LCD iMac rev b, c, and ...
Well, it's been a few days, and the first models aren't quite shipping yet, so basically it's time to start talking about revisions.
I think we'll see at least one rev by mid year. There are always things to work out with a new model, and minor adjustments. I also think we'll see another minor bump at the end of the year.
If anything this iMac is much easier to update than the old one.
Firstly the Drives are fast high-quality units that are quite expensive. I think they'll drop in price anywhere from 100 (CDRW) to 300 (Superdrive) by the end of the year. Even the LCD should drop about 50-100 in cost by year's end. Perhaps the hard drives will drop another 20-50 over the course of the year aswell. Taken together, that's up to $400 extra dollars to play with on the top end.
What do you think we'll see as the first rev???
I think it'll be a 1Ghz/133Mhz bus machine. That's just a jumper setting away, and the current G4 can probably take it. I think Apple is playing it safe here to avoid teething trouble on the new model (a wise move)
Now, if component costs on the top end dropped about 400 dollars by years end, what do you think Apple would do?
Drop the price 300-400 dollars?
Bump the standard HDD and RAM and give only a slight price drop.
Keep charging the same money and pull in an obscene margin?
take the difference in cost and use a (now also cheaper) 17" for a 25th aniversary model!
I think we'll see at least one rev by mid year. There are always things to work out with a new model, and minor adjustments. I also think we'll see another minor bump at the end of the year.
If anything this iMac is much easier to update than the old one.
Firstly the Drives are fast high-quality units that are quite expensive. I think they'll drop in price anywhere from 100 (CDRW) to 300 (Superdrive) by the end of the year. Even the LCD should drop about 50-100 in cost by year's end. Perhaps the hard drives will drop another 20-50 over the course of the year aswell. Taken together, that's up to $400 extra dollars to play with on the top end.
What do you think we'll see as the first rev???
I think it'll be a 1Ghz/133Mhz bus machine. That's just a jumper setting away, and the current G4 can probably take it. I think Apple is playing it safe here to avoid teething trouble on the new model (a wise move)
Now, if component costs on the top end dropped about 400 dollars by years end, what do you think Apple would do?
Drop the price 300-400 dollars?
Bump the standard HDD and RAM and give only a slight price drop.
Keep charging the same money and pull in an obscene margin?
take the difference in cost and use a (now also cheaper) 17" for a 25th aniversary model!
Comments
<strong>Well, it's been a few days, and the first models aren't quite shipping yet, so basically it's time to start talking about revisions.
I think we'll see at least one rev by mid year. There are always things to work out with a new model, and minor adjustments. I also think we'll see another minor bump at the end of the year.
If anything this iMac is much easier to update than the old one.
Firstly the Drives are fast high-quality units that are quite expensive. I think they'll drop in price anywhere from 100 (CDRW) to 300 (Superdrive) by the end of the year. Even the LCD should drop about 50-100 in cost by year's end. Perhaps the hard drives will drop another 20-50 over the course of the year aswell. Taken together, that's up to $400 extra dollars to play with on the top end.
What do you think we'll see as the first rev???
I think it'll be a 1Ghz/133Mhz bus machine. That's just a jumper setting away, and the current G4 can probably take it. I think Apple is playing it safe here to avoid teething trouble on the new model (a wise move)
Now, if component costs on the top end dropped about 400 dollars by years end, what do you think Apple would do?
Drop the price 300-400 dollars?
Bump the standard HDD and RAM and give only a slight price drop.
Keep charging the same money and pull in an obscene margin?
take the difference in cost and use a (now also cheaper) 17" for a 25th aniversary model!</strong><hr></blockquote>
At this point I am just waiting for rev A.!!!
:eek:
I'd also wager that as soon as the Apollo is in mass production they'll get a 20-30% clock rate bump without any increase in heat or power consumption. That's the whole point of SOI, after all. 1+ GHz this year, I'd expect.
After the first wave of early adopters, the price will seem high to the fence sitters, so any savings in components will drop the price.
SdC
Apple might actually be helping the majors to slow the price wars by eating up some of the excess lcd capacity. One of the reasons folks are looking into oled and lep displays is because the economies of scale aren't that great for lcd's
One issue. Will they offer older iMac G4 the option to, upgrade screen????? It is easy to remove screen with right tools. ....
