Chances of iMac price drop, eMac EOL?

satchmo

With the new Mac mini, I see the writing on the wall for the discontinuation of the eMac.

Sure schools may find them sturdy, but these days, you can get used 17" displays for $50. Going with a Mac mini allows you more flexibility should you decide to go LCD at some point. The only drawback is that a Mac Mini is easier to steal.



If the eMac were to bite the dust, could we see a slight lowering of the low end iMac to close the gap? Perhaps a 17" 1.6 G5 model for $1099? I'd love to see it at $999, but I think that's being overly optimistic.

baron von smiley

Why does everybody keep talking about how you can fit a Mac mini into your backpack and for that reason education isn't going to want it? My school had rooms of the original iMacs and everyone of them was chain locked to the table. I don't think that anyone thought we were going to sneak them off in our backpacks, but you never know. So is there some reason then they these same people wouldn't lock down the mini's as well? So the fact that the eMac is so heavy that you'd need to be a professional athlete to run away with one, I don't think that's going to be a very enticing feature to keep it around longer. As much as I love that big, hulking work out computer, I fear that it will be reaching the end of it's life rather soon. The mini beats it in every category, with the possible exception of not having as fast a Superdrive (but most education institutions don't care much if the DVD burner is 4x or 8x). Unless the eMac gets a significant change relatively soon, it's going bye bye. If for not other reason, sales will plumet and there will be no viable reason to keep it around.