Slashdot Mirror
17-inch flat-Panel iMac Dead
EnlightenmentFan writes "Apple plans to stop production in June of the iMac with flat-panel 17-inch display, according to this article at Asian tech-news site Digitimes. As with the now-history 15" flat-panel iMac, sales started strong but stalled once the early-adopter crowd had bought in. Probably-not-unrelated story (also posted today): Chungwha Picture Tubes is boosting the price of its 17-inch LCD monitor panels."
I have had limited exposure to Apple machines in the past, and I have to say I do like them.
But this is not the first time that Apple have had an unsuccessful product on their hands - the iCube went the same way. I mean, to me it was an excellent product, but I think it was just too expensive.
Apple are quite a big company, but they are not THAT big - perhaps they should learn from this and the iCube, and plan a little more carefully before they launch certain products? It must have cost them a lot of money in R&D and the parts for these things?
"Hey! Unless this is a nude love-in, get the hell off my property!!"
How could they? I thought they'd finally invented the perfect personal computer, and that the 17-inch LCD iMac would never be discontinued. I guess I thought wrong. :(
Karma: Good (despite my invention of the Karma: sig)
perhaps we should wait until MacWorld Expo to set straight the rumors, and see if perhap a new/great product will be introduced in its place, or if this will infact happen at all.
Apple normally doesn't throw out this kind of information, and if so, they do it quietly.
But if the information is true, it's really not an indication that the iMac is disappearing, but being revised. The iMac is still a very popular computer and is not a failure in any instance. The 15" systems were discontinued only because the 17" systems arrived.
Count on the new iMac with the same 17" display, but with improved processor speed, and optimized for Jaguar.
Vos teneo officium eram periculosus ut vos recipero is.
APPLE STILL SELLS 15 INCH monitor imacs. THere is no way they have a 7 month inventory backlog on 15" panels, so the article cannot be correct about then being discontinued in june. On the other hand it is true that apple stopped selling 15" monitors. It's conceivable they might discontinue 17" monitors in lieu of just using 3rd party monitors. if their profit margin was slim this would be a shrewd move to drive down the price of the macs, while still retaining their premium 22" monitor offering.
Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
MacOS Rumors recently noted that certain stores were unable to order more CRT-based iMacs and eMacs. This is what Apple does when they are about to update a model. And now this?
Maybe Apple is finally taking everyone's advice, and realizing that consumers would far rather have a small, integrated box, like the Cube, that can interface with VGA and DVI as well as ADC monitors, and that is price-competitive with the cheapest x86 boxes. The revival of something like the Cube, but sans monitor and starting at $600, would actually get price-conscious consumers to consider getting a Mac instead.
The last two stories are:
17-inch flat-Panel iMac Dead
MicroBSD 0.6RC2 Released
shouldn't that be:
MicroBSD is Dead (or dying) and
17-inch flat-Panel Released (We've seen dupes, and late posts so why not)
just when you though you got things figured...
The 15" iMac is alive and well. Tis only the 15" standalone LCD display that has been discontinued.
If this story is at all true, it simply means that 17" iMacs are impinging on the sales of G4 towers, and the iMac will remain 15" only for the time being.
They are just too dang expensive.
Drop the price, like a THOUSAND dollars, and I'll bet they move like hotcakes.
Sources: 17-inch flat-panel iMac to stop production in June
David Tzeng, Taipei; Chinmei Sung, DigiTimes.com [Thursday 2 January 2003]
The 17-inch flat-panel iMac will terminate production in June, following the same fate as the 15-inch flat-panel model, which stopped production last October, said local PC makers familiar with the matter.
It is estimated that about 500,000 to 600,000 flat-panel iMacs were sold in 2002 following their introduction last January. The once highflying desktop computer, which created a buzz with its desk lamp-like look, is expected to sell another 300,000 to 400,000 units between now and June.
The flat-panel iMac, which debuted last January, became a smash hit shortly after being introduced. Sales peaked in March, with local manufacturers working round the clock, fulfilling shipments of over 10,000 units a day.
Sales of the 15-inch flat-panel iMacs practically stalled in June 2002 after selling more than 300,000 units between February and May, resulting in an early production termination in October.
"First you gotta do the truffle shuffle."
