It's essentially a minor tweak/rev to the iMac that already exists. I'm talking about what's BEYOND the current iMac...as much as the LCD iMac was a departure from the original CRT "jellybean" iMac, you know?
Part of me wonders "hmm, maybe THIS is the end-all/be-all shape/design of the iMac?".
The "display on an arm" design always allows for other display sizes and aspect ratios. The dome body already houses a hard drive, SuperDrive, etc. The iMac probably is never going to be fitted with PCI slots and all anyway, so that's not - realistically, in my mind - a design concern. Remember - and think about - the iMac's core audience and intent.
But a tower if you want all that other stuff, right? As long as the iMac comes with Ethernet, a decent video card, good sound and current/popular I/O, what's the use for card slots in a "consumer" machine? None, really.
Kinda like people bitching that the iBook doesn't have those PC card slots (or whatever you call them). Uh, it's already got everything on it that most PC laptops leave off at the price range (my Dad spent $1300 on a Toshiba laptop with NO Ethernet, FireWire and he has to stick a card in the side for a modem).
I dunno, plenty of PC's get upgraded quite a lot. It mightn't even be the most cost effective thing to do, but a desktop ought to have a minimum of easy internal drive replacement, CPU upgrade, and video upgrade. iMac has none of those things. If I'm to give up all expansion and upgradeabilitym then I'd rather buy a laptop, which I don't expect to upgrade, but I can at least take it around with me. As I see it a hermetically sealed A-I-O aims to be idiot proof and space efficient, that's the market and it's miniscule comare to the market for a moderately expandable (and reasonably priced) computer.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't there a time when Apple desktops allowed for processor and video card upgrades. I think that made the Mac investment worthwhile back then knowing that you could replace the processor with a Daystar 50 Mhz processor (man, I'm going way back here).
I'm not suggesting this be the case with the iMac, but certainly if you could do this with the towers, it would be a great Mac advantage. Point is though, Apple would stand to lose out unless they somehow made the processor upgrade only available through them.
<strong>Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't there a time when Apple desktops allowed for processor and video card upgrades. I think that made the Mac investment worthwhile back then knowing that you could replace the processor with a Daystar 50 Mhz processor (man, I'm going way back here).
</strong><hr></blockquote>
You mean like when I added a DayStar 50MHz in my MacIIci? Or a Sonnet 1GHz in my AGP G4 (with a retail Radeon card)? Or my PB1400 with a 250MHz NuPower daughter card?
With some exceptions, Macs have been upgradeable for some time.
I just realized how awesome it'd be if the iMac could be mounted upside down (thanks to whoever said it). I can mount the thing on the shelf above my desk, and then I can have the computer accessibility as well as almost all my desk space intact! Genius!
Rotating screen would be cool too for portrait view, but I like the upsidedown variety even more.
Technically, there could be an accelerometer sensing which position the monitor is in and adjust accordingly. As for the DVD drive, either slotloading or one of those designs that grip onto your CD like in Sony Discmans.
Kill the slot loader, and make sure the inside has a minimum of room for a 1 AGP slot and 1 CPU daughtercard. Also, all the RAM slots should be user accessible from the bottom of the machine. You would have to play with the profile of the curves a bit too. And to accentuate the width, I'd incororate FP speakers (tall and thin) into either side of the display.
all the FP speaker i have heard sounded so low on sound quality, there wasn't good mids or lows, i thought about putting them on the monitor but i figured that it would add too much weight, and not have the quality sound apple strives for (well with their non built in speakers that is)
The first FP speakers were indeed quite poor. But NXT tech has improved things and the vertical height of a 19" widescreen probably provides enough space for a decent sized driver. Monsoon does a decent job with FP computer speakers, so it can be done at least as well as your average computer speaker. In any event it wouldn't remove your external speaker options.
I know one thing I WOULD like, regarding the current LCD iMac: the ability to take it to an authorized Apple service center, have them pop off the 15" screen and replace it with the 17" widescreen (and, if desired, update the video card as well).
I'd pay $150-200 for this because everything else about my iMac I dig. But I'd love me one of them wide 17" sumbitches!
Apple should do that. Would be a cash generator because I think about a gazillion people would do it.
Further proof that every desktop owner wants a minimum of expansion/upgradability. Without it there's really no point to buying an AIO at all, just by a laptop, it's an AIO and it travels! I've said time and time again, that the only reason iMacs sell as well as they do is that they represent the only semi-affordable "mac" option for a desktop. If Apple sold a reasonably priced expandable desktop tower or cube(ish) computer they would easily outsell the iMac. The cube only failed because the price was insane.
<strong>I know one thing I WOULD like, regarding the current LCD iMac: the ability to take it to an authorized Apple service center, have them pop off the 15" screen and replace it with the 17" widescreen (and, if desired, update the video card as well).
I'd pay $150-200 for this because everything else about my iMac I dig. But I'd love me one of them wide 17" sumbitches!