Guess not as it will canabilise orders for bigger screen iMac G4 in future.
But if they do there would a great market for a iMac G4 screen base for normal LCD screen use
I have been looking at the possibility of mounting a 17 inch ASD screen or similar onto the new iMac. There are propritory fixing mounts available so it should be possible.
I have checked out the various weights of the screens and the 17 inch ASD is only 3 pounds heavier than a 15 inch ASD so the 10 pound base of the iMac G4 which supports the 15 inch LCD screen should cope in theory. The base is heavy.
moon
BTW The screws on the bottom are normal phillips type but you can get security type non threaded replacements from Apple ( perhaps supplied ?) I assume for classrooms etc.
It does have a Kensington lock facility also (right side to rear).
[ 01-10-2002: Message edited by: Moonraker ]</p>
Expected changes within the next year (ranked from most probable to least probable).
1. Apollo G4, clocked to about 1.2 GHz, and 133 MHz system bus.
2. Changes in HD size, standard RAM.
3. Modest drops in price across the line.
4. Possibly, changes in the video card chipset. GeForce 3 may become available in the high end model...if Apple begins to concentrate on the gaming market, then an iMac "gamer's edition" isn't out of the question. Of course Apple wouldn't say it's for gamers, they would name it the "graphics pro" version or whatever.
5. Changes in display size. This is a tough one to call. Apple could easily offer different displays with the iMac, and it's tempting to speculate that part of the reason for designing it with the display semi-separate from the base, is that this would facilitate changes in display type and size. Unlike the gumdrop iMacs, which would have required a large investment in design and engineering just to change the display, this new iMac would be good for experimenting with different display configurations in the consumer market. I hope Apple sees it this way.
Initially, it would make sense for Apple to offer a second display size, either a 17" LCD, or perhaps a widescreen 15", or a 16" LCD (are these available?). A big obstacle to imac sales has always been the little thing's monitor size. If Apple could off a 17" G4 imac at a reasonable price, I believe that its sales would stun Jobs. What's a reasonable price? For $1800, I'd rather have a larger LCD than a superdrive, and I know plenty of people who feel the same way. $1800 might be a bit low for a 17" display, but what about a 16" LCD, or a widescreen 15" display?
If Apple adds a second iMac model with a larger display, then based on its success, Apple will probably offer three different iMacs, all with different display sizes. There is certainly enough room for two sizes, three would mean offering it with an 18 or 19 incher...not sure if this would be too heavy for the iMac or not.
Further evidence that Apple may be open to offering different display sizes comes from the changes at MWSF to the iBook. Now Apple has a laptop line with three different display sizes! 12.1, 14.1, and 15" widescreen. Apply this design philosophy to the G4 iMac, and Apple would sell more than they could possibly imagine.
Based on personal observation, and from talking to salesmen at ChumpUSA, the biggest obstacle to iMac sales has ALWAYS been the display size. A 17" LCD iMac has the potential to open the floodgates...Apple would FINALLY have a Mac system with a reasonably sized display for a good price. There's lots of pent-up demand for such a configuration, and I bet Apple would have trouble building enough of them to meet demand.
[ 01-11-2002: Message edited by: Junkyard Dawg ]</p>
While I haven't played with one, I'm guessing that the screen's arm is designed for a specific weight so that only light touches are required to move it around. Hence a heavier load should bring it down to it's lowest position permanently.
I guess you could test this by putting 3 lbs of force down onto the current screen.
Perhaps there's a screw or adjustment thingummy somewhere inside that arm for different weights.
Rev C (MWSF´03, spring or summer 03): Break two barrieres 1Ghz high end and $1000 low end. 133 bus. This is when I buy the low end Superdrive model for $1400.
I'm not sure that a 15" widescreen is such a good idea. It might have more pixels, but it's actually smaller in overall area than a regular 15" screen. Much shorter. It might look a little odd on the iMac. A better widescreen bet would be one of those new LG 17" widescreens. They're the same height as a 15 just wider 1280 x 768 (16:9.6) It's smaller (and probably lighter) than Apple's current 17" ASD but it's bigger than the 15.
Widescreen would be really cool to. If Apple used something simmilar to the TiBook display they would finally break the 1024 px barriar that has kept the imac unusable for "real" work.