you'd think their keyboards had thumbtacks on them.
An imac would be cool to have in the living room or something though. It's a slick and pretty machine, completely impractical, but pleasing when you forget about price.
But ya know, even when you can afford a corvette, isn't there something far more rewarding, and valuable, in building your own hot rod?
It would be even less of an issue if Apple would just include a few adapters in the box.
I?m glad they don?t add extraneous adapters. I am not one to use external monitors and never liked that I felt I was paying for adapters I?ll never use when they were included with my Macs.
It would be even less of an issue if Apple would just include a few adapters in the box.
How much would you be willing to pay for them?
Obv. they mean from the iTunes store. Technically 720p is HD.
edit: flame if you want, but a 27" screen will not significantly benefit from 1080p over 720p. Actually I doubt anyone could tell the difference.
I know that isn't the only reason for BRD though.
How far away do you sit from your computer when you use it? At 5m, you're right, but that's not comfortable computer use for a 27" screen. At 1m away, 1080p does make a very clear difference.
If you want a real keyboard with a number or decent sized arrow keys, looks like you're SOL from here on out.
A keyboard with number keys is still a BTO option. Third parties still make keyboards too.
Everyone thought when HD-DVD died Blu Ray would jump and it hasn't, in fact numbers keep falling. Most people don't seem interested.
That's not true, Nielsen Videoscan showed the HD formats fighting for 1% of the market when they were both active, after HD DVD exited the market, Blu-Ray has gotten to something like 10-15% of the market within a year. Even with combined disc sales going down a bit, that's still a major growth.
He should stop using 100 pixel high fonts then.
1920x1080 at 21.5" is better in many ways that 1680x1050 at 20" or 22", which are probably the most common monitor sizes.
Don't think of it as losing vertical resolution from 1920x1200.
The 27" 2560x1440 is lovely. The price is less so! The Core i7 has hyper threading, so it should appear as 8 cores, but I don't know if Snow Leopard uses this. I hope Apple replaced their 24" Cinema Display with a 27" Cinema Display with these specs.
The issue that I have is that I don't need the additional width. If I needed the additional width, I can easily buy an additional monitor to the side. I do want height, but portrait mode doesn't really do it for me. I think it's pretty silly that all the computer screens are expected to converge on a single aspect ratio which only serves one use.
Breathless stories of big gains for Blu-Ray are meaningless unless they account for a baseline. Since Blu-Ray was starting from pretty much nothing as of recently, it's not that impressive to cite percentage gains in shipments.
Meanwhile, the trend lines are clear: streaming and downloads are growing rapidly, while optical media are stagnant. Blu-Rays gains sound impressive until you note that the $500 million in Blu-Ray sales are a drop in the bucket compared to the overall home video market, with even direct view and downloads taking in $1.4 billion.
What's the baseline for streaming then? Streaming started from nothing too, didn't it? The streaming in question is generally also SD only.
frank, why wouldn't you overclock that thing? Who spends 1150 on a system and doesn't overclock it? lol
That's another thing people like you and I value immensely, but not everyone thinks like us. I wouldn't spend this much on an imac unless I had some real cash to throw around. Until I'm comfortable like that, I'll continue to build systems that run circles around these types of machines, and I guess i'll just have to settle for stinky ol Windows (like I care.) The way people around here talk about windows, you'd think their keyboards had thumbtacks on them.
An imac would be cool to have in the living room or something though. It's a slick and pretty machine, completely impractical, but pleasing when you forget about price.
But ya know, even when you can afford a corvette, isn't there something far more rewarding, and valuable, in building your own hot rod?
Only when you can't afford the Corvette. Then you convince yourself that it's just as good.
No!
BETTER!
But ya know, even when you can afford a corvette, isn't there something far more rewarding, and valuable, in building your own hot rod?
Analogies like that are like shooting yourself in the foot.
Sure, it must be "fun" to build your own hot rod. It can have the engine of a corvette. You could use suspension parts equal or better to a corvette etc. But will it drive as well as a vette? No. Will it be as reliable as a vette? No. Will it be suited for everyday use? No.
No matter how many fancy parts on NewEgg you an cram into some plastic Chinese case, it'll never offer the total experience an iMac does. If you simply can't see the added value of an all-aluminum, beautifully designed, full-featured all-in-one package versus the DIY Lego-Technic equivalent (which is barely equivalent since you omit some very crucial components) you simply don't belong on these forums, and are not one of the customers Apple chooses to service. No matter how hard it trumps the iMac in artificial benchmarks.
If a self-assembled win7 HTPC is what you really want, fine, just don't come bothering us with it, we don't consider it to be equivalent to an iMac at all.
