Yeah, I think its inane when people point out "no media drive". Whatevs, this is 2013 %u2014 not 2002!
Say what you will, but many companies and educations still use optical drives. I use an optical drive as well. I use the drives to put CDs on the Mac. I also use it to watch DVDs (and yes occasionally record).
There is a difference between being able to do things without an optical drive, and selling your budget conscious educational customers on the idea of buying a computer that costs more but does less. Many libraries, including those on school campuses, have tons of media on DVD and CD. I just needed some software for work the other day (for a PC), and the company sent it on a CD.
The point isn't whether a lot of these things can be done in a different fashion or if the new ways are even better in some regard, it is whether your customer wants to do it in a different fashion. I for one think Apple lost its way on the new iMac design. Johnny Ive once said design is about picking two or three key functionalities for a product and creating a great product to accomplish those things. Apple 1) stripped the optical drive, and 2) made the device really thin. Yet, on a desktop computer is weight and thinness really a primary functionality that needs to be achieved? I would say no. My iMac faces a wall and never moves. Apple stripped the optical drive to make the product thinner, but it really doesn't make the product better. Further, it is a lot harder to work on the new iMac to repair it yourself, a thing many desktop users ar interested in doing.
Funny to see everyone attacking the comment about schools needing an ODD. I'm with them. I work closely with Schools ICT Support and Service Development. Shame the author is out-of-touch... or the schools he/she knows are out-of-touch.
Perhaps, you are in a district that actually has funding and/or people who care to do things differently. Again, the issue isn't one of "needing." Of course, schools don't need an optical drive. The issue is do they want one, and do they want to pay more for a machine that lacks one.
Schools don't want wireless mice and keyboards. Batteries are one issue, walking is another. In no way is a USB cable any form of security, but psychologically it makes a difference. Good to see the SD card in and BT back as standard. There is still some CD/DVD distribution of software, but almost everything we use is available on the network. Oddly there are still some disc-based licenses that say the software cannot be accessed on a network. It would be nice to burn DVDs for distribution of student work, but that's why there are external superdrives.
Anyone know if there are any surprises with going Thunderbolt > FW800 > FW400? There are still some image capture boxes, hard drives and some of the last living Mini-DV cams that still get used regularly.
Say what you will, but many companies and educations still use optical drives. I use an optical drive as well. I use the drives to put CDs on the Mac. I also use it to watch DVDs (and yes occasionally record).
There is a difference between being able to do things without an optical drive, and selling your budget conscious educational customers on the idea of buying a computer that costs more but does less. Many libraries, including those on school campuses, have tons of media on DVD and CD. I just needed some software for work the other day (for a PC), and the company sent it on a CD.
The point isn't whether a lot of these things can be done in a different fashion or if the new ways are even better in some regard, it is whether your customer wants to do it in a different fashion. I for one think Apple lost its way on the new iMac design. Johnny Ive once said design is about picking two or three key functionalities for a product and creating a great product to accomplish those things. Apple 1) stripped the optical drive, and 2) made the device really thin. Yet, on a desktop computer is weight and thinness really a primary functionality that needs to be achieved? I would say no. My iMac faces a wall and never moves. Apple stripped the optical drive to make the product thinner, but it really doesn't make the product better. Further, it is a lot harder to work on the new iMac to repair it yourself, a thing many desktop users ar interested in doing.
The new iMacs also use a slower, laptop-sized hard drive (spinning at 5400 rpm), and have integrated graphics only (on the 21" model). Pretty disappointing to go backwards just for thinness. The new screen is great, though - much less glare. Speaking of glare, all these same people saying everyone should stop complaining about the lack of an optical drive are the same people who said to stop complaining about glossy screens. Well guess what? Glossy is out.
I make DVDs, and yes, people still want them, for many reasons.
Hmm... are you better off with a 3.3 GHz dual-core i3 or a 2.7 GHz quad i5?
The 2.7 GHz quad i5 in the non-edu, normal iMac turbos to only 3.2 GHz. It's got more L3, so single core performance be may half a speed grade faster than a Core i3 w/3MB cache or however much it has. In some, maybe even many a Core i3 might perform better. If it wasn't for the turbo, it'll be a no brainer, go for the i3 for 90% of the people out there.
-they can't make enough of them for their costumers;
-they are crazy expensive/complicated to build, at least for now.
the interior is unnecessary. for education, an i3 is plenty, 4gb ram is plenty (most likely it will run 1 or 2 programs at time, 500gb is plenty (they are all connected) and what sets them apart from crappy PCs is the OS, build quality, beauty, reliability, etc.
I don't expect the average joe that just wants a COD machine to understand that... but c'mon.
I'm not missing anything really... your points are all valid... EXCEPT
1) the still unrelenting and false perception of ROI/cost-to-spec on Apple devices. At this point why even fight it anymore? We all know that a half-speced iOS or OS X device is just as fast and more usable than a double-speced Android or WinBox. But the admins and IT just refuse to believe it.
Soooo... for the education market only and seeing to it that Johnny and Sally get the VERY best elegant computer in their classrooms, Apple decides that the PR AND future customer value is worth the margin-cut today.
2) in higher grades, you may be installing Adobe or MS suites, or video, 3D, CAD, music production software. 4gb RAM is cutting it too close, and ALL Macs should have OS X and Apps on an SSD and/or Fusion drive. Future-proofed it.... to make it an even MORE value-added proposition and ROI.
