Tony Smith at The Register has weighed in. I'd keep a lot of salt handy, though, since he seems to have managed an especially, um, interesting interpretation of the DigiTimes article.
I suppose one area where Apple could save money is with the exterior part of the dome. Surely this frosty porcelin-like material is more costly than some cheap plastic finish.
A chrome-plated vs. solid steel arm might further cut costs (is the arm solid steel?).
Magnesium-Alloy was what the original Next Cube was made of. And, it is mainly used for the internal structure. Apple will probably take their cueing from the iPod. Since the iPod is so successful people will identify the new iMac with it. So expect lots of white plastic, with aluminum highlights and with a red glow power button. It would be interesting if they built in an iPod dock in order to more closely tie the iPod with it. If people love their iPod, well then even love their ipod iMac.
I too think it will be some new processor from IBM as well and hopefully have a detached display.
PS Give the eMac the ability to get color side panels. Parents were buying the original iMac for their kids like crazy. I remember once waiting at a store and the original iMacs were going like hot cakes.
Regarding colors: Yes, everyone wants a choice in colors and then they all seem to pick blue. Why? I liked the tangerine, but I know I'm almost alone in that choice. I agree that white is beginning to show its age, but i think it has another year. It still works with the new G5 gear, iPods etc. It gets harder to change the color scheme when it means you have to change so many items (monitors, iPod, mice, power plugs etc) and be backward compatible. White just works in most cases and looks different from beige and charcoal grey.
Apple still needs a headless consumer machine, mebbe a cube redux, priced right, single low G5, standard Graphic card, decent price.
Does anybody else get the subtle feeling that Matsu want the Cube to come back? Lets see, this must be attempt number 10e#$% at "I want a Cube" thread.
I don't think Apple appreciates just how popular colors were with the half of our population who don't seem to post much on this board...ie women. I am sure I would have never talked my sister into getting an iMac if it wasn't for the choice of color. What Apple needs to do is design a simple shell for both the iMac and iBook that snaps on and off so people can not only choose a color, but change it when their mood or tastes change. It would be most easy to do with the iBook. Even now it is just 4 small allen screws holding on the shell over the LCD and this is really the only thing that needs to be changed to give it a new look.
While I agree Apple needs to lower the price on the iMacs, I sure hope they don't make it look cheaper in the process.
What Apple needs to do is design a simple shell for both the iMac and iBook that snaps on and off so people can not only choose a color, but change it when their mood or tastes change.
User installable, snap on color panels would look like total ass. It's something Gateway would do.
Well, better hope it has a good cooling system. Certain magnesium alloys have been known to explode if heated high enough.
It was used in the original Bradleys as armor, some independent testing showed that the armor exploded when hit with gunfire. I believe they now either use an alloy that is treated or another alloy altogether. For awhile there was a big stink amonst the Pentagon brass and Congress over the Bradley, this being one of many issues.
Well, better hope it has a good cooling system. Certain magnesium alloys have been known to explode if heated high enough.
It was used in the original Bradleys as armor, some independent testing showed that the armor exploded when hit with gunfire. I believe they now either use an alloy that is treated or another alloy altogether. For awhile there was a big stink amonst the Pentagon brass and Congress over the Bradley, this being one of many issues.
Dunno if it explodes but magnesium alloys have been used for armour for eons. The M113 is built from magnesium alloy panels. At the same time I don't think that even a G5 iMac will get that hot.
BMW, BTW, is by far not the first to build magnesium alloy engines. Alfa Romeo did that in 1950. Google for Alfa Romeo Tipo 158. BMW doesn't innovate, they imitate and that's why they suck, much like Gateway, Dell and Compaq(topic) 8)
A while back someone polished a NeXT cube after stripping it of its paint. The deep lustre is impressive, very nice.
As a one man operation is was fairly intensive, but I imagine it could also be run through a mass production chemical/motorized polishing process.
I don't think anyone will be hitting thei iMac with bullets, though mebbe you don't want to sell one to that Gateway guy who bludgeoned his computer to death.
I don't understand why colours are automatically asociated with kids.
what's wrong with a little bit of colour for an adult ?
huh ? huh ? don't you peeps smoke dope ? :-D
or are you still stuck in the "my friends'll think I'm queer" paranoya ?
I just don't get it, the oul' iBooks 'n' iMacs looked different, howmany laptops you see out there have a metalic look ?
yes, most....
tell you the truth I'm so sick and tired of all that metal tightness that my butt has been reduced to a single buttock !
