This is perfect for lab situations, or for corporate environments where the most taxing thing thrown at it is Word.
The lack of optical is particularly perfect for tightly networked systems where security is a concern.
Kudos to Apple for providing this.
no, i understand that.
the fact that they are apparently making a different motherboard for it is strange and the fact that it only sheds 100 bucks off the price. kind of doesn't make sense to me.
The lack of optical is particularly perfect for tightly networked systems where security is a concern.
The lack of optical is not the odd bit, the use of a different video card and different drive subsystem is.
The 5200 and 4mx _may_ be pin compatible, but Ive never seen anything that indicates that to be the case.
The consumer version may have the ata/100 bus in place, but unused.
Its strange because with the low numbers of shipments that Apple gets every standardised element improves economies of scale. Using a different video chip increases manufacturing and inventory management complexity. Using different buses for drives does the same. These cost cutting measures must work out cheaper, but it surprises me. Apple must be anticipating excellent sales so that they achieve good economies anyway.
I bet the 4MX and 5200 are similar enough to be interchangable (daughtercard?), and the SATA controller almost assuredly has ATA/100 compatibility as a fall-back. They probably just tossed in an ATA/100 drive but left the same controller.
Maybe the graphics chip IS on a ZIF type card? And I think the use the ATA/133 port of the non existant optical drive for the 40GB drive. I would think they use the same motherboard instead of 3 different ones (17 edu, 17, 20).
why would they need much more of a card then that? i think its a great model for schools. pretty fool proof
and i think mac will sell a ton of these things. most school (especially elementary and middle schools) are big into the macs and have had all sorts of imacs since their debut. i see quite a market for them
Yup, thought it pretty strange myself... Apple is not stupid so either these components are modular or they're saving more money than the price difference would indicate.
why would they need much more of a card then that? i think its a great model for schools. pretty fool proof
and i think mac will sell a ton of these things. most school (especially elementary and middle schools) are big into the macs and have had all sorts of imacs since their debut. i see quite a market for them
you wont find many if any of the iMac G4s in elementary and middle schools. Apple either lost sales or sold eMacs/iBooks instead to most schools. one of the biggest problems/reasons that iMac G4 sales sucked I'd imagine is the bottom falling out on educational sales
The lack of optical is not the odd bit, the use of a different video card and different drive subsystem is.
The 5200 and 4mx _may_ be pin compatible, but Ive never seen anything that indicates that to be the case.
The consumer version may have the ata/100 bus in place, but unused.
Its strange because with the low numbers of shipments that Apple gets every standardised element improves economies of scale. Using a different video chip increases manufacturing and inventory management complexity. Using different buses for drives does the same. These cost cutting measures must work out cheaper, but it surprises me. Apple must be anticipating excellent sales so that they achieve good economies anyway.
the 2MX, 4MX and 5200 are all very similar chips, unfortunately. there was enhancements to the memory subsystem allowing addressing of more memory on wider paths, i believe that is the only difference between the 2MX and 4MX(!). I think the 5200 can do more T&L and is clocked higher than the others. but that nvidia low end chip has not changed drastically in the last 3 years. point being, when your laying them out on a motherboard its probably pretty easy to integrate a 4MX OR 5200 into the same size space
you wont find many if any of the iMac G4s in elementary and middle schools. Apple either lost sales or sold eMacs/iBooks instead to most schools. one of the biggest problems/reasons that iMac G4 sales sucked I'd imagine is the bottom falling out on educational sales
I think that's more of an indication of 'we want the cheapest thing you've got' rather than 'we want CRTs' though, don't you think? *Maybe* they thought the swing arm was too fragile for a lab environment, but I lean more towards the pragmatic and obvious financial reason.
Comments
This is perfect for lab situations, or for corporate environments where the most taxing thing thrown at it is Word.
The lack of optical is particularly perfect for tightly networked systems where security is a concern.
Kudos to Apple for providing this.
Originally posted by Kickaha
Nope, not at all.
This is perfect for lab situations, or for corporate environments where the most taxing thing thrown at it is Word.
The lack of optical is particularly perfect for tightly networked systems where security is a concern.
Kudos to Apple for providing this.
no, i understand that.
the fact that they are apparently making a different motherboard for it is strange and the fact that it only sheds 100 bucks off the price. kind of doesn't make sense to me.
Originally posted by Kickaha
Nope, not at all.
The lack of optical is particularly perfect for tightly networked systems where security is a concern.
The lack of optical is not the odd bit, the use of a different video card and different drive subsystem is.
The 5200 and 4mx _may_ be pin compatible, but Ive never seen anything that indicates that to be the case.
The consumer version may have the ata/100 bus in place, but unused.
Its strange because with the low numbers of shipments that Apple gets every standardised element improves economies of scale. Using a different video chip increases manufacturing and inventory management complexity. Using different buses for drives does the same. These cost cutting measures must work out cheaper, but it surprises me. Apple must be anticipating excellent sales so that they achieve good economies anyway.
Where do you see the Education-model iMac? I only see the 17" 1.6, 17" 1.8, 20" 1.8
and i think mac will sell a ton of these things. most school (especially elementary and middle schools) are big into the macs and have had all sorts of imacs since their debut. i see quite a market for them
I think that the real price will be lower than that, otherwise I will be skeptical about the future sucess of this model.
Originally posted by earthtoandy
why would they need much more of a card then that? i think its a great model for schools. pretty fool proof
and i think mac will sell a ton of these things. most school (especially elementary and middle schools) are big into the macs and have had all sorts of imacs since their debut. i see quite a market for them
you wont find many if any of the iMac G4s in elementary and middle schools. Apple either lost sales or sold eMacs/iBooks instead to most schools. one of the biggest problems/reasons that iMac G4 sales sucked I'd imagine is the bottom falling out on educational sales
Originally posted by mmmpie
The lack of optical is not the odd bit, the use of a different video card and different drive subsystem is.
The 5200 and 4mx _may_ be pin compatible, but Ive never seen anything that indicates that to be the case.
The consumer version may have the ata/100 bus in place, but unused.
Its strange because with the low numbers of shipments that Apple gets every standardised element improves economies of scale. Using a different video chip increases manufacturing and inventory management complexity. Using different buses for drives does the same. These cost cutting measures must work out cheaper, but it surprises me. Apple must be anticipating excellent sales so that they achieve good economies anyway.
the 2MX, 4MX and 5200 are all very similar chips, unfortunately. there was enhancements to the memory subsystem allowing addressing of more memory on wider paths, i believe that is the only difference between the 2MX and 4MX(!). I think the 5200 can do more T&L and is clocked higher than the others. but that nvidia low end chip has not changed drastically in the last 3 years. point being, when your laying them out on a motherboard its probably pretty easy to integrate a 4MX OR 5200 into the same size space
Originally posted by mmmpie
The consumer version may have the ata/100 bus in place, but unused.
The ATA100 is there and not unused. The optical drive uses it.
Originally posted by zeroel
The ATA100 is there and not unused. The optical drive uses it.
Bingo !
Originally posted by applenut
you wont find many if any of the iMac G4s in elementary and middle schools. Apple either lost sales or sold eMacs/iBooks instead to most schools. one of the biggest problems/reasons that iMac G4 sales sucked I'd imagine is the bottom falling out on educational sales
I think that's more of an indication of 'we want the cheapest thing you've got' rather than 'we want CRTs' though, don't you think? *Maybe* they thought the swing arm was too fragile for a lab environment, but I lean more towards the pragmatic and obvious financial reason.