The One Paragraph iMac/Mac mini Update Report
September 6th, 2006Apple has confounded the rumor sites once again. While nearly everyone was focusing on the “Showtime” press invitation for a September 12th press meeting, Apple got some other updates out of the way. The iMac line has been updated to feature Intel’s new Core 2 Duo processors, and has been expanded to include a 24-inch version. Starting at $999, there’s a 17-inch model, with a 1.83GHz processor and 512MB of RAM, which sacrifices little but the graphics, which are provided by an Intel GMA 950 integrated chip. All the other models, except for the 24-inch version, feature ATI Radeon X1600 chips and 1GB of RAM. The 24-inch model, with a 2.16GHz processor, lists for $1,999 and also includes an NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT graphics chip and FireWire 800. There are a number of ways to customize the package, including substituting a 2.33GHz processor, and a NVIDIA GeForce 7600 GT graphics chip. The price reductions, expanded performance, and the larger flagship model are likely to make the iMac even more attractive to business users who find the Mac Pro a little bit of overkill. Of course some will still claim that Macs are more expensive than comparably-equipped PCs. And one more thing: Without any fanfare, the Mac mini went Core Duo across the board, with the $599 version getting a 1.66GHz processor, instead of the 1.5GHz Core Solo featured previously. The $799 model is bumped from 1.66GHz to 1.83GHz. So now, with the first round of Intel hardware upgrades out of the way, attention returns towards next week’s announcements, which seem clearly more media related. Then again, there are those expected updates to Apple’s note-books, so stay tuned.
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Cool new products.
“Business” is very generic term. Small business would certainly find iMac attractive. Corporations on the other hand, wont. Although hardware cost is comparable, you still have to buy another license of Windows in order to use boot camp. On top of that, its a corporate no-no to run beta versions of anything, namely boot camp.
Also, users using boot camp for running Windows natively will find it’s a hassle to reboot to switch back and forth. They end up staying in Windows which is what they already use today. A lot of business apps just arent available in Mac OSX. Plus custom developement is harder to come by in the OSX platform.
Expensive? Yes, the flat panels are rediculously expensive, and also adding Airport (used to be $99) is expensive compared to the $19 wireless card I can get easily for our PCs.
Geez, 24″ iMac. Great. However, readers note you’re probably better off with a laptop and getting a separate non-Apple LCD for big screen real estate when you need it, or simply use your existing 42″ flat panel HD TV.
Those gaming benchmarks arent too encouraging. Frame rates are lagging so slow. My XBox goes faster than these.
We get great educational discounts from Dell (these arent listed on their website of course). Apple does have educational discounts but it doesnt compare to what we’re getting. Macs are more expensive for us.
They aren’t designed as gaming machines, of course.
But you can upgrade the 24-inch model to include an NVIDIA GeForce 7600GT, which gets 100fps on Doom 3 and 70fps on Quake 4, but they don’t say at what resolution. That seems decent enough, but a dedicated gaming machine will always have the best bang for the buck.
Peace,
Gene
Have you contacted Apple’s educational people directly to get a price?
And, also, are you comparing Apples versus Apples here, in terms of the features? Dell can ship a stripped box, but Apple has a bottom-line and that’s as far as you can go in terms of the feature set.
Peace,
Gene
When you change from G4 to G5 to Intel processors and force users to pay for software upgrades over and over again (as in quicktime Pro), then it sure looks like it costs more. Our software that ran on original Pentium still runs fine on Pentium4 and dual core and AMD. It just works. All our Mac software required upgrades.
You aren’t forced to buy a new Mac, and you can’t fault Apple for wanting to build faster computers. As to software updates, well, this depends. If you have Classic software (Mac OS 9 and earlier) it won’t run on an Intel-based Mac, but we’re talking of products that or usually six or seven years old now, or even older. As to the G4 and G5, they will mostly “just work” in Classic mode, although you obviously get better performance and more features with the newer version.
Peace,
Gene
Our company abandoned Mac development because the OS kept changing too much which required expenses on our side to keep up with those changes. Plus Apple didnt give us the support we needed. We spend a bunch of money on G5 optimizations only to find now that we’re now on Intel. The support we got from PC vendors was tremendous on getting us up on our feet with .NET developement. Cost isnt everything. There are business standards to adhere to and cost of support.
Thought these upgrades were fair, although the Mac Mini’s price could have dropped a little. But, it seems Apple is selling lots of units at those price points, so who could blame them for keeping the same prices? The Mac Mini is still a superior value, and better yet, so is the iMac.