I can understand why they went with the current g5 case, though I though it was futt bugly at start. They needed a case that would win back the respect the G4 powermacs had lost.
of, course the loss of respect had fugg all to do with the case, cause my two quicksilvers are the prettiest CPUs ever.
in the time of the crt iMac you couldn't turn on the tv w/o seeing one or two sitting in the set of a soap or sitcom. Why? because they were very stylie...... very. I'll tell you another thing, they were cool stylie, not geek-stylie like the latest products....
no-one's gf would be bitching about the money spent when you brought home a cute lil' key lime iBook, cause they instantly fell in love with it.
bring home a current iMac and you'd better not spill the beans on how much you paid for that desklamp!
face it, the new iProducts are no where near as cool and eyecatching as back in the tangerine days! bitch about the specs all you want, it won't matter, they just lack cool.
I would expect a totally different design than what they have now, just because they want to. And while it will likely take some cures from the iPod, don't expect anything too close to it either. Jobs, Ive and Co. love to play and take risks with the hardware design. And just like when this current iMac was first introduced, expect the channels to be flooded with "ugly!" comments until things settle down. Consider that their recent machines including the towrs have all been metal, and that their packaging has gone to black instead of white. Minimalist exteriors are still the rage in Cupertino. Expect the unexpected, as they say.
The problem with colors, and the reason they got so little respect from the PC side is the the different colors represented different power and configuration. My impression is that most people who bought those machines were completely oblivious to he fact that their color choice represented a specific configuration. This is why Mac users were accused of buying machines because of the pretty color. In the case of the iMac/iBook consumer, it was largely true. They were people with plenty of money and no technical sense. This was good for business and bad for PR. The current iMac seems to be aimed at the same crowd. The problem with the iMac is that consumers are a little more savvy these days and are demanding more substance for their ever decreasing budget. The iMac is still saying "Look at me. I'm pretty," when it should now be saying "Look at me. I'm a great value." For colors to work, they cannot be associated with configuration. Also, they must represent a good value. Otherwise, You are once again selling only to the laughably ignorant consumer with deep pockets. And that is a much smaller niche than it once was.
Name one product with color choices where the color is not associated with the model. If you want the fancy finishes, you step up to the deluxe model.
All Apple was doing with the colored Macs was offering computers in the same manner as nearly every other product on the planet, regardless of price range.
The people who were hung up on the colored iMacs were male geeks who considered them a direct challenge to their role as tech gatekeepers. "You don't want a computer maker to sell directly to my sister, because she's just a stupid girl. You sell to me, the hobbyist LAN gamer, and I'll set her up with the system of my choice." What a wonderful arrangement. If the computer is too hard for your sister to buy, set up, and use, then the computer maker failed.
That's actually one big reason why I'm hoping the colors come back (for the record, I loved the tangerine iBook, and the ruby, indigo, and sage iMacs). Apple was taking the revolutionary, radical stance that a computer is just something else that you buy when you need, and it should be available in the sorts of configurations and with the kinds of choices that nearly every other product on Earth makes available. You can get washing machines in different colors!
There are plenty of gatekeepers who will rail at this subversion of their authority, and who will cry out that the machines are not so ugly that they can't possibly have been bought for their looks (in other words, looks absolutely do matter to them, or the existence of a Strawberry iMac wouldn't even register with them!). These people are obstacles to progress. They are the old white-robed priesthood. The people who need computers should be able to buy them. They should have the options available that any other product makes available, including "superficial" personalizations like color. People who want big, ugly, fiddly machines for themselves can be assured that there will never be a shortage of them.
I personally wasn't a fan of the colored iMacs, but that's just me. I think the question for Apple is how far product lines can be extended and be economically feasible or fiscally wise.
I believe Apple, with their current limited line, is trying to appeal to the broadest market(some say niche markets) they can. At some point, this may change, but which will happen first? By that I mean, will Apple extend their product lines first(ie: multicolored iMacs being a possibility, along with my preference of low end towers)in an attempt to boost sales or will Apple wait for sales to increase in order to justify line extensions????
You know guys, there's always THIS possibility: it's quite possible that Apple's lineup is FINE...people just don't know.
Who's fault is that? Where does THAT problem reside?
Apple themselves.
For reasons mentioned earlier by amorph, believed by myself and others and hilariously driven home by murbot, any problem is not with the gear, OS or software itself.
I believe it's the fact that so many people simply still don't know (or care) about anything that doesn't have Windows or Intel inside. Either on purpose or out of ignorance, THAT'S the problem! Go ask 20 people in your life today who aren't Mac users what their next computer will be...would any of them say a Mac? Probably not.
