The eMac does not make the iMac look like a bad deal. To get a combo drive eMac with 256 mb RAM and the stand you are looking at $1372. The Combo-drive iMac has the same processor and an LCD screen and is $1599. Sounds about right to me.
If you really want an eMac all you need is to know is a university student or a teacher who doesn't plan to buy a mac this year. I remember a guy standing in my university bookstore with $500 cash in hand getting a student to buy him some academic priced software. Might make it tough for warranty work but if you really want one.
PS - The Faster powerbook is discounted almost $200 in the education store. Sweet, I may just pick one up before I graduate and start work at the end of the month.
I can't even count the number incompetant morons I've worked with who thought they were clever because they had an MBA. MBA means precisely squat, my friend. They're a dime-a-dozen. Anyone with a little motiviation and a little money can get one.
I'll take a liberal arts person with common sense and innate leadership skills anyday over some self-righteous jagoff with three degrees and an attitude to match. The key is to discern whether the person is more fixated on having a corner office with a view and golf privileges, or on making his/her mark as the person that helped to produce "the next big thing."
I don't care who's in the executive sweet at Apple, so long as they help the company to produce high-quality, unique products. The verdict is out on the eMac. Has its virtues but I'm thinking the customers that wanted this were already customers. That is, it isn't likely to win over schools using PCs in my estimation.
<strong>NO MBA's at all? And that's supposed to be a bad thing, right?
I can't even count the number incompetant morons I've worked with who thought they were clever because they had an MBA. MBA means precisely squat, my friend. They're a dime-a-dozen. Anyone with a little motiviation and a little money can get one.</strong><hr></blockquote>
True, but Apple does have Millard Drexler from the Gap, and look what a great job he's doing over there.
I think the eMac is a very wise business decision. School administrators (not exactly the most adventurous bunch of people to begin with) have to justify these purchases. It's a lot easier for them to do so with a Mac that is specifically built for their market- that is somethiing a school board can get behind. Board members in their heart of hearts might want an iMac for themselves, but they would rather go for a more "practical" computer. So Apple takes some of the old 17" CRT displays and mates them to the new guts with some "fire-retardant polycarbonate plastic, the same material used to manufacture bulletproof glass. So you can be sure that the eMac is strong enough for student use" It makes a low cost Mac that is easier to get into the classrooms, and it get them while they're young.
To clarify, since 'missing the point' seems to be all the rage oday:
I'm am NOT saying the eMac is a bad product. In fact, I think it is great (except for the relatively low refresh rate at 1280x960). BECAUSE of my belief in the strength of the product, I am left to wonder why Apple won't release it to the general market, where I suspect it would drive the final nail in Gateway's coffin, and give all 'PC or Mac' fencesitters a SERIOUS reason to consider the Mac. Pricewise, experience-wise, and designwise, the eMac would be KILLER on the open market.
But Apple chooses instead to limit it to a smaller market, depriving itself of a chance to add users to the user base.
THERE IS NO worthwhile sub-$1000 product in Apple's general market plan, and that is where the sales and growth are.
So, while Apple gains a strong footing in edu with a great product, they shoot themselves in the foot in the general market. Penny wise, pound foolish.
Yeah, but what will the poor consumer do, who can't afford a $1399 iMac G4 and isn't even allowed to buy an eMac? Come fall, after the school buying season, I think we'll see Apple change its mind on that one.</strong><hr></blockquote>
What did they do when the first iMac came out, at $1299?
Most of the iMacs that Apple sells to consumers have apparently landed in the $1299-$1599 range, even when there were far cheaper models available. That's why Apple keeps hitting that price point.
The ultra-cheap iMacs are basically sold to schools, and hardly anyone else.
<strong>BECAUSE of my belief in the strength of the [eMac], I am left to wonder why Apple won't release it to the general market, where I suspect it would drive the final nail in Gateway's coffin, and give all 'PC or Mac' fencesitters a SERIOUS reason to consider the Mac. Pricewise, experience-wise, and designwise, the eMac would be KILLER on the open market.</strong><hr></blockquote>
Enh? It's a little cheaper than the iMac, less ergonomic (gotta love that movable LCD), incredibly heavy, and it doesn't look new or interesting at all. It's not ugly, but it's not the iMac either.
[quote]<strong>But Apple chooses instead to limit it to a smaller market, depriving itself of a chance to add users to the user base.</strong><hr></blockquote>
And saving its profit margins, which would go straight to hell if this sold generally (and did well). The eMac is a workhorse aimed at a market where price is a make-or-break issue and the need for a comfortable profit is offset by the quantities Apple anticipates selling it in (thousands per sale, not infrequently) and the fact that it will frequently be sold in a package with lots of software, services and support, which all carry very high profit margins (even at steep discounts).
[quote]<strong>THERE IS NO worthwhile sub-$1000 product in Apple's general market plan, and that is where the sales and growth are.</strong><hr></blockquote>
No. That's where the PC market is going, because the boxmakers (except, perhaps, for Sony) can't distinguish themselves by any other metric. But Apple's sub-$1K machines have generally been poor sellers - except to the education market. Consumers are price-conscious, but they also crave features. And they just got done confounding analysts by purchasing items in Apple's price bracket right through this past recession, as if nothing was wrong.
[quote]<strong>So, while Apple gains a strong footing in edu with a great product, they shoot themselves in the foot in the general market.</strong><hr></blockquote>
Evidence that they are shooting themselves in the foot in the general market is.... that they can't make iMacs fast enough, and they have to air freight them over? It's not like the iMac needs help.
