Question to apple:
I love Mac stuff. I own an iPod now and I'm looking at buying a new computer (desktop).
What I want to know is why does apple not produce a low end machine, without a bloody monitor intergrated into it!
The eMac would be fine but I would have to hook it up to a TFT monitor which would make little/no sense.
Seriously apple, you could take a hell of a lot of people like me (people who just want a basic machine for email, web, IM etc and have a PC/Console for gaming and 'higher end' stuff) by simply making a cheap ($500?) box and letting people buy their own keyboard and mouse, monitor and speakers.
Just to make this clear: I am not trying to flame here. This is an honest question.
What I want to know is why does apple not produce a low end machine, without a bloody monitor intergrated into it!
The eMac would be fine but I would have to hook it up to a TFT monitor which would make little/no sense.
Seriously apple, you could take a hell of a lot of people like me (people who just want a basic machine for email, web, IM etc and have a PC/Console for gaming and 'higher end' stuff) by simply making a cheap ($500?) box and letting people buy their own keyboard and mouse, monitor and speakers.
Just to make this clear: I am not trying to flame here. This is an honest question.
Comments
used even cheaper than that
Those are more than enough to do basic email, web, OS X, whatever.
I am on a 3 year old iMac DVSE 500 mhz, and it still works great, running OS 10.2.8 with 256 RAM, it's fine, sure it chugs every once in a while when I do more than just music and internet.
but it is still a damn good computer, it's value today? ~$300 at best
www.smalldog.com
www.powermax.com
are two resellers that specialize in refurbished and used gear respectively
As far as apple making a budget box...I don't think it will happen, not yet at least, I mean a 40 gig iPod is $500
But, if you want a mac, but don't want to hurt your wallet, there are many great deals out there refurbished eMacs and iBooks, used iMacs..etc.
A general trend with a lot of apple products is that they retain a pretty good value, and are still usable years after purchase. This is especially the case with my computer, when I installed OS X it was like a whole new computer, I'm eagerly looking forward to panther which I hear will do that again.
I'd love to hack off the stem and LCD and plop an ADC jack in there and power a couple of 20" cinema displays
Yeah, an iBoob or iDome or iR2D2 or whatever a monitor-less iMac would be called would be intriguing. I know it'd just be another Cube at that point, but...
Personally I like integration. Heck I want a cinema display built into the side of a G5. Mmmm, square aspect ratio screens...
Edit: You said you love Mac stuff, you won't love it if they build a cheapo $500 PeeCeeish box.
Originally posted by johnq
I wonder if anyone has hardware hacked an LCD iMac?
I'd love to hack off the stem and LCD and plop an ADC jack in there and power a couple of 20" cinema displays
You'd be more worried about the power supply than the video card. The iMac's power supply fits in that little dome by providing as much power as the machine asks of it, and no more.
Now, if you plopped in a DVI jack and used external power for the monitors, you'd have a chance of getting somewhere.
350-466 MHz PowerMac G4s
500-966 MHz PowerMac G4s
Maybe Apple doesn't provide exactly the machine you want, but it's not expensive to get a used machine and either use it stock or custom-modify it to the specifications you want.
No one is talking a cheap/lousy PC box. There's no reason why a headless low-end Mac couldn't be decent quality. I know the Cube was somewhat of a disaster (although it was mostly blown out of proportion and bad timing).
It doesn't take anything away from the other products to have some sort of headless iMac (dome) ala the cube. Would help cinema displays I would think.
Ideally I'd like a 12/14/17 inch iBook/Powerbook without the LCD. Just the lower half. Connect it to any of the cinema displays. Kind of a glorified brainy keyboard more than a portable. But maybe with a pluggable LCD for portability. Of course I'm not talking cheap here. I'm talking dream system.
Imagine the entire line, from iBooks, Powerbooks and iMacs, with removable displays and option to plug into multiple displays. I know it's not feasible with he current lineup. Oh well...
Has any PC company tried that yet, to any avail?
Dreaming, I know.
Originally posted by Amorph
Now, if you plopped in a DVI jack and used external power for the monitors, you'd have a chance of getting somewhere.
Exactly! That's what I've been saying for the last few years. I'd really like to know what percentage of iMac/eMac owners have actually used video mirroring?
Just give us a decent video spanning in the consumer models and the most of the demand for a headless Mac will disapper.
Originally posted by satchmo
Exactly! That's what I've been saying for the last few years. I'd really like to know what percentage of iMac/eMac owners have actually used video mirroring?
Just give us a decent video spanning in the consumer models and the most of the demand for a headless Mac will disapper.
not really.
with the G5 out now, a nice fast G4 or even dual G4 tower for 1299 should not be a problem. they actually have one now but it needs to be brought up to date a bit more
me thinks really what you're looking for is a cube....
at a decent price.
good luck finding one
Originally posted by johnq
Ideally I'd like a 12/14/17 inch iBook/Powerbook without the LCD. Just the lower half. Connect it to any of the cinema displays. Kind of a glorified brainy keyboard more than a portable. But maybe with a pluggable LCD for portability. Of course I'm not talking cheap here. I'm talking dream system.
Maybe one could even attach the display in such a way that you could work on the road?
Dude, sounds like you should buy yourself a nice Powerbook and an external Display
a 17" CRT monitor costs about $100... So that means that a cheap box-only solution would cost about $799-$100=$699.
Would you pay $699 for a low end mac minus monitor?
Apple does the eMac here for £649, which means that it should be ok to do a lowend-ish machine for £500 if you get rid of that hideous CRT. It could be a 'trojan horse' for future, higher end Mac purchases. Apple is willing to do that with iTunes and iPod, so why not the bloody mac itself?
I hate intergrated machines... it makes it next to impossible to add another HDD etc - I don't want that.
PC's are not all low quality. Sure, they don't look as great as a Mac but they are so much cheaper it's unbelivable. Take the current £649 eMac for example:
800MHz PowerPC G4, 128MB SDRAM, 40GB Ultra ATA drive, CD-ROM drive, ATI Radeon 7500, 32MB DDR video memory, 56K internal modem.
I could build a PC with specs like that for what... £250? £300 max. Add a 17" CRT for £70-£100 and you are undercutting Apple by £200-£250. Add Fedora Linux (free) and you do have good machine usually. Sure, it won't look like a Mac but is that looks worth £250? That's what I'm asking myself and many other 'possible mac switchers' will be too.
Originally posted by FormatC2
It is interesting how Apple started out in computer hobby clubs, selling a totally stripped down system. And when I say stripped down, I mean motherboard only.
Yes, but a "Mac" the Apple I was not.
Jef Raskin didn't even want the first Mac to be ABLE to be opened up (sound familiar, iMac DV owners?) because "regular people" needn't be bothered with the insides.
There's no profit in boxes anyway, but esspecially at low price points.
Do not hold your breath waiting for Apple to make Macs that have no profit in them.
edited to try to get "quote" to show up right