Apple should do that. Would be a cash generator because I think about a gazillion people would do it.</strong><hr></blockquote>
haha, you'd be paying more...alot more then 150-200 for a 17" LCD and new video card!
I can see how one would think that the iMac is the greatest it can be. Its gorgeous, practical, and wonderful. But isn't that what we though about the CRT iMac when it was in its prime?(i don't actually know, i was still a windows user) Style will change, and so as people taste changes, so will the iMac. At this point the iMac is so cool, we can't invision how it could go out of style. thats why i own one
I remember a couple of years ago (during the 15" CRT iMac's peak of popularity and all) that EVERYONE was miffed that it came with only a 15" screen and had no CD-RW (at that time, Apple had no CD-RW drives in ANY of their computers...only CD-ROM, DVD or DVD-RAM, if I recall correctly).
I remember the rampant, "it's coming!" rumors about a 17" iMac flying around during my first Macworld Expo in January 2000 (the one where OS X was first unveiled). Alas, that was ALL that was unveiled during that keynote.
It took nearly TWO-AND-A-HALF YEARS for Apple to put out what is, essentially, a 17" iMac: the eMac. And even then, it was initially not available to everyone!
From day one, the CRT iMac was (despite its obvious coolness in design and all) dinged for its small screen, lack of drive options, inadequate video/graphics, tinny sound, small keyboard and mouse, hard-to-reach RAM, etc.
The hard-to-reach RAM thing was brilliantly solved in the slot-loading DV series in October 1999 (that cute little trap door in the "butt" of the iMac). But it went another year-and-a-half (through a fruit color phase, a subdued Sage/Ruby/Indigo period and those nutty patterns) before the LCD iMac was unveiled.
In other words, there was PLENTY of stuff people wanted done better, smarter, etc. about the CRT iMac. It took three years, more or less, to address all (or most) of them.
I just think, as a design, the current LCD iMac is so perfect. Maybe I just can't envision something beyond it? All I know is, Apple has set the bar EXTREMELY high for themselves and are going to have to come up with some pretty amazing to meet or surpass the design and appeal of the flat-panel iMac!
I think it's that crazy chrome arm thing, more than anything. NOBODY imagined or predicted that. Every mock-up ever submitted (here and elsewhere) all had the display and the "guts" in one piece (something like a Studio Display with the guts welded on to the back constitued about 97% of all the mock-ups floating around the Mac community).
It never occurred to anyone that you could still have an all-in-one BUT the screen could - somehow - sit separate from the body.
There's no way Apple could go back to that whole "can't move or adjust the screen" thing...people wouldn't stand for it. So they have to keep moving forward, but I just can't imagine a more perfect design.
But I'm an idiot and am routinely wrong about most everything, so...
It think we unfortunately have to wait for some drastic innovations in technologies and / or material (Liquid Metal) before we see completely new industrial designs for Macs. Until then, only minor revisions of current models will see daylight. The only exception from this rule is the PowerMac tower. This translucent look definitely has to go. My guess is, that the next PM case will be either white or titanium.
Personally i'd love to see a design which takes the opposite direction from the "all-in-one" concept. A PowerMac which is made of separate components with the size of portable CD-players or even smaller. These small boxes should be easily attachable to each other with a special connector (no cables) and thus you could configure / update your system any time whe way you like.</strong><hr></blockquote>
They had a concept prototype for this years ago (when the PPC 601 was new)... it was codenamed Jonathan
Comments
Part of me wonders "hmm, maybe THIS is the end-all/be-all shape/design of the iMac?".
The "display on an arm" design always allows for other display sizes and aspect ratios. The dome body already houses a hard drive, SuperDrive, etc. The iMac probably is never going to be fitted with PCI slots and all anyway, so that's not - realistically, in my mind - a design concern. Remember - and think about - the iMac's core audience and intent.
But a tower if you want all that other stuff, right? As long as the iMac comes with Ethernet, a decent video card, good sound and current/popular I/O, what's the use for card slots in a "consumer" machine? None, really.
Kinda like people bitching that the iBook doesn't have those PC card slots (or whatever you call them). Uh, it's already got everything on it that most PC laptops leave off at the price range (my Dad spent $1300 on a Toshiba laptop with NO Ethernet, FireWire and he has to stick a card in the side for a modem).
I'm not suggesting this be the case with the iMac, but certainly if you could do this with the towers, it would be a great Mac advantage. Point is though, Apple would stand to lose out unless they somehow made the processor upgrade only available through them.
<strong>Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't there a time when Apple desktops allowed for processor and video card upgrades. I think that made the Mac investment worthwhile back then knowing that you could replace the processor with a Daystar 50 Mhz processor (man, I'm going way back here).
