iMac LCD Impostors

cannonball_D writes "CNet has an article about the first (?) inevitable PC imitation LCD iMac from Gateway. The design is a step in the right direction, but I still think it has all the tell-tale signs of a cheap knock-off. " It really looks like it lacks the elegance of the apple design, but I'm all for the LCD based terminal to be available on x86.

Comments

What's the big deal?

[TrebleJunkie]

Didn't Monorail (or something like that) do this first, about 4-5 years ago, anyhoo?

Not that their machine was any good, and wasn't very successful commercially, but it *was* an LCD-screen PC with all the guttiwuts behind the LCD.

Knock-off??

[Anonymous Coward]

This thing looks nothing like the iMac. Its design goals aren't even the same. Computers and monitors have been melded together for years now, why does the introduction of an LCD make it like the iMac?

Apple was still first

[Anonymous Coward]

The 20th Anniversy mac came out in 96 and was an all in one lcd computer. So gateway was not first.

Thats the profile 3, not the profile 4.

[Milkyman]

THe picture they show is of the profile 3, not the new profile 4.

Picture wrong.

[MindStalker]

The picture on the article is of the profile 3 (which they have been selling for a long time now.) The new profile 4 is going to look like an iMac, but they havn't released any pictures of it yet. And the article has very little details.

Re:Not as sexy.

[b_pretender]

http://www.gateway.com/work/prod/sb_profileb3se-d_ ProdDetail.shtml for a better product description than the article links.

Nothing New from Gateway!

[suwalski]

Gateway actually had a PC with a monitor with a built in PC about 4 years ago (I don't think it was LCD). Anyhow, same time the iMac was coming ou,t or even before.

Take a look at Eurocom. They've had the LP260 All-in-one LCD PC for over a year now. They beat Apple to it, and I think it's a very cool design.

Point is, everyone's 'ripping' everyone elses ideas off in today's industry, to the point that you can't really have an original product without hinting other products.

Re:Not as sexy.

[b_pretender]

I hate to reply to my own comment, but this thing is *ugly*! Not to mention that the 360 degree rotation shows that it has about 5 degrees of available tilt for the LCD panel.

I have to mention how harddrive platters and CD/DVD drives or more efficient and less noisy when mounted horizontally as opposed to slanted as they are in this monstrosity.

The only thing that might save this monster was if it came with a wireless keyboard and mouse (which is doesn't).

I forgot to mention that this runs WindowsXP rather than OS X (that's another thing the Gateway machine has going against it.

C|Net should check their facts

[petard]

As others have noted, first off, the only similarity here appears to be that they both are all-in-ones with an LCD. The gateway doesn't appear to have any of the "bringing content-creation to the masses" focus that apple does. Moreover, though, the article states that

The Poway, Calif.-based PC maker got into the all-in-one business with its original Profile computer in June 1999 on the coattails of the first iMac. Gateway, however, did beat Apple to the punch with the first all-in-one computer to feature a flat panel.

Apple introduced the Twentieth Anniversary Macintosh, which was an all-in-one with an LCD, in May 1997. Oh well... I certainly don't read C|Net for the intelligent reporting. Actually, I'm not sure why I ever click an article that's linked there :-)

You people are missing Japanese products

[kazzuya]

Forget this stuff. Check out the Vaio PCV-W101. It has TV tuner, DVD, 1280x768 LCD, 2 PCMCIA ports, i.Link, USB and what else.
Japan is filled with those products.

Knock off?????

[harlows_monkeys]

How the heck is this a knock off of the LCD iMac? The Profile 3 is an all-in-one LCD machine. The profile 4 is an all-in-one LCD machine with a slimer design. The Profile 3 was out long before the LCD iMac. If the Profile 4 is keeping the Profile 3's physical layout of having all the components housed in the same housing as the LCD, unlike the iMac's housing of everything in a separate base.

Calling this a knock off is just stupid.

20th Anniversary Mac, 5 years later

[maggard]

Actually this looks a lot more like Apple's 20th Anniversary Mac; essentially a laptop opened up with lots of built-in goodies.

Integrated custom Bose sound system with woofer/power suppply, integrated TV & FM radio system, S-Video input, and of course the little leather pads on the keyboard. Oh, and the high tech metal bracket holding it up that reportedly cost over a hundred bucks each to manufacture. Originially sold for around $10,000 then as low as $2,000. Of course for 10k it arrived a limo and was set up for you by a tech in a tux (kid you not!) A review from when it first came out is on MacWorld

Bet Gateway doesn't offer a tech in a cow suit to set theirs up...

Apple was not the first.

[InjuredLabMonkey]

If you're talking about LCD terminals, IBM was really the first with their NetVista series. While it may have been lacking in power, it's simply ignorant to call Apple pioneers in that area.

A friend of mine had one of these...

[singularity]

A friend I lived with for a while had an older Gateway Profile 2 or 3 (where he got it from was unknown).

A few comments, having used it a bit:

1) The LCD quality was not very good. Colors were completely off. Off-axis views were not good at all (worse than most LCDs I have seen)
2) The vertically mounted CD-ROM was a frequent problem. I am not sure if the new Profile 4 is going to have the same problem.
3) Celeron-based. Enough said.
4) The LCD eventually crapped out on it for no reason. It was more expensive to replace than the computer was worth at the time.

I have played with the new iMac in a local Apple store and it seemed like a much better machine.

Re:It's an I-cow

[Lars T.]

Bwahaha.

Have you ever heard of the 20th Anniversary Mac (aka Spartacus)? Here's a nice picture and here's The 20th Anniversary Macintosh Web Site. That machine id from May 1997. Tell me about how Gateway beat them to the punch two years later.

Re:stock prices

[90XDoubleSide]

Price per share is basically meaningless; it just gives you an idea of the ratio of the companies value to the number of shares they have issues. You should look at the market capitalization, which is the sock price times the number of shares:

• Apple Computer, Inc. $8,714,424,780
• Gateway, Inc. $1,966,516,110

The market cap can't really tell you how the company is doing, you need to look at the change in price, as this lovely chart will show. To get an idea of Gateways financial woes beyond the stock price, you could look at recent market news, such a S&P's plans to cut Gateways credit, which was already downgraded to junk a few months a go, even further. See, if you get more meaningful facts, they look even worse ;)