Sat Nov 17 23:15:05 2001

From it's initial release, the iMac has increased in speed from a 233mhz G3 with a mere 32MB of ram to a 500 - 700mhz G3+ processor with 64-256 ram in base configurations.

Prices have moved from $1299 for the original iMac to $799 for a base 500mhz model today.  In addition, there have been the addition of a few features like sperate VGA ports (mirror) and firewire, but has these pricedrops and additional features and power kept the iMac an appealing product?

I think it is apparent that interest in this machine is waning.  Now it seems that the new Icebook is now the most popular Apple product.

What next?  What is to become of the iFruit?

??????

The answers are going to be next.

Sat Nov 17 23:20:39 2001

A 14.1" LCD monitor (1024x768 perhaps)

A G4 processor

An nForce-style chipset, using the integrated graphics and sound

--Other things--

$1299 price like the original iMac. One model only, and it should be white, like the iBook.

This, I believe, would change the sales picture. Not that I'd buy one.

Sun Nov 18 01:41:33 2001

Sun Nov 18 06:00:01 2001

This will not happen until the G5 powermacs are rolled out. (prolly August pr July)

I don't think there will ever be an LCD model.  It's too expensive.  The ifruit's screen is pretty weak IMO, it's a cheap Goldstar brand tube that has a few issues that are apparent to sensitive eyes;  Image Flutter.

LCD's are expensive.  It'd be hard to integrate one into Apple's baseline configuration.  It may come out with an iMac derivitive so equipped but such a system would probably start in the $1200-$1300 range with an amount of integration similar to the current iFruit, hardly an entry level price, even for Apple.

Apple may introduce a unit with a G4 significantly lower than the PowerMac in Clockspeed.  The iMac will continue to remain pretty much the same, with the 500mhz lowend falling out of production in favor of the 600, and the top-end may creep up to 733 in ensuing months while the prices on the top-end slip to $1100 and the low-end stays at $800.

I don't see what other features there are to add, besides for VGA out that would do more than just mirror.  Maybe a GeForeMX Go upgrade.

Mon Nov 19 13:44:54 2001

it's a cheap Goldstar brand tube

:eek2:

You ain't shittin it's cheap. I thought they went out of business long ago. The first box we had came with a GoldStar CGA monitor. It was p41nful. P41nful indeed.

(Edited by HitScan at 5:45 am on Nov. 19, 2001)

Mon Nov 19 15:35:42 2001

cheap Goldstar brand tube that has a few issues that are apparent to sensitive eyes;

where did you get that information from? Apple's old self branded monitors were all Mitsubishi, hence why i got the Diamond Plus 91 since thats one of the models that Apples uses. (BEAUTIFUL MONITOR BY THE WAY!)

IIRC, Apple gets its LCD technology from Samsung.

So its interesting that the prior monitors and lcd screens are from reputable makers but their iMac monitors are at the other extreme end...

whoa nelly!

Mon Nov 19 17:50:48 2001

No.

Is an overhaul needed?

Of a sort, yes.

Is a G3+ iMac 700 == 933 PIII?

Yes. That isn't a bad machine.

This will not happen until the G5 powermacs are rolled out. (prolly August pr July)

G5's are being released in January/Feb. If you back it up by a couple of months, I think the latest should be March/April.

I don't think there will ever be an LCD model.  It's too expensive.  The ifruit's screen is pretty weak IMO, it's a cheap Goldstar brand tube that has a few issues that are apparent to sensitive eyes;  Image Flutter.

I don't know where you got any of this.

A. iFruit components changed depending on the year and stat.

The iMac A's had Goldstars but my monitor is a Mitsubishi, as what it says on the machine. Even if they were Goldstars, I hardly see the "flutter" you mention.

Flutter would be that crappy Sys monitor I have for my Work wintel or the HORRIBLE Compaq monitor that my coworker has in her office, where you feel like you're in a rocking boat.

LCD's are expensive.  It'd be hard to integrate one into Apple's baseline configuration.  It may come out with an iMac derivitive so equipped but such a system would probably start in the $1200-$1300 range with an amount of integration
similar to the current iFruit, hardly an entry level price, even for Apple.

I agree.

Apple may introduce a unit with a G4 significantly lower than the PowerMac in Clockspeed.  The iMac will continue to remain pretty much the same, with the 500mhz lowend falling out of production in favor of the 600, and the top-end may creep up to 733 in ensuing months while the prices on the top-end slip to $1100 and the low-end stays at $800.

True. Precisely because, although the G3+ are slower than G4+, they possess a higher Clock. As a result, they'll continue to use IBM procs, despite the slower performance, precisely because Intel has been feeding the average idiot that Clock == Everything.

I don't see what other features there are to add, besides for VGA out that would do more than just mirror.  Maybe aGeForeMX Go upgrade.

I don't see hardware as a solution. The Rage is a perfectly good graphics card and most users are laypersons that would benefit from the added power for the ATI over an integrated Intel crap chipset. Even so, I see products that facilitate the iMac's use as a more likely companion than improved hardware specs.

Something like new iMac software like iTunes and iMovie. Space for online site building and items like the iPod are focused around creating a solution that suits iMac's jack of all trades. With a modem port, nic, firewire, and two USB, it's likely that Apple will focus on non-tactile products that will capitalize on the iMac as a home solution over some of the competing OEMs' stripped down approach.

