It's time for the CRT iMac to die

Posted:
in Current Mac Hardware edited January 2014
Compare it to the new iBooks.



For $200 more, you get:



100 MHz faster processor

Double the L2 cache

Much better graphics (Radeon 7500 vs. Rage 128)

LCD Screen with same resolution

Above all, portability



The CRT iMac is probably the worst deal ever now. To make it worth $799, it would need a 15" Trinitron display, a slot loading CD-RW or Combo drive, a 700-800 MHz 750fx, double the HD size, a 16 MB Radeon varient graphics card (preferably 32 MB), and 128 MB more RAM (which costs, what, $15 these days?). The current one is worth no more than $599, more like $499. Especially when you compare it to the current PC offerings at the same price point, $799 is just a horrible deal.



In the spirit of Apple choosing to bump specs rather than cut prices (I doubt Apple will ever sell a $599 computer in the next couple years), they should just make the CRT iMac an acceptible, low cost alternative to an eMac. Something that makes it a viable alternative to someone who just wants to use a computer for basic stuff. Maybe they'll cut it out of the line when OS 9 goes away in January.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 13
    matsumatsu Posts: 6,558member
    Too bad, Apple is getting slaughtered in education, and those are key sales for all those cliche "mind-share" reasons. While software packages get outdated even before students graduate, habits persist. It's easier to keep users than get switchers. That's true from the youngest ages right through to college level stuff. Plenty of 3-d and video pros are going through school on PC's, they're going to be a tougher sell than the generation where virtually every creative discipline herded students onto macs.



    I know for a fact that many schools are looking to spend no more than 499-599 for a complete computer, including monitor. While this doesn't affect the creative professional faculties, it gives macs presence, you see that they're still a viable option, wares are sold... market-share and all the good things that go along with it...



    Apple should price these things out at 500USD and sell a shed load of them. For that matter they ought to have a 799 eMac by now.



    Serious losses in Education may not show consequence now, but they will in 5-10 years from now.
  • Reply 2 of 13
    lucaluca Posts: 3,833member
    I'm already seeing problems with Apple in education. My university has a lot of computers, both Macs and PCs, but my brother's mid-sized Jr. High School just got rid of their year-old iBooks in favor of Dells. It's one thing when aging computers are replaced with ones from a different platform, but when they ditch their brand new Macs, it says something. Especially when their funding sucks already.



    Of course, that school is having no end to the problems with their new Dells. It does make me have less sympathy for them, but it's still a shame.
  • Reply 3 of 13
    satchmosatchmo Posts: 2,699member
    [quote]Originally posted by Matsu:

    <strong>Too bad, Apple is getting slaughtered in education, and those are key sales for all those cliche "mind-share" reasons. </strong><hr></blockquote>



    With the newly priced iBooks at $999, I would imagine these could be further reduced for volume purchases such as the one in Maine.

    Maybe not quite $500, but say $750 and the portability factor would be so much better for all students concerned.
  • Reply 4 of 13
    matsumatsu Posts: 6,558member
    Whatever ill effects they now show in edu sales will only be magnified as those students graduate.
  • Reply 5 of 13
    matsumatsu Posts: 6,558member
    PS, Satchmo, I was talking CRT desktops, even I don't expect 500USD laptops, yet...
  • Reply 6 of 13
    Maybe Apple will lower them to 200 to 300 bucks for the holiday season.

  • Reply 7 of 13
    rogue27rogue27 Posts: 607member
    They should make the CRT iMacs dirt cheap or get rid of them and make the eMac cheaper.



    Problem here is that I don't think moto sells G4s nearly as cheap as IBM sells G3s, so it's hard to make the eMac as cheap as the iMac. However, if we can see some of those $200 price cuts hit the eMacs soon, maybe there will be hope for them.



    They definitely have to get better price and performance before the next edu buying season, with price being more important for the most part.
  • Reply 8 of 13
    stevesteve Posts: 523member
    [quote]Originally posted by Shanksta:

    <strong>Maybe Apple will lower them to 200 to 300 bucks for the holiday season.

    </strong><hr></blockquote>



    Stocking stuffers!



    Hahaha. Ant farms are so yesteryear. Get five of those little bastards all running SETI@home silently, 24 hours a day, with their monitors sleeping, and you've got yourself your own little alien-discovery server farm! <img src="graemlins/smokin.gif" border="0" alt="[Chilling]" />
  • Reply 9 of 13
    aquaticaquatic Posts: 5,602member
    Yes the CRT iMac definitely isn't worth more than $499 anyway, and that probably still makes money. So why not get rid of them all and get some market share? And the eMac definitely needs a price cut as well, the iBook is now making it look bad.
  • Reply 10 of 13
    matsumatsu Posts: 6,558member
    Moto's G4's are plenty cheap, anything 800 or under is less than 100 dollars. Back when the 1Ghz G4 was king of the heap, 800's were still only 125USD. Gotta be substantiall cheaper now.
  • Reply 11 of 13
    rogue27rogue27 Posts: 607member
    Oh, they've come down a lot then. I remember the 733 chips were over $300 or $400 when they first came out. I also remember the slower IBM G3 chips were around $40 at that time.
  • Reply 12 of 13
    matsumatsu Posts: 6,558member
    The top of the line PPC G4's have always been 300-400, but the rest of the line up drops pretty quickly after that. When the 800 was 125 and the 1Ghz was the fastest CPU, the 1Ghz SOI cost 325. Now that the top of the line is 1.25Ghz with a faster bus to boot, the 800 has surely fallen further (pricewise)



    But Apple isn't using anywhere near the fastest G4's in the eMac and certainly not the CRT iMac.
  • Reply 13 of 13
    The Imac should die and Emacs should rule the world at $700.
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