Hon Hai replaces LG as sole supplier of Apple's iMac/eMac PCs - report
TAIPEI (AFX-ASIA) - Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd (2317.TW) has replaced LG Electronics Co as the sole supplier of Apple Computer Inc's iMac/eMac desktop PCs, with 2003 shipments estimated at up to 1.0 mln units, the Economic Daily News reported without citing a source. While Chunghwa Picture Tubes Ltd (2475.TW) will provide 17-inch monitors for the eMac machines, AU Optronics Corp (2409.TW) has been certified as a TFT-LCD panel supplier to Apple Computer, it said.
No electrons were harmed creating this post, though some may have been subjected to electrical and/or magnetic fields.
Both 19" and 22" iMacs have been rumored. It's MacWorld time.
It's not the end of the iMac. Apple will be in business next month. They will still be selling one button mice. They will still be annoying Wintel gearheads.
So far as I can figure, there are two types of people who bought this thing. The first group is predictible and, as such, irrelevant: Mac die-hards who would buy the latest-and-greatest regardless.
Then, there's the people living in this posh little urban apartments who bought it because it'd look cool on their Britanny Computer Desk from Crate & Barrel. These people are a good market, because they have too much money and they use it to buy things to make them seem hip. This may be a slightly down time for these people, but they're still around and you can bet your bottom dollar they'll be back in force the second the economy upticks.
For a little while, it really looked as if that was the new key market for these iMacs -- the designer crowd. But the problem with selling to the designer crowd is that if you don't have something *different* every six months or so, you've destroyed the whole point of the attraction. Once grandmas in the Midwest start getting these things on their desk, it's time to move on.
Well, this thing's overstayed it's time, and there's still no heir apparent. C'mon, Jobs -- you decided on the target market. Start selling.
Every year during my review, I just pray the words "slashdot.org" aren't mentioned.
If this is true, it probably means the PowerPC 970 is going to be ready to ship in Macs for MWNY.
My God, it's Full of Source!
OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
The recent rumors were that apple would intro a 19" iMac this January. But with LCD prices for this size range not dropping and possibly increasing, that rumor is fading. Additionally, a 19" 'head' on the same iMac base would not be aesthetically pleasing (it would look funny). The only way that Apple is dropping all 17" iMacs and moving to all 19" is with great pricing on the new screens and a form factor change. Don't forget that it is always possible that Apple is working on a new enclosure (mood Mac story)that might use a different 17" LCD.
.....of getting things wrong.
Actually the last quarter financials did not imply the LCD iMacs were quite so dead in the water. Most of Apple's $$$ recently has been from 10.2, and it is the G4 towers that have really not been selling as well as they should be. Everything else was steady. The reason Apple's profits were not as nice as some people would want (even in this market) was due to a lot of cash going to opening stores and in the buying a few software companies out.
It's possible Apple is switching to another plant. At one point Apple invested a lot of $$$$ in some LCD manufacturing plant, though i forget which one. That was why they did better in the LCD shortages than some other manufacturers. They traditionally have invested in some of the plants that produce their parts, and that seems to give them a bit of leverage when parts get tight and i guess helps them when they have their demands of secret products and quick production changes.
Somebody else would know better, but is the main Apple LCD supplying plant, or were they using it to get the initial supplies up to match initial demand? They have done that in the past too.
MacWorld Keynote is next week, i assume *something* will change there and maybe in the few weeks following. Last year the G4 towers were bumped to 1GHz in a no-press website update about 3 weeks after MacWorld SF.
It seems to me Slashdot got trolled bigtime on this one. I don't see Apple discontinuing either of the flat-panel iMacs, especially since everyone seems to like them.
Now stopping production to update the product line? With MacWorld coming up, that doesn't seem to be much of a stretch. Or maybe they're just moving production to a company that doesn't broadcast all of Apple's future moves to the entire world.
I haven't seen anything online suggesting that 15" production will stop altogether, so be wary of those who predict that every iMac will be a 17" model as of next week.
Apple, like most computer manufacturers, will EOL (end-of-line) a product depending on when they release a new model, as well as how many existing models they need to clear out of their stock. Apple could well have just stopped production on the current-generation iMacs because they're about to be replaced, and did so in October because they knew that interest in the initial models was fading fast after almost a year.
Mind you, would I (and others) like it if there were nothing but 17" models at about the same prices? Heck yeah.
