Posted on 12/28/2004 11:09:37 PM PST by HAL9000
December 28, 2004 - With iPod-savvy Windows users clearly in its sights, Apple is expected to announce a bare bones, G4-based iMac without a display at Mac Expo on January 11 that will retail for $499, highly reliable sources have confirmed to Think Secret.The new Mac, code-named Q88, will be part of the iMac family and is expected to sport a PowerPC G4 processor at a speed around 1.25GHz. The new Mac is said to be incredibly small and will be housed in a flat enclosure with a height similar to the 1.73 inches of Apple's Xserve. Its size benefits will include the ability to stand the Mac on its side or put it below a display or monitor.
Along with lowering costs by forgoing a display (Apple's entry-level eMac sells for $799 with a built-in 17-inch CRT display), the so-called "headless" iMac will allow Apple's target audience -- Windows users looking for a cheap, second PC -- to keep their current peripherals or decide on their own what to pair with the system, be it a high-priced LCD display or an inexpensive display. Sources except the device to feature both DVI and VGA connectivity, although whether this will be provided through dual ports or through a single DVI port with a VGA adapter remains to be seen.
The new Mac is expected to have a Combo drive only, but possibly an upgrade path to a SuperDrive at a higher price. It is unclear how big the hard drive capacity will be, although sources indicate it will be between 40GB and 80GB.
Other expected features of the iMac include: * 256MB of RAM * USB 2.0 * FireWire 400 * 10/100 BASE-T Ethernet * 56K V.92 modem * AirPort Extreme support
In terms of software, Apple will include a special iLife suite (minus iDVD) as well as AppleWorks, sources believe.
The new Mac is expected to be introduced by Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs at his keynote address on Tuesday, January 11, but is not expected to be available until later in the first quarter. Sources indicate "issues" have arisen in production of the new Mac, but that Apple never planned on shipping the new device immediately upon introduction. The plan is to air freight the new model from its manufacturing plants in Asia for at least the first three months of shipments, sources report.
The announcement of the new, inexpensive Mac will be a dream come true for Mac aficionados who have begged and pleaded for years to see just such a PC. Until now, the company has downplayed speculation that it would get into the low-end PC market. "In terms of our pricing, I feel very good about where each of our product lines are priced," Peter Oppenheimer, Apple's CFO, said in October. "To date, we have chosen not to compete in the sub-$800 desktop market and have put that R&D investment in expanding our products in the music area, in software, and in hardware."
So what has changed to motivate Apple in producing a low-cost Mac? In a word, iPod.
"Think of your traditional iPod owner," said a source. "This new product will be for a Windows user who has experienced the iPod, the ease of use of the iTunes software, and has played around with a Mac at an Apple retail store just long enough to know he'd buy one if it were a little cheaper."
Apple executives announced on October 13 that 45% to 50% of its retail stores customers bought a Mac as their first PC or were new to the platform in the fiscal fourth-quarter. The company has refused to divulge more exacting figures on iPod buyers who also buy a Mac, for competitive reasons.
According to sources, internal Apple surveys of its retail store customers and those buying iPod's showed a large number of PC users would be willing to buy a Mac if it were cheap enough, less of a virus carrier (which all Macs already are), and offered easier to use software solutions not available on Windows-based PCs. Now, Apple feels they have the answer.
Apple has been working on the low-end Mac for almost a year, sources report. Indications are Apple has been working mostly on finding the right mix of price, performance and features that would motivate Windows users to consider a Mac, and less on the actual engineering of the product. "It doesn't take a rocket scientist to design a bare-bones PC," said one source familiar with the project. "What it takes is a team of marketing and software experts to find the right mix to convince Windows users to buy a Mac at a price that is not much more than the cost of an iPod."
Sources familiar with the product cautioned that the low-end Mac will be marketed towards a totally different audience than those who traditionally buy even a $799 eMac. "This product is not going to be about performance," said a source close to Apple. "This is going to be the basics, but with just as much of a focus on software as any Mac could ever be."
You can connect to your existing PC monitor or buy a second one if you want to. This Mac is intended as a second household computer. It might be find for the kids' room or the family bedroom.
Sure, but its not a $499 computer. If they lowered the price by $100 but did not include a mouse or keyboard (of course, you can use old ones) a hard disk drive (you can use an old one) or the little fan that keeps it cool inside (you can always stick your own fan in there) would you say that they are selling a $399 computer?
ThinkSecret is an extremely credible source. I'm sure it took a lot to convince Steve Jobs to do this, but if they say it, he's doing it.
Eno_, I have a PowerBook G4 400mhz which was kinda slow on OSX 10.1 but it really flies with Panther. Apple's OSX people have done a fantastic job.
Freepy, unfortunately, no. Many software vendors, including Adobe, give crossgrade prices - you can buy the Mac upgrade for your PC version of Photoshop for the upgrade price. Microsoft offers the Office Student and Teacher edition for $150. So switching is pricey, but not unreasonably so.
People who compare Macs with PCs based on cold hard cash are deceiving themselves. The cost of virtually guaranteed virus, worm or spyware outbreaks can be many times the cost of your computer in lost time and aggravation. And unlike Linux, the Mac allows you to use software you're familiar with instead of going into the brave new world of free software that may be free, but that really wasn't designed well for consumers.
Speed isn't an issue. A 1.25ghz G4 is plenty fast enough for what people actually do with their computers.
