Mephisdogoles

^ That’s a reply to the earlier post by “Titantiger”.

titantiger said:
It just feels like when you drop $1300 on a desktop computer, it shouldn't almost require you to go out and buy a Thunderbolt hub.  The two extra ports wouldn't have killed them to keep on the base model.  It comes off as chintzy, which is odd given that Apple is a premium brand.

Apple might be a premium brand, but since when does that extol any special virtue? A good example of this is Porsche: they, too, have a number of offerings in the premium market segment, but if their customers want the full-fat experience, then they have to be prepared to pay (*really* pay) for the upgrades. Far from being cheap, this is a deliberate marketing and pricing strategy to differentiate the products on offer across the range, and it is this that helps both companies to retain the allure and resale value of their brand (as is their prerogative).

And they are right to do so. If you can afford to buy their product in the first place, don’t be such a skinflint when it comes to the upgrade. It’s £200 (or an approx. 16 per cent price increase between the base and mid-level models) –– and included in that price, in addition to the 2.00 x TB3 ports –– is Gigabit ethernet and an extra GPU core. Where you see a cheapening of the base product, I see a budget-conscious sales proposition versus a good value-for-money upgrade path for those who need more than what the base unit offers. [Hint: most consumers only want the extras.]

Let me put it this way, a Key Account Manager should have no problem whatsoever selling the base model by the lorryload, especially to educational institutions (such as schools and universities, public libraries, and the like); for students buying privately, too, the base model is more than sufficient for most needs given the possibility of daisy-chaining Thunderbolt when and/or if needed. Besides which, most students are likely to be wireless these days, anyway. In other words, this is a very good option for most of them, even if it might not be the right option for the typical user profile on fora such as this one.

I have just finished reading this entire thread and I think a good deal of the self-described “pros” on here have once again missed the forest for the trees. You might not agree with the design language, but this isn’t designed for you nor are they with your specific use cases in mind; I can see this dash of colour being very popular, and whilst you mightn’t like the pastel palette or the bezel or the chin or the foot or the PSU or anything much at all about it, many consumers will do.

Amidst the sea of boredom in the average retail showroom that isn’t an Apple Store, these will be absolutely eye-catching, and are powerful enough and competitively priced enough to make for an extremely tempting proposition. Personally, I’m trying to decide whether the blue, the purple, or the green shall fit best with the décor in my home office. I’m a freelance teacher and writer, so like the other 90 per cent of the market, these iMacs are more than powerful enough for my computing needs.

So what if it’s got a Jay Leno chin? What I see is a useful area for all the mountain of post-it notes I know I’ll write to go, and the lack of a logo on the front simply gives me more real estate for that purpose. Likewise, it’ll help me keep the display fingerprint free, which is what bothers me, if or when I need to adjust the viewing angle — and the white bezel might just prove to be better to work with all-day long than a black one (or none at all), especially as a way to reduce eye strain, so until you’ve had to use it what’s the point in complaining?

I know you pros like to be all superior in how “pro” you are, but just be patient because something is likely to be in the pipeline that’s better suited to the professional market, anyway. And, besides, I can’t actually think of too many occasions in the post-Scully era where Apple didn’t use colour (or else some other element from its design language) to differentiate between its consumer and professional offerings — the blueberry G3 PowerMac being the only exception to the rule that immediately springs to mind.

Anyway, due to Covid, 2019-2021 has been a wee horrid mess (with perhaps even longer to go yet). A little colour to bring some of the joy back into life might be just the ticket — or have you all become too jaded and cynical to be able to appreciate it?

Ta. Even looking at the finished product, I’m not sure that it inspires confidence, tbh. I like Leica, but far from being “point-and-click” simplicity, I think with that one I would read the manual in its entirety.

This looks to me a lot like minimalism for minimalism’s sake, which is hardly in keeping with the Bauhaus aesthetic upon which much of modernist design is supposedly based. I mean, the form is supposed to follow the function, but this just looks like it is less a camera for the working professional and more an objet d’art that is only of interest for a collector. If so, then it isn’t really a Leica. (Perhaps that was the only reason for the design in the first place?) That said, this is only a prototype, so let’s be somewhat charitable about that. I would, however, be curious about how functional the finished product actually is?