Well if the article is right, then Apple will be releasing new models at MWSF right? This in itself is a bit of a scoop, you wouldn't expect them to have an all new iMac since the this model has only been out for a year or so and the point in which sales dropped off would not have given them enough time to design an all new iMac (esp considering how long it took for them to come up with the latest one). I assume then that they are simply retiring the current line and coming out with different screen sizes with tweeks in configuration.
;)
Either that, or they have strengthened the arm enough to stick a 19" crt on it
If these rumors are true, I'm betting they're discontinuing the line just so they can bring out a series of colored iMacs. The current white line is very polarizing - you either love it or you hate it. I can see Apple announcing a line of non-white machines, most likely black, magenta, and navy, before then, maybe during Mac World New York. The line's just too successful to think otherwise.
Marxism is the opiate of dumbasses
I give a shit, because Apple makes some cool shit.
Even if I never buy anything, I like looking at the latest whiz-bang wild-ass thing Apple's done, because even when they miss, it's at least because they're trying something new. The G4 Cube was such a beast... it missed the mark completely, but it was a cool lookin' box. Better than beige, better than bling! art.
It's like going out and test-driving cars when you don't even want a new car -- you do it just to see what's out there, and because it's fun.
If you need an explanation for this sort of thing on the other hand, why are you here?
But who wants an iMac when you can get a Dual G4 with one of those really pretty cinema displays
People without $6,000 to throw down, you idiot.
I make around $20,000 a year and I needed a new computer. I took out a loan and bought a midrange flatpanel iMac and I love it. I would've LOVED a 23" cinema display, but guess what? I couldn't afford one even with years of saving. I thought about spending the extra cash and get a tower but the form-factor of the iMac is so unassuming and the screen so wonderfully designed I can't believe I even thought about a tower. I also know myself and know that I'd much rather buy a new computer in 4 years than keep upgrading the tower. Ok, realistically if they had a cheaper 17"er I would've bought it, but I got my iMac for $1,350. Throw a 10 GB iPod in there and it's STILL cheaper than the cheapest tower/monitor combo, even with an education discount on the pre-windtunnel models.
So in short: you're either a troll or spoiled, and either way you need a serious dose of reality. Apparently you don't realise how hard money is to come by these days.
Triv
It's too bad that your friend didn't have a problem with static discharge - because he could have had it repaired for free.
Take a look at AppleCare Document 88195. If you call either of the numbers at the bottom of the article, tell them about your problem, persist, and - and this is the most important part - quote the document above, they will get a supervisor on the phone with you, and that supervisor will take down your information, have a FedEx box sent to you, pick it up (with your display inside), and ship it back within weeks - fixed.
For free.
This happened to me, and I put off researching about the problem until it was happening every couple of seconds. There would be a popping sound, accompanied by a dimming of the screen and an odd zoom effect that would slowly morph back into a useable screen. At first it happened infrequently. Toward the end it had really screwed up some of the monitor's geometry, especially when manipulating large patches of white space on the screen.
If you're questioning whether or not Apple would really fix something like this for free (and even pay for shipping it), check out The MacFixit Forums and search for "pop-dim-zoom" for the last year or so.
Oh, and my studio display is an old one - it's bright bondi blue, from the days when G3s and first-gen iMacs reigned supreme.
concrete5: a cms made for marketing, but strong enough for geeks.
I seem to recall a foreign site months ago saying that Apple was discontinuing 15" iMacs, but what really happened was 15" LCD displays went away.
Maybe a similar translation error is occuring here?
But who wants an iMac when you can get a Dual G4 with one of those really pretty cinema displays.
And who wants a Honda Civic when you can get an Aston Martin V12 Vanquish? I mean, there's absolutely no reason for people to go with the Honda...
I am an Apple Reseller. This is all wrong. As others have pointed out the 15" LCD iMac is absolutly still being made. I have proof that both the 15" and 17" are being produced.
Apple serial numbers include the week the product was produced. I got a delivery this very morning of both 15" and 17" made in the first week of december 2002.
blackfly
Go to the Apple Store at Apple.com.
Click on the iMac.
Notice that not only is the 17" iMac for sale, but so is the "defunct" 15" model.
Just another tribute to the Slashdot school of journalism.
While Mac OS X is breathtaking, and the aesthetic design of the cases is both stylish and functional, the processor technology lags far behind the x86 market, and the equipment is quite simply overpriced.