Heck, my ancient PowerBook G4 with a 400mhz processor is fast enough at anything involving word processing, spreadsheets, email or the web -- and that's all most consumers need.
Although just for the record, a G4 Mac is typically about double the speed of a Pentium IV with the same clock speed. So a 1.25ghz G4 would be about as fast as a 2ghz Pentium IV. That was a pretty fast computer only a year or so ago.
D
Thanks for commenting on the obvious. I thought I was alone in wondering who in the world would want a computer without a monitor. It's kind of like buying a television without a screen -- although you can always buy it seperately.
Asking these Mac enthusiasts to question anything about a Mac would be like asking a Jim Jones follower to ask whats in the Kool Aid.
It most certainly is not, and I highly doubt you can find reputable benchmarks to support such a claim.
Wowzo, thanks for the ping. I probably will just upgrade these soon to be a faint memory models I have around here, some of them at least, but if this comes out, the only way Apple will sell a lot of them is to HAVE THEM AVAILABLE IN THE CHANNEL. That may happen; in recent years Apple has had a long-needed focus on fewer product lines, rather than the 20 models a year it used to crank out then abandon.
On the Nightly Business Report (PBS; I used to watch it without fail, hadn't seen it in ages) the year-end retrospective of course included Apple, showing an almost 3-fold increase in stock price, attributing it to the tremendous success of the iPod.
This new CPU would make a great upgrade for a Wintel owner who doesn't want to toss the monitor, or give up the ability to access the old files (or worries about personal info on the old hard drive). Obviously it would also make a nice going-to-college box.
Yep. I got my 2.0 GHz eMachines pretty darn cheap ($750). 512 MB RAM, 160 GB hard drive, and it can play CDs, DVDs, and all of that stuff (watched "Godzilla, Mothra, and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack" last night on it - the BEST Godzilla flick I have seen).
"hours on the phone complaining to the Dell dude in India"
LOL!
A difficult stock.
If it's any consolation, Jobs himself has been known to sell at or near the bottom.
The Athlon XP didn't even exist four years ago, being barely three years old. Aside from that, clock-for-clock, a G4 is a bit faster than an Athlon XP and a lot faster than a Pentium. The problem with the G4 is that now Pentiums and Athlon XPs have over double the clock speed, and the G4's better efficiency can't overcome that.
But speed isn't the point in this market. This will be competing in the slow Celeron and Sempron market, so should have comparable performance.
I always buy computers without monitors. I have a good monitor, why would I spend money for another one?
"Not included: hard drive, CD-ROM drive, modem, floppy disk drive, operating system"
Let's see... where is Microsoft HQed again, I forget...
Apple, Google gains in 2004 like Microsoft of ol'
Tuesday, December 28, 2004 @ 8:20am
http://www.macnn.com/news/27413
Paul Andrews of The Seattle Times says that Apple and Google are among the hottest companies of 2004, while longtime Goliath Microsoft is "enduring the humiliation of cross-examination by disenchanted shareholders. The answer has to do with innovation. Apple's iPod and Google's ads have proved themselves by being smarter, better designed and more useful than anything the competition can produce. The simplicity of the iPod and its ease of use have made it the one must-have device this year. Among my circle of friends, half a dozen iPods found their way under the Christmas tree. ... But investors rewarded Apple and Google because both are building success the way Microsoft once did — via platforms. How far they can extend their platforms, and whether Microsoft can hop aboard and seize the pilot's wheel, are the big questions of 2005.
I'd feel much more comfortable if iPod shoppers had a competing Sony product, because that company always reacts, and too late, and tries to pass itself off as the technological leader...
Sony gears up for major offensive against Apple's iPod, iTunes service
The Asahi Shimbun
http://www.asahi.com/english/business/TKY200412290124.html
Shamed but not yet defeated, Sony Corp. says it can no longer sit back and watch as Apple Computer Inc. gives it an ignominious beating in the markets for portable digital audio players and online music download services. To that end, Sony has established Connect Company, a division exclusively tasked with developing products and services to rival Apple and its immensely popular iPod players and iTunes Music Store service. (IHT/Asahi: December 29,2004)
There you go again!!! Eloquently stating the obvious.
Don't be too sure. This is a bare bones system. Wally World is selling a 2.4 gHz WinTel system from HP that includes OS, an Office Suit (Not Microsoft), modem, nic, kb, mouse, speakers and a 15" LCD flat panel for $469!
The Mac world is all over this as a great deal, but the real world will just see a system that still needs hundreds of dollars yet to make it useful.
Not knocking Mac's, they make good systems and have many advantages, but a good price still isn't one of them.
So you could have a second complete computer (for wife, kids, work, etc.) unless you want to lug your monitor from place to place.
This reminds me of those "net only" computers that Ellison came up with. Since they were not complete systems, Oracle sold them at bargain prices -- finally giving them away to schools.
I think the 2:1 ratio is about right. The PowerPC is more efficient - it gets about as much work done in one clock cycle as a Pentium does in two cycles.
There are a couple of other factors to consider -
Modern Macs have Quartz Extreme, which greatly improves video performance. Windows won't have a similar hardware acceleration architecture until Longhorn is released, at the earliest.
Some Mac software uses the G4/G5 vector processing units which will easily outperform Pentium software running at much higher speeds.
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