Thank you and good night
Can you link to any figures giving the breakdown of DVD/Blu-ray sales vs. rental profits? I can't see to find anything very informative, but I would also guess that "sales" are heavily skewed by Blockbuster and Netflix purchasing discs for rental.
That's because the industry is very protective and selective about the information that they release. The last comprehensive report I've seen that had a full disclosure breakdown of revenues by format came out more than two years ago, and it was something that Sony paid for.
The revenues from Blockbuster and Netflix are counted as rentals. Sales revenues only account for sell-through by end users.
As far as HD vs. SD vs. money, I can't see were it really matters. If consumers are content to download or stream or VoD SD content, that's part of the market we're talking about.
It matters if you want a true apples-to-apples comparison. Just comparing Blu-ray to digital distribution is hardly that. If you want an apples-to-apples comparison, then you need to either compare all optical media vs digital distribution, or compare only Blu-ray vs HD digital distribution.
I dunno, that strikes me as dubious. I can't see why tech writers would "have it out" for Blu-ray-- presumably they're part of the very demographic (young, male, tech savvy) that we would expect to see the greatest uptake of the format.
Like I said, optical formats are not exciting to tech writers. They're pining away for the digital/networked living room, and yet another optical disc format is not part of that world order. Article after article that I've read from PC World, CNET, Engadget, and other sites throw out one negative article after another about how Blu-ray's dying or Blu-ray's not going to make it past the next year or Blu-ray's no better than DVD, etc. Much of it presents little to no evidence, other than the writer's all-too-apparent biases towards streaming/downloading. And considering that these guys are tech writers, the articles also frequently display a surprising lack of knowledge about digital video in general (i.e., the errant claims of unconverted DVD being the same resolution as Blu-ray, not knowing that ANY 1080p HDTV will upconvert a 480p DVD signal to 1080p, etc.). They might know their way around computers, but their appreciation for consumer electronics is often lacking.
Right, but all of that-- the powerful establishment of slow to yield ground analog formats-- happened before the internet. And they all had plenty of time to put down roots before the next big thing came along.
But, look at what happened (or hasn't happened) on the audio side. Despite every publication out there having already written the CD format's obituary and despite the iTunes Music Store having been online for more than six years already (the amount of time it took for the DVD to overtake VHS), the CD format still has a 65% market share. Downloading has been hyped to no end by the tech press and mainstream press alike, yet the supposedly dead CD format is still very much alive.
The significant difference with Blu-ray is that there's a credible competitor on the scene at the same time that it's trying to get traction. And it's a competitor-- digital, on demand content-- that seems to have very powerful cultural and technological trends working in its favor.
This is the same tunnel visioned view of the world that the tech press has -- that market trends and consumer behavior patterns do not matter because we're talking about digital tech. Indeed, digital technology is a big part of our everyday lives, but its adoption and integration into an average household is an evolutionary process that takes years. Whether a consumer electronics format is digital or analog, it doesn't matter. Consumers do not make lifestyle changes or fundamentally shift their spending habits overnight. They do not adopt new technologies just because the tech press is enamored with it and makes wild predictions about it (most of them are wrong anyway -- witness the hype that accompanied the dotcom boom/bust a decade ago).
Consider that 40% of U.S. households do not currently have broadband. That part of the market is already excluded from this digital future.
The fact of the matter is that Blu-ray's growth trajectory is not that far behind the DVD at a comparable juncture. This is not bad considering that HDTV penetration remains just under 50%. Remember that Blu-ray also had its own competition with HD-DVD, and that format war split the market for about a year and a half. Blu-ray has had full support from the studios for less than two years.
When you look at the growth of downloads and other online media, you need to consider what the actual competition is. I don't see Blu-ray and online media as inherently competing for the same market. Downloads and online media are primarily replacements and/or enhancements to PPV, movie rentals, and recorded TV programming. Who does this affect directly? It affects Blockbuster, the satellite and cable companies, Netflix (though they do their own streaming), and it reduces time spent with DVR recordings. Sell-through disc media is affected to some degree, but it's not a direct competitor like those other options.
And if you choose to compare disc media with digital distribution, it's not even close right now. The type of market shift needed for digital distribution to overtake disc media takes years, and I don't see anything in the market trends that would indicate this happening soon. We're talking about shifting of billions of dollars, and anyone who does consumer expenditure research will tell you that it does not happen overnight. Just because digital technology enables a market change to happen quickly, does not mean that consumers will behave accordingly. Overestimation of how much technological change consumers will tolerate in a short-time is what doomed most of the dotcoms, and anyone who bets on downloads and streaming taking over TV and movie viewing in short order will probably face a similarly rude awakening.
My cousin just bought an iMac last week. Does Apple have a 14-day window where he could bring
back the iMac he bought for a new one?
Looks like the whole community knew that there were new Macs on the horizon ... except your cousin