* Apple's production woes does not even need to be considered AFAIC. Backlogs are positive business. Many a PC vender would LOVE to know what that even means or looks like these days.
I know that many schools are cramped and crowded. I think a 17 inch model for education would be a better choice. But of course Apple doesn't made one anymore. I see a lot of schools passing on this product.
Comments
Quote:
Originally Posted by unother
Yeah, I think its inane when people point out "no media drive". Whatevs, this is 2013 %u2014 not 2002!
Say what you will, but many companies and educations still use optical drives. I use an optical drive as well. I use the drives to put CDs on the Mac. I also use it to watch DVDs (and yes occasionally record).
There is a difference between being able to do things without an optical drive, and selling your budget conscious educational customers on the idea of buying a computer that costs more but does less. Many libraries, including those on school campuses, have tons of media on DVD and CD. I just needed some software for work the other day (for a PC), and the company sent it on a CD.
The point isn't whether a lot of these things can be done in a different fashion or if the new ways are even better in some regard, it is whether your customer wants to do it in a different fashion. I for one think Apple lost its way on the new iMac design. Johnny Ive once said design is about picking two or three key functionalities for a product and creating a great product to accomplish those things. Apple 1) stripped the optical drive, and 2) made the device really thin. Yet, on a desktop computer is weight and thinness really a primary functionality that needs to be achieved? I would say no. My iMac faces a wall and never moves. Apple stripped the optical drive to make the product thinner, but it really doesn't make the product better. Further, it is a lot harder to work on the new iMac to repair it yourself, a thing many desktop users ar interested in doing.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ontheinside
Funny to see everyone attacking the comment about schools needing an ODD. I'm with them. I work closely with Schools ICT Support and Service Development. Shame the author is out-of-touch... or the schools he/she knows are out-of-touch.
Perhaps, you are in a district that actually has funding and/or people who care to do things differently. Again, the issue isn't one of "needing." Of course, schools don't need an optical drive. The issue is do they want one, and do they want to pay more for a machine that lacks one.
Anyone know if there are any surprises with going Thunderbolt > FW800 > FW400? There are still some image capture boxes, hard drives and some of the last living Mini-DV cams that still get used regularly.
Quote:
Originally Posted by TBell
Say what you will, but many companies and educations still use optical drives. I use an optical drive as well. I use the drives to put CDs on the Mac. I also use it to watch DVDs (and yes occasionally record).
There is a difference between being able to do things without an optical drive, and selling your budget conscious educational customers on the idea of buying a computer that costs more but does less. Many libraries, including those on school campuses, have tons of media on DVD and CD. I just needed some software for work the other day (for a PC), and the company sent it on a CD.
The point isn't whether a lot of these things can be done in a different fashion or if the new ways are even better in some regard, it is whether your customer wants to do it in a different fashion. I for one think Apple lost its way on the new iMac design. Johnny Ive once said design is about picking two or three key functionalities for a product and creating a great product to accomplish those things. Apple 1) stripped the optical drive, and 2) made the device really thin. Yet, on a desktop computer is weight and thinness really a primary functionality that needs to be achieved? I would say no. My iMac faces a wall and never moves. Apple stripped the optical drive to make the product thinner, but it really doesn't make the product better. Further, it is a lot harder to work on the new iMac to repair it yourself, a thing many desktop users ar interested in doing.
The new iMacs also use a slower, laptop-sized hard drive (spinning at 5400 rpm), and have integrated graphics only (on the 21" model). Pretty disappointing to go backwards just for thinness. The new screen is great, though - much less glare. Speaking of glare, all these same people saying everyone should stop complaining about the lack of an optical drive are the same people who said to stop complaining about glossy screens. Well guess what? Glossy is out.
I make DVDs, and yes, people still want them, for many reasons.
Hmm... are you better off with a 3.3 GHz dual-core i3 or a 2.7 GHz quad i5?
The 2.7 GHz quad i5 in the non-edu, normal iMac turbos to only 3.2 GHz. It's got more L3, so single core performance be may half a speed grade faster than a Core i3 w/3MB cache or however much it has. In some, maybe even many a Core i3 might perform better. If it wasn't for the turbo, it'll be a no brainer, go for the i3 for 90% of the people out there.
I'm not missing anything really... your points are all valid... EXCEPT
1) the still unrelenting and false perception of ROI/cost-to-spec on Apple devices. At this point why even fight it anymore? We all know that a half-speced iOS or OS X device is just as fast and more usable than a double-speced Android or WinBox. But the admins and IT just refuse to believe it.
Soooo... for the education market only and seeing to it that Johnny and Sally get the VERY best elegant computer in their classrooms, Apple decides that the PR AND future customer value is worth the margin-cut today.
2) in higher grades, you may be installing Adobe or MS suites, or video, 3D, CAD, music production software. 4gb RAM is cutting it too close, and ALL Macs should have OS X and Apps on an SSD and/or Fusion drive. Future-proofed it.... to make it an even MORE value-added proposition and ROI.
* Apple's production woes does not even need to be considered AFAIC. Backlogs are positive business. Many a PC vender would LOVE to know what that even means or looks like these days.
And to tell ya the truth: Yeah. I'm against 'em. One-trick-pony unnecessary gadget these days.
I know that many schools are cramped and crowded. I think a 17 inch model for education would be a better choice. But of course Apple doesn't made one anymore. I see a lot of schools passing on this product.