What is more, much of Mac OS X is written outside of Apple (BSD, Mach, gcc, et al). In theory, Apple's OS development costs should be somewhat below Microsoft. There are more than a few cases where Apple's OS tools are substandard, also.
I suggest that Apple release a $350 450MHz G3 with USB and a standard VGA connector. It could double as a gaming machine. Please bundle StarOffice, and it is also time to ditch IE (I hate popups).
Apple also ought to investigate the embedded market with OS X, especially since Linux has made great strides in this area. A Tivo running a stripped down OS X with Apple branding would have an enormous impact on Apple's visibility.
The only 17inch studio display that could make static popping was the long discontinued 17 inch CRT. This has been gone for two years.
The 17in studio display is and has been an LCD, and LCDs don't make static popping noises.
And, this article isn't about the 17in studio display, it's about 17in LCD iMacs.
So, the mod who rated your post was as mis-informed as you are.
that's funny, I bought FOUR in the last 9 months.. a TiBook and G4 dual for home, a G4 for work, and a 17" iMac for my GF for xMas.
I'm going ot go out on a limb and say two things:
1. You have never USED a Mac running OS X (and you probably wouldn't know what to do with a shell, Apache, MySQL, a good GUI, etc anyway)
2. You have never actually built a box (or even better, bought one from Dell, Gateway, etc.) that was FEATURE EXACT and *then* made your "overpriced" out-your-ass comments. Given you cna't compare processor speeds per say (assume 1.5x to 2x speed of G4 == speed of Intel) go ahead. Make sure you include OS, basic productivity SW and so on.
God I hate moronic zealots (both PeeCee *and* Mac) it's fine to dislike somehing based on KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE... but fukcing-a 99% of the people who say "Macs suck, they are overpriced and blah blah blah" have never priced or USED one!!!!
OK, my rant for 2003 is done.
Department of Homeland Security: Removing the rights real patriots fought and died for since 2001
Most Mac-rumor sites seem to think that Apple is going to drop the 15inch iMac in favor of the 17inch. I highly doubt Apple is going to stop selling both the 15in and 17in iMac. The LCD iMac does not seem to be another "cube" for Apple... this product has sold a -lot- better.
Slashdot needs to leave stuff like this up to macrumors.com, macosrumors.com, or thinksecret.com
"Things are more moderner than before- bigger, and yet smaller- it's computers-- San Dimas High School football RULES!"
A few things:
You have a $200 walmart pc that will still have shaky support for a wide variety of devices. There will definately not be any of this plug and play nonsense.
Consumers will continue to buy macs just as they do BMWs or Mercedes - because they're willing to pay more money for something better. Apple will never nose out the Wintel duopoly, but it will always (hopefully) have a following of loyal users. I should know, I bought my second Tibook this year. My old one I sold to my friend to replace his iBook.
I've had, literally, dozens of x86 servers at home and have over the past 10 years. So, it's not that I don't know what cheap is. True, lets go down and buy the newest fastest video card or lets get some cheap drives and upgrade to raid. However tho, now I just want something portable that works.
The DVD playback on a Tibook has no equal. AND, since I can make movies and DVDs on my Tibook, the Fujitsu equivalent - the Celcius - (which is the only x86 laptop company I'd ever consider buying from after constant crap from Dell, Compaq, HP), doesn't even have DVD burning. But it does have 1/2 the ram costs $600 more. Laptops vs. desktops are different; true. But Apple designs machines, not commodities. Wintel is all about commodities. And there you have it.
for pete's sake, is it that hard to understand?
Apple was using LG Electronics and they have ceased production. Hon Hai Precision Industry is now making the eMacs and iMacs.
Your claim that a 800Mhz Cyrix is going to "run circles" around a 800Mhz G4 is beyond absurd. Benchmarks from half a dozen sites have clearly shown that the 800Mhz cyrix can't compete with 500-600Mhz celeron's. Those processors in turn are MURDERED by even equivalent speed G4's.
So the iBook wasn't for you. That's OK. Take a prozac. But if you can't figure out that for some users, macs are a great choice, you're doing them a great disservice in recommending something else.
For some computer users (i.e. the mass majority of computer owning consumers), its not the act of hacking away at their boxes that they derive satisfaction from, but the finished product they get from it that interests them. They don't admin networks or write cgi scripts, they make greeting cards and mix CD's for friends. Apple makes great consumer applications, and a lot of people buy them and have a good time. You shouldn't have giant bleeding ulcer's over it.