Some of you can talk GHz and bus speed and DDR all you want, but that stuff doesn't mean a damn to 93% of the computer-using public, does it?
No. It doesn't.
They're not selling like they should because Apple does a wretched, piss-poor job at touting their wares to the masses. That's just true.
Yes, prices could always be lower. But all of us don't seem to bothered to pay a premium for a quality product, so why should others if they KNEW what the deal was and what they were getting? They don't know anything about Macs, Apple, the OS, iApps, etc.
All they know lately is that there's this little white square thing that plays music and makes silhouettes dance weird.
After long and careful thinking on the whole subject, I've concluded that Apple needs to return to the colored jellybean design.
THAT'S when iMacs were flying off the shelves!
Bleah! While we're at it, bring back flower power and dalmation because they were also around when iMacs were selling like mad. I think not.
If Apple goes back to tacky colors, I will personally hunt Jonathan Ive down and beat him to death. I'm not joking (ok, I sorta am joking, but I don't want any fruity colors). The current iMac is beautiful. Just give the current iMac a G5, a real GPU and all will be well.
Bleah! While we're at it, bring back flower power and dalmation because they were also around when iMacs were selling like mad. I think not.
If Apple goes back to tacky colors, I will personally hunt Jonathan Ive down and beat him to death. I'm not joking (ok, I sorta am joking, but I don't want any fruity colors). The current iMac is beautiful. Just give the current iMac a G5, a real GPU and all will be well.
there was nothing at all tacky about graphite, sage, ruby and indigo....nothing.
tacky is an ugly off white dome with a metal rod sticking out of it with an attached LCD
Comments
A chrome-plated vs. solid steel arm might further cut costs (is the arm solid steel?).
I too think it will be some new processor from IBM as well and hopefully have a detached display.
PS Give the eMac the ability to get color side panels. Parents were buying the original iMac for their kids like crazy. I remember once waiting at a store and the original iMacs were going like hot cakes.
Originally posted by Matsu
Apple still needs a headless consumer machine, mebbe a cube redux, priced right, single low G5, standard Graphic card, decent price.
Does anybody else get the subtle feeling that Matsu want the Cube to come back? Lets see, this must be attempt number 10e#$% at "I want a Cube" thread.
While I agree Apple needs to lower the price on the iMacs, I sure hope they don't make it look cheaper in the process.
Originally posted by craiger77
What Apple needs to do is design a simple shell for both the iMac and iBook that snaps on and off so people can not only choose a color, but change it when their mood or tastes change.
User installable, snap on color panels would look like total ass. It's something Gateway would do.
It was used in the original Bradleys as armor, some independent testing showed that the armor exploded when hit with gunfire. I believe they now either use an alloy that is treated or another alloy altogether. For awhile there was a big stink amonst the Pentagon brass and Congress over the Bradley, this being one of many issues.
Originally posted by LiquidR
Well, better hope it has a good cooling system. Certain magnesium alloys have been known to explode if heated high enough.
It was used in the original Bradleys as armor, some independent testing showed that the armor exploded when hit with gunfire. I believe they now either use an alloy that is treated or another alloy altogether. For awhile there was a big stink amonst the Pentagon brass and Congress over the Bradley, this being one of many issues.
Dunno if it explodes but magnesium alloys have been used for armour for eons. The M113 is built from magnesium alloy panels. At the same time I don't think that even a G5 iMac will get that hot.
BMW, BTW, is by far not the first to build magnesium alloy engines. Alfa Romeo did that in 1950. Google for Alfa Romeo Tipo 158. BMW doesn't innovate, they imitate
As a one man operation is was fairly intensive, but I imagine it could also be run through a mass production chemical/motorized polishing process.
I don't think anyone will be hitting thei iMac with bullets, though mebbe you don't want to sell one to that Gateway guy who bludgeoned his computer to death.
what's wrong with a little bit of colour for an adult ?
huh ? huh ? don't you peeps smoke dope ? :-D
or are you still stuck in the "my friends'll think I'm queer" paranoya ?
I just don't get it, the oul' iBooks 'n' iMacs looked different, howmany laptops you see out there have a metalic look ?
yes, most....
tell you the truth I'm so sick and tired of all that metal tightness that my butt has been reduced to a single buttock !