[quote] The eMac does not make the iMac look like a bad deal. To get a combo drive eMac with 256 mb RAM and the stand you are looking at $1372. The Combo-drive iMac has a faster processor and an LCD screen and is $1599. Sounds about right to me. <hr></blockquote> You also have to remember that you're comparing educational prices to consumer prices. The educational price at my school (for the G4 iMac) is at the original $1499, compared to the eMac w/256MB RAM at $1372. The processor is the same speed, and most of the innards are the same, so that's $127 for the LCD-on-a-stick. Not bad at all.
<edit> clarified which models were what price
Comments
If you really want an eMac all you need is to know is a university student or a teacher who doesn't plan to buy a mac this year. I remember a guy standing in my university bookstore with $500 cash in hand getting a student to buy him some academic priced software. Might make it tough for warranty work but if you really want one.
PS - The Faster powerbook is discounted almost $200 in the education store. Sweet, I may just pick one up before I graduate and start work at the end of the month.
[ 05-01-2002: Message edited by: gafferino ]</p>
<img src="graemlins/bugeye.gif" border="0" alt="[Skeptical]" />
I can't even count the number incompetant morons I've worked with who thought they were clever because they had an MBA. MBA means precisely squat, my friend. They're a dime-a-dozen. Anyone with a little motiviation and a little money can get one.
I'll take a liberal arts person with common sense and innate leadership skills anyday over some self-righteous jagoff with three degrees and an attitude to match. The key is to discern whether the person is more fixated on having a corner office with a view and golf privileges, or on making his/her mark as the person that helped to produce "the next big thing."
I don't care who's in the executive sweet at Apple, so long as they help the company to produce high-quality, unique products. The verdict is out on the eMac. Has its virtues but I'm thinking the customers that wanted this were already customers. That is, it isn't likely to win over schools using PCs in my estimation.
[ 05-01-2002: Message edited by: Moogs ]</p>
<strong>NO MBA's at all? And that's supposed to be a bad thing, right?
I can't even count the number incompetant morons I've worked with who thought they were clever because they had an MBA. MBA means precisely squat, my friend. They're a dime-a-dozen. Anyone with a little motiviation and a little money can get one.</strong><hr></blockquote>
True, but Apple does have Millard Drexler from the Gap, and look what a great job he's doing over there.
I'm am NOT saying the eMac is a bad product. In fact, I think it is great (except for the relatively low refresh rate at 1280x960). BECAUSE of my belief in the strength of the product, I am left to wonder why Apple won't release it to the general market, where I suspect it would drive the final nail in Gateway's coffin, and give all 'PC or Mac' fencesitters a SERIOUS reason to consider the Mac. Pricewise, experience-wise, and designwise, the eMac would be KILLER on the open market.
But Apple chooses instead to limit it to a smaller market, depriving itself of a chance to add users to the user base.
THERE IS NO worthwhile sub-$1000 product in Apple's general market plan, and that is where the sales and growth are.
So, while Apple gains a strong footing in edu with a great product, they shoot themselves in the foot in the general market. Penny wise, pound foolish.
TING5
<strong>
Yeah, but what will the poor consumer do, who can't afford a $1399 iMac G4 and isn't even allowed to buy an eMac? Come fall, after the school buying season, I think we'll see Apple change its mind on that one.</strong><hr></blockquote>
What did they do when the first iMac came out, at $1299?
Most of the iMacs that Apple sells to consumers have apparently landed in the $1299-$1599 range, even when there were far cheaper models available. That's why Apple keeps hitting that price point.
The ultra-cheap iMacs are basically sold to schools, and hardly anyone else.
<strong>BECAUSE of my belief in the strength of the [eMac], I am left to wonder why Apple won't release it to the general market, where I suspect it would drive the final nail in Gateway's coffin, and give all 'PC or Mac' fencesitters a SERIOUS reason to consider the Mac. Pricewise, experience-wise, and designwise, the eMac would be KILLER on the open market.</strong><hr></blockquote>
Enh? It's a little cheaper than the iMac, less ergonomic (gotta love that movable LCD), incredibly heavy, and it doesn't look new or interesting at all. It's not ugly, but it's not the iMac either.
[quote]<strong>But Apple chooses instead to limit it to a smaller market, depriving itself of a chance to add users to the user base.</strong><hr></blockquote>
And saving its profit margins, which would go straight to hell if this sold generally (and did well). The eMac is a workhorse aimed at a market where price is a make-or-break issue and the need for a comfortable profit is offset by the quantities Apple anticipates selling it in (thousands per sale, not infrequently) and the fact that it will frequently be sold in a package with lots of software, services and support, which all carry very high profit margins (even at steep discounts).
[quote]<strong>THERE IS NO worthwhile sub-$1000 product in Apple's general market plan, and that is where the sales and growth are.</strong><hr></blockquote>
No. That's where the PC market is going, because the boxmakers (except, perhaps, for Sony) can't distinguish themselves by any other metric. But Apple's sub-$1K machines have generally been poor sellers - except to the education market. Consumers are price-conscious, but they also crave features. And they just got done confounding analysts by purchasing items in Apple's price bracket right through this past recession, as if nothing was wrong.
[quote]<strong>So, while Apple gains a strong footing in edu with a great product, they shoot themselves in the foot in the general market.</strong><hr></blockquote>
Evidence that they are shooting themselves in the foot in the general market is.... that they can't make iMacs fast enough, and they have to air freight them over? It's not like the iMac needs help.
<edit> clarified which models were what price
[ 05-01-2002: Message edited by: bauman ]</p>