titantiger

fastasleep said:

titantiger said:

saarek said:

I had planned on buying one of these iMacs, but I have to say I'm massively underwhelmed. £1649 for the model with 512GB SSD and a paltry 8GB of Ram and last years entry level chip.

Real nasty taste in the mouth with the £200 jump from the base model which they deliberately neutered to try and force people into buying the middle model.

I'm with you.  That $1700 model should have 16GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD in it.  And the entry level one is a joke.  That's the kind of stripped down SKU you'd expect them to sell as an "education version."

Have you ever looked at the lowest end 21.5” iMac before? That’s precisely what it is, along with stores and grandmas and other lightweight users who only need the bare basics and literally do not care about the missing features. It exists to reach the $1299 price point and serve those use cases. If it makes you mad, then you’re not the target audience for that model. 

I simply don’t understand the complaints that the cheapest model isn’t the best. It never has been.

That's not my complaint.  

The current 21.5" Intel iMac has had 8GB of RAM, 256GB SSD, Gigabit Ethernet and comes with 4 USB-A ports and two Thunderbolt ports, plus an SD card reader for $1099.  The new entry level is $200 more, has only two USB/Thunderbolt ports, no ethernet, no SD slot and still 8GB of RAM and 256 SSD.  That's my complaint - not that the entry level isn't the top of the line model, but that the entry level went up in price but down several pretty important areas.  And there isn't even a $1099 model option at all.

mike1 said:

titantiger said:

Put another way, the base Mac Mini is $699.  Pair it with a nice $300 LG 4k display (24") and an Apple keyboard and Mouse and you're only at about $1150.  Same M1 chip, same 8GB of RAM and 256GB SSD.  But more ports, Gigabit Ethernet, and even the ability to swap out the screen as a bonus if you wanted to later.  Add a webcam for $100 and you're still $50 under this crippled iMac's price point.

You clearly aren't the customer for this, so please spend your money elsewhere.

But I am the customer for it.  I've owned three iMacs since 2002.  I'm not asking for something unreasonable, or even something that is in line with what Apple has offered in the past.  The entry level consumer iMac at $1299 has never involved these kinds of petty compromises.  It makes no sense in light of the specs for the Mac Mini for instance.

Put another way, the base Mac Mini is $699.  Pair it with a nice $300 LG 4k display (24") and an Apple keyboard and Mouse and you're only at about $1150.  Same M1 chip, same 8GB of RAM and 256GB SSD.  But more ports, Gigabit Ethernet, and even the ability to swap out the screen as a bonus if you wanted to later.  Add a webcam for $100 and you're still $50 under this crippled iMac's price point.

docno42 said:

titantiger said:

Ok, also, this section highlighted below is some bullshit:
Seriously Apple?  You take away Gigabit Ethernet, only give two Thunderbolt/USB4 ports, and no Touch ID on the keyboard?  These are the sorts of compromises you'd expect on the el cheapo version built for K-12, not for a consumer desktop.

lol - that base model *is* the el cheapo version built for K-12, kiosks and other lightweight use.  Not sure what the issue is for you.  They always have a stripped down low end model and this is now that model.  If it was the only one they announced you might have a point but since there are also other ones if you aren't looking for a basic, no frills model your complaint is nonsensical. 

Far from nonsensical.  The issue is, the $1299 price point didn't used to be the crippled K-12 version.  A version like that was in the $1000 range.  When you got to 1300 bucks it didn't have goofy trade offs like only two USB ports and no ethernet jack.  Hell, even the base Mac mini has a damn ethernet jack, 2 USB ports in addition to the 2 Thunderbolt ones, and even an HDMI.  So it's perfectly reasonable to question the specs for the price on this new iMac.

saarek said:

I had planned on buying one of these iMacs, but I have to say I'm massively underwhelmed. £1649 for the model with 512GB SSD and a paltry 8GB of Ram and last years entry level chip.

Real nasty taste in the mouth with the £200 jump from the base model which they deliberately neutered to try and force people into buying the middle model.

I'm with you.  That $1700 model should have 16GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD in it.  And the entry level one is a joke.  That's the kind of stripped down SKU you'd expect them to sell as an "education version."