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Flat-panel iMacs in Apple's Future?
WinkyN writes: "A story on Yahoo! is claiming Apple might release a flat-panel iMac for release in early 2002. Analysts for Morgan Stanley who cover Apple say the computer manufacturer has placed orders for component parts to build such a machine (in fact, build about 100,000 of them a month). Perhaps Steve Jobs will announce this at Macworld Expo in January?"
The trouble with LCD iMacs is the education market. Schools don't buy iMacs just because they are cheaper than iBooks, they buy them because they are more durable.
The abuse that a computer takes in a school setting is enough to make me cringe.
Still, I like the idea of having a LCD iMac. It would be cool for me, I'm just not sure that it will work in the education market. (Yeah, I know. Maine just bought 38,600 iBooks. Still, most schools buy iMacs.)
That which does not kill me only makes me whinier
Why does someone have to do this everytime there's an article on Macs?
I just configured a low-end Dell Dimension at their website. The main option they left out that I had to add was Ethernet:
Dell Dimension 4300S: $873
1.4 GHz Pentium 4
128 MB RAM
20 GB HD
15" monitor
16 MB ATI Rage graphics card
CD-ROM drive
10/100 Ethernet + Modem
Free Lexmark printer
iMac w/128 MB RAM: $849
500 MHz G3
128 MB RAM
20 GB HD
15" monitor (integrated)
CD-ROM Drive
16 MB Rage 128 Ultra
10/100 Ethernet + Modem
Firewire
So it seems to me that for the same price as an iMac you can get a Dell with a faster processor, that's it. The iMac has a better graphics card plus FireWire, the Dell comes with a bundled printer. The 1.4 GHz P4 is hardly twice as fast. Considering the 1 GHz P3 beats the 1.4 GHz P4 on most benchmarks, and the 500 MHz G3 is nearly as fast as the 1 GHz P3, they're not all that far different.
Sure, you can go down to your local cheap computer dealer and get more bang for your buck, but then you'll probably end up with cheap components that won't run Linux, may crash under Windows more often, and you won't get any support from the manufacturer. People pay a premium for Dell for the same reason they pay the premium for Apple.
You may not like Apple, but there's just no truth to the price/performance argument. The iMac costs a little bit more for the same stuff, that's it. A little, not a lot. For a lot of people, the MacOS makes it worth it.