M.

Mon Nov 19 18:49:06 2001

Mon Nov 19 21:06:22 2001

:rolleyes:

M.

Mon Nov 19 21:09:03 2001

G5's are being released in January/Feb. If you back it up by a couple of months, I think the latest should be March/April.

That is just a rumor based on speculation based on the fact that the G5 has recently "Taped" out.  Based on Motorola's history of Bungling processor releases I'd estimate that it will be June in the earliest before you see PowerMacs released equipt with such.

Quote:
I don't think there will ever be an LCD model.  It's too expensive.  The ifruit's screen is pretty weak IMO, it's a cheap Goldstar brand tube that has a few issues that are apparent to sensitive eyes;  Image Flutter.

I don't know where you got any of this.

My eyes are sensitive to such movement (hence my infatuation with high quality displays) you may have perfectly normal vision and not have a problem with it, either that or those Compcrap and Sys monitors are indeed so craptacular that the iMac is a vast improvement :(

A. iFruit components changed depending on the year and stat.

Yes, that's prolly true ;)

I don't think there will be an LCD iMac (at least not merely an LCD thrown in the existing iMac chassis, but rather a similar designed iMacII that's even smaller)

THrowing an LCD in an iMac chassis would look tacky.  The iMac is curved, so is the screen.  Trying to slap an LCD in there will give the screen a recessed look and you'd need to redisign the front screen bezzle to be wider, and more square to accomidate such.

So I think the LCD iMac is going to be a completely differently designed product.

(Edited by AllYorBaseRBelong2Us at 3:24 pm on Nov. 19, 2001)

Mon Nov 19 21:49:35 2001

A new piece I'm doing. It's infantile but I'll post it when I'm done.

In any event, I HATED the hockey puck mouse when I started using it but I have to admit, it is MUCH better for drawing than a normal mouse...though I still need a Wacom.

Mad.

Mon Nov 19 22:12:41 2001

All because the previous person in my position didn't know you could buy any VGA monitor and it would hook up just fine... :rolleyes:

Mon Nov 19 22:13:47 2001

A new piece I'm doing. It's infantile but I'll post it when I'm done.

Mon Nov 19 22:25:17 2001

Honestly, you're the *only* person I've ever heard have a problem with one...

EVER.

M.

(Edited by Madan at 2:26 pm on Nov. 19, 2001)

Mon Nov 19 22:25:46 2001

No, it has nothing to do with Gates.

Unlike most Win users, I'm not obsessed with the "other" platform.

M.

Mon Nov 19 23:15:17 2001

OW and you (Madan) are among the very few exceptions.

Mon Nov 19 23:29:24 2001

;)

Well, I for one, don't want MS to go away.

Reciprocatively speaking, I'm learning ASP(MS), I'm rooting for the XBOX(MS) and I'm curious to see how their new SQL server, coupled with Win 2k2 will stack up to the new canons in Oracle's arsenal.

Then again, I've never been particularly, brutally biased.

Even if Apple does kick total ass.
M.

Mon Nov 19 23:48:59 2001

I don't know whether to be flattered or frightened...

Probably the latter more than the former...

MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA !!!!!

(Edited by Imitation Gruel at 3:50 pm on Nov. 19, 2001)

Tue Nov 20 00:25:13 2001

No, it has nothing to do with Gates.

Unlike most Win users, I'm not obsessed with the "other" platform.

Here, I'll say it again: [size=4]Gates giving head![/size]

Also, I call shenanigans on that "other platform" line. I think nowadays it's safe to say "other platforms."  I mean, I'm a big BSD fan, even though it's of limited use to me until I get the right card back in my box, and I'm sure there's some hippie wierdo who'd bitch at you for not mentioning Linux ;)

Tue Nov 20 03:46:38 2001

Then again i find it extremely fucking funny that the mac zealots have horrible experiences with PCs, and the PC zealots have horrible experiences with Macs.

To this date i have had no bad problems with either platform save for the hardware glitches here and there. So its my belief that the over zealous users just overblow thier problems with the hated platform just because. Then off course there are times when the problem is far more unfortunate such as yours but in these trying times people do forget (and i wouldn't blame them) that its not necessarily a reflection of the company's entire product range.

I could tell stories of Gateway and Dell computers that would make men piss in their panties. I have stories about NEC and TI laptops that would make grown men break down and cry like little girls. I have stories of Macs that would shatter your soul and leave your shell empty.

Even then I have yet maintained a positive outlook on both platforms.

To bad i stand alone in my ability to look at things like a rational human being.

Then again this is why I am the great poopy head.

Muhahahahahahaha!!!

I am brilliant and glorious!!!

ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!!!

:cheesy:

This post was brought to you by the word Ego and Maniacal

Tue Nov 20 12:54:05 2001

It wouldn't bother me so bad, except that the thing cost 500 damn dollars. I would never pay $500 for a 17" monitor, no matter who made it. $300 however... :cheesy:

Other than that and my old Portable finally dieing on me I've had little problem out of Macs. (Setting up the public account with a limited access panel account really helps too, heh.)