I appologize on behalf of Apple Computers that they had the gaul to release products that don't appeal to you. I might as well extend that to every other company on the planet who's goods or services you don't patronize.
This is where I get my recommended daily allowance of "Foot in Mouth."
For $1000 I can get a $200 Walmart PC that will run circles around an imac performance wise, and a nice 17" Viewsonic monitor. The current rate for a 17" imac is $1999. Does anyone else see the problem for Apple here?
e e-software-hassles wave. The problem is, none of those waves has done anything to create a solid customer base
Yeah I see a few problems:
1) You're paying $1,000 for a $200 computer. Would you also like to buy a bridge? I have one in Brooklyn you'd love.
2) While you might like a CRT monitor, I don't have shitloads of space on my desk, and since I don't need highend color matching, an LCD monitor is much better suited to my needs.
3) Did that $200 POS come with firewire? A decent graphics card? Good software packages (iDVD, iTunes, iMovie)? What about gigabit ethernet and auto sensing (both of which are useful to me)? Did that POS even come with a decent processor?
Apple's problem is that consumers have grown up.
Right, because a true sign of having grown up is getting into pissing contests with other people as to who has the fastest processor, or the most ram and not realizing the people have different needs and sometimes don't have the desire to spend hours tinkering with compentents or the need to crunch numbers into oblivion.
Windows is just as easy to use and more reliable (I have had fewer Win2K crashes since 1999 than I have with OS X since 2001.)
Ok, you're definately not using a well configured mac, or possibly you fucked arround with the kernel? Or maybe you're intentionaly trying to crash your computer? The last time I saw OS X crash unintentionaly was when it was in beta. If seen prgrams themselves fail, but nothing that brought down the system. The last time I saw Win2k crash was when I upgraded the video card drivers, which proceeded to lead to a mess of problems and ended up in the install of XP which needs a reboot every week when my router rolls over the IPs.
People know that Apple's 700MHz CPUs are slow compared to the 2+ GHz X86 CPUs, and that Apple is charging twice as much for RAM and old Nvidia/ATI cards than X86 vendors.
Anyone who buys the RAM or Video card update directly from Apple is a moron, just like anyone who did the same from compaq or Dell would be a moron. You can buy macs on the cheap if you know how to shop, the same goes for PCs. But actualy try and price out equvilent computers from vendors and the prices are very close.
Buying my ibook was the worst computer-related decision I have ever made, and after seeing how an Apple system performs for the cost, I will never do it again, nor would I encourage anyone else to.
I am truly curious to know what made buying an iBook the worst computer related purchase you've ever made.
Apple has been riding on waves lately; the Jobs-is-back wave, the visual-aesthetics-are-nice wave, and is now trying to stay on top of the Linux-geeks-really-want-to-watch-a-DVD-with-no-fr
Right a loyal base of devoted customers with brandname loyalty, a wilingness to forgive mistakes and reward sucesses, fans willing to suport your product, vouch for it, sell it and contribute to it. People who will walk into stores like CompUSA and help people with information on macs when the incompitent employees falter. Definately not a solid customer base. In a time when vendors are merging and laying off employees to stay alive, Apple is right where it's always been, but that's not a solid customer base.
Apple is falling back into its old habit of hyping gimmicks to the undying cult of Mac Geeks, who cannot keep that company alive.
Apple: Proudly going out of business for more than 20 years.
T Money
World Domination with a plastic spoon since 1984
People in the industry read /. and they trust it to accurately reflect its claims. You guys act like news editors (it says "news" in your logo!) yet you do not abide by the same rules as other news organisations are held to. Accountability? Whatever...
Stories like this can only harm companies like Apple. When ondustry people see it and say "Slashdot says..." others take it as truth. It would appear that Slashdot editors are starting to suffer from the same syndrome much of its readership does; not reading and checking facts and accepting the blurb as containing the facts. This is exactly how this came to my attention. Someone in the industry wrote to inform me that the 17" iMacs were dead (and were therefore not a viable investment).
I've come to expect this sort of thing from Timothy, but I was shocked that Hemos posted this one. I think you owe it to your readers, the industry and Apple to correct this story, if not pull it altogether.
This is bullshit. Own up.
- I am made of meat.