</strong><hr></blockquote>
You mean like when I added a DayStar 50MHz in my MacIIci? Or a Sonnet 1GHz in my AGP G4 (with a retail Radeon card)? Or my PB1400 with a 250MHz NuPower daughter card?
With some exceptions, Macs have been upgradeable for some time.
I just realized how awesome it'd be if the iMac could be mounted upside down (thanks to whoever said it). I can mount the thing on the shelf above my desk, and then I can have the computer accessibility as well as almost all my desk space intact! Genius!
Rotating screen would be cool too for portrait view, but I like the upsidedown variety even more.
Technically, there could be an accelerometer sensing which position the monitor is in and adjust accordingly. As for the DVD drive, either slotloading or one of those designs that grip onto your CD like in Sony Discmans.
<strong>
Kill the slot loader, and make sure the inside has a minimum of room for a 1 AGP slot and 1 CPU daughtercard. Also, all the RAM slots should be user accessible from the bottom of the machine. You would have to play with the profile of the curves a bit too. And to accentuate the width, I'd incororate FP speakers (tall and thin) into either side of the display.
Then, yes, I like it.
[ 12-21-2002: Message edited by: Matsu ]</strong><hr></blockquote>
all the FP speaker i have heard sounded so low on sound quality, there wasn't good mids or lows, i thought about putting them on the monitor but i figured that it would add too much weight, and not have the quality sound apple strives for (well with their non built in speakers that is)
I'd pay $150-200 for this because everything else about my iMac I dig. But I'd love me one of them wide 17" sumbitches!
Apple should do that. Would be a cash generator because I think about a gazillion people would do it.
<strong>I know one thing I WOULD like, regarding the current LCD iMac: the ability to take it to an authorized Apple service center, have them pop off the 15" screen and replace it with the 17" widescreen (and, if desired, update the video card as well).
I'd pay $150-200 for this because everything else about my iMac I dig. But I'd love me one of them wide 17" sumbitches!
Apple should do that. Would be a cash generator because I think about a gazillion people would do it.</strong><hr></blockquote>
haha, you'd be paying more...alot more then 150-200 for a 17" LCD and new video card!
I remember the rampant, "it's coming!" rumors about a 17" iMac flying around during my first Macworld Expo in January 2000 (the one where OS X was first unveiled). Alas, that was ALL that was unveiled during that keynote.
It took nearly TWO-AND-A-HALF YEARS for Apple to put out what is, essentially, a 17" iMac: the eMac. And even then, it was initially not available to everyone!
From day one, the CRT iMac was (despite its obvious coolness in design and all) dinged for its small screen, lack of drive options, inadequate video/graphics, tinny sound, small keyboard and mouse, hard-to-reach RAM, etc.
The hard-to-reach RAM thing was brilliantly solved in the slot-loading DV series in October 1999 (that cute little trap door in the "butt" of the iMac). But it went another year-and-a-half (through a fruit color phase, a subdued Sage/Ruby/Indigo period and those nutty patterns) before the LCD iMac was unveiled.
In other words, there was PLENTY of stuff people wanted done better, smarter, etc. about the CRT iMac. It took three years, more or less, to address all (or most) of them.
I just think, as a design, the current LCD iMac is so perfect. Maybe I just can't envision something beyond it? All I know is, Apple has set the bar EXTREMELY high for themselves and are going to have to come up with some pretty amazing to meet or surpass the design and appeal of the flat-panel iMac!
I think it's that crazy chrome arm thing, more than anything. NOBODY imagined or predicted that. Every mock-up ever submitted (here and elsewhere) all had the display and the "guts" in one piece (something like a Studio Display with the guts welded on to the back constitued about 97% of all the mock-ups floating around the Mac community).
It never occurred to anyone that you could still have an all-in-one BUT the screen could - somehow - sit separate from the body.
There's no way Apple could go back to that whole "can't move or adjust the screen" thing...people wouldn't stand for it. So they have to keep moving forward, but I just can't imagine a more perfect design.
But I'm an idiot and am routinely wrong about most everything, so...
<strong>
It think we unfortunately have to wait for some drastic innovations in technologies and / or material (Liquid Metal) before we see completely new industrial designs for Macs. Until then, only minor revisions of current models will see daylight. The only exception from this rule is the PowerMac tower. This translucent look definitely has to go. My guess is, that the next PM case will be either white or titanium.
Personally i'd love to see a design which takes the opposite direction from the "all-in-one" concept. A PowerMac which is made of separate components with the size of portable CD-players or even smaller. These small boxes should be easily attachable to each other with a special connector (no cables) and thus you could configure / update your system any time whe way you like.</strong><hr></blockquote>
They had a concept prototype for this years ago (when the PPC 601 was new)... it was codenamed Jonathan
Amorya
<strong>
They had a concept prototype for this years ago (when the PPC 601 was new)... it was codenamed Jonathan
</strong><hr></blockquote>
Wow, cool.
[ 12-25-2002: Message edited by: Quick ]</p>