I can understand why they went with the current g5 case, though I though it was futt bugly at start. They needed a case that would win back the respect the G4 powermacs had lost.
of, course the loss of respect had fugg all to do with the case, cause my two quicksilvers are the prettiest CPUs ever.
in the time of the crt iMac you couldn't turn on the tv w/o seeing one or two sitting in the set of a soap or sitcom. Why? because they were very stylie...... very. I'll tell you another thing, they were cool stylie, not geek-stylie like the latest products....
no-one's gf would be bitching about the money spent when you brought home a cute lil' key lime iBook, cause they instantly fell in love with it.
bring home a current iMac and you'd better not spill the beans on how much you paid for that desklamp!
face it, the new iProducts are no where near as cool and eyecatching as back in the tangerine days! bitch about the specs all you want, it won't matter, they just lack cool.
trust me.
PS: I loved tangerine, my favorite iMac color.
All Apple was doing with the colored Macs was offering computers in the same manner as nearly every other product on the planet, regardless of price range.
The people who were hung up on the colored iMacs were male geeks who considered them a direct challenge to their role as tech gatekeepers. "You don't want a computer maker to sell directly to my sister, because she's just a stupid girl. You sell to me, the hobbyist LAN gamer, and I'll set her up with the system of my choice." What a wonderful arrangement.
That's actually one big reason why I'm hoping the colors come back (for the record, I loved the tangerine iBook, and the ruby, indigo, and sage iMacs). Apple was taking the revolutionary, radical stance that a computer is just something else that you buy when you need, and it should be available in the sorts of configurations and with the kinds of choices that nearly every other product on Earth makes available. You can get washing machines in different colors!
There are plenty of gatekeepers who will rail at this subversion of their authority, and who will cry out that the machines are not so ugly that they can't possibly have been bought for their looks (in other words, looks absolutely do matter to them, or the existence of a Strawberry iMac wouldn't even register with them!). These people are obstacles to progress. They are the old white-robed priesthood. The people who need computers should be able to buy them. They should have the options available that any other product makes available, including "superficial" personalizations like color. People who want big, ugly, fiddly machines for themselves can be assured that there will never be a shortage of them.
Good post. Others should learn from you.
I believe Apple, with their current limited line, is trying to appeal to the broadest market(some say niche markets) they can. At some point, this may change, but which will happen first? By that I mean, will Apple extend their product lines first(ie: multicolored iMacs being a possibility, along with my preference of low end towers)in an attempt to boost sales or will Apple wait for sales to increase in order to justify line extensions????
Who's fault is that? Where does THAT problem reside?
Apple themselves.
For reasons mentioned earlier by amorph, believed by myself and others and hilariously driven home by murbot, any problem is not with the gear, OS or software itself.
I believe it's the fact that so many people simply still don't know (or care) about anything that doesn't have Windows or Intel inside. Either on purpose or out of ignorance, THAT'S the problem! Go ask 20 people in your life today who aren't Mac users what their next computer will be...would any of them say a Mac? Probably not.
Some of you can talk GHz and bus speed and DDR all you want, but that stuff doesn't mean a damn to 93% of the computer-using public, does it?
No. It doesn't.
They're not selling like they should because Apple does a wretched, piss-poor job at touting their wares to the masses. That's just true.
Yes, prices could always be lower. But all of us don't seem to bothered to pay a premium for a quality product, so why should others if they KNEW what the deal was and what they were getting? They don't know anything about Macs, Apple, the OS, iApps, etc.
All they know lately is that there's this little white square thing that plays music and makes silhouettes dance weird.
That's hardly enough.
Originally posted by pscates
After long and careful thinking on the whole subject, I've concluded that Apple needs to return to the colored jellybean design.
THAT'S when iMacs were flying off the shelves!
Bleah! While we're at it, bring back flower power and dalmation because they were also around when iMacs were selling like mad. I think not.
If Apple goes back to tacky colors, I will personally hunt Jonathan Ive down and beat him to death. I'm not joking (ok, I sorta am joking, but I don't want any fruity colors). The current iMac is beautiful. Just give the current iMac a G5, a real GPU and all will be well.
Originally posted by Yevgeny
Bleah! While we're at it, bring back flower power and dalmation because they were also around when iMacs were selling like mad. I think not.
If Apple goes back to tacky colors, I will personally hunt Jonathan Ive down and beat him to death. I'm not joking (ok, I sorta am joking, but I don't want any fruity colors). The current iMac is beautiful. Just give the current iMac a G5, a real GPU and all will be well.
there was nothing at all tacky about graphite, sage, ruby and indigo....nothing.
tacky is an ugly off white dome with a metal rod sticking out of it with an attached LCD