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Apple Revises eMac
RadRafe writes "Today Apple revised the eMac. It now sports a 1.25 GHz G4 processor, DDR RAM, and Radeon 9200 graphics. The Combo Drive model has twice as much RAM as before, and the SuperDrive model now costs just a grand. This is the first consumer Mac update in five months."
At a grand with a Superdrive, seems like a nice little system for me to use when at home rather than setting up my Powerbook G4 when I get home...any comments on how usable it is? I'd definitely bump the RAM up from 256mbytes ;-)
-psy
...because asking people about Emacs isn't confusing enough already.
This sig is only here so people stop skipping the last lines of my posts.
For under $800 this Mac is a bargain for potential "switchers". It is a Jaguar system for those who don't want to invest in a $2,000+ G5 setup to give the Mac a try.
When I wanted to try out OS X, I did so with a $1800 Powerbook Ti G4 at 400Mhz, 256k RAM, 20GB HD, and a CD/DVD reader. I found that system well equiped to flex the power of then OS 10.1. Panther and Jaguar are both responsive on my 400Mhz PB and I can only imagine that on the $800 eMac, especially if the 256k is upgraded, it would be a great low cost Mac.
This eMac system is well equiped for experimenting with iMovie, iPhoto, iTunesMusicStore, and GarageBand - all which come with it. For just $200 more you get a DVD burning SuperDrive and twice the drive space.
But like I say, for $800, this is a great system for those who don't want to make the investment in a G5 inorder to give OS X a try.
I only came here to do two things; kick some ass, and drink some beer...looks like we're almost out of beer.
This website has a test that relates to your question: Apple vs. Mac Benchmark (Barefeats.com)
Although it doesn't show a direct comparison of the systems you mentioned, you'll notice that the P4 3.0 GHz just barely loses to a G4 1.42 (MP!) system in most of the tests and beats a G5 at 1.8 MHz in about half the tests.
This speaks well of Apple for processor cycle efficiency, but I would wager that a Pentium 3.2 would outperform a G4 1.25 by quite a lot.
Note that cross-system/OS comparisons must always be taken with a large dose of salt!
Anyone know this machine with the 1.25 GHz G4 processor fares against the new Intel 3.2Ghz processor with 1Gb RAM?
The 1.25Ghz G4 fares extremely well - It costs a lot less!
While the P4 3.2 costs between $300 and $400 just fo rthe chip, this $800 unit includes the 1.25 G4, Combo drive, 40GB hd, 256K Ram, CRT built in custom housing, video, networking, USB 2, Firewire800, Airport Extreme upgrade path, Bluetooth upgrade path, OS X Jaguar, iLife (Garageband, iMovie, iDVD, iPhoto, iTunes) and the cache of owning an Apple.
You can check out this review of the 1.25 Ghz G4 when it first came out and this review of the P4 3.2Ghz vs. an Athlon
I only came here to do two things; kick some ass, and drink some beer...looks like we're almost out of beer.
The eMac has Firewire 400, not 800.
What a rip off Apple, no one is ever gonna buy the 40 GB iPod now - not when for just $300 more they can get a 40 GB music player with a combo drive, airport extreme & bluetooth support, and a 17" CRT for viewing cover art and playlists.
Plus it comes with Garageband and iTMS BUILT IN!!!
I only came here to do two things; kick some ass, and drink some beer...looks like we're almost out of beer.
Please enjoy your windows boxes. We'll see you on the flip side when you finally give OS X a try.
I am by no means rich, but in the grand scheme of things, a few hundred bucks to buy a system that WORKS SO MUCH BETTER THAN WINDOWS XP is worth it to me.
The hardware specs aren't what makes the difference man, it's the SOFTWARE. OS X is the best of UNIX under a fantastic GUI.
I only came here to do two things; kick some ass, and drink some beer...looks like we're almost out of beer.
Dell Dimension 2400...sixhundred seventy-nine dollars....
Dell Dimension 4600...nine hundred ninty eight dollars....
Saving a buck of two for an inferrior user experience....priceless
There are somethings money can't buy....for everything else, there's Microsoft.
I only came here to do two things; kick some ass, and drink some beer...looks like we're almost out of beer.
But what does the 'e' in 'eMac' stand for?
Hopefully, not for electonic as that would be a bit redundan t.
Moderators are morons, the parent is a joke, not a flame
The Mac-versus-PC performance debate has always been kind of pointless. People buy Macs because they like them, or because they think they're more usable, not because they care about the architectural superiority of the PowerPC chip. People buy PCs because they're cheaper, or because they need low-level compatibility, not because they have a misguided love of Intel technology.
The issue is particularly irrelevent for people who aren't performance conscious. A 1Ghz PC may have a lot less computing power than a 1Ghz Mac, but it still has a lot more than most people need.
If you want a game machine, buy a PS2
If you want to run some special windows only app, buy Virtual PC for OS X
If you want to get work done in an efficient, user friendly, secure, stable, virus-free, low stress manner, buy a Mac
I only came here to do two things; kick some ass, and drink some beer...looks like we're almost out of beer.
$749 for the combo/40gb, and $899 for the superdrive/80gb!!! That's $100 savings on the latter. Seems like it'll be a great buy for students who.
well, in order. A different proccesor architecture, theres a fuckload of software, and almost any gnu app can easily be ported (or, if you don't insist on tying apple products to their OS, you can run linux or BSD just fine), blizzard dual releases and other companies eventually port (but if you only own a computer for games, why do you read the apple slashdot page... oh, you're an AC. this post doesn't really matter.) I use a g3, a dual g5, an ulstra sparc, 1 althon box and 3 pentium III's. I like my macs better. oh well.
Don't worry - its just stigmata. Pass me a napkin and don't you dare tell my mother.
except that you don't actually NEED that, if you really want to raise it a bit, sit it on a phonebook
since when is a 2.4GHz celeron cutting edge?
Since people stopped caring about how much a large cache improves performance.
You're just making it worse for yourself, amichalo. With each post you look more and more foolish. It's obvious that deep down you know you overspent for an underpowered computer, and no amount of unsupported assertions about how OSX is "so much better" than anything else or bad "M$ Windoze" jokes is going to make that feeling go away
For what it is worth, I did not post the "eat a dick" comment. I can see how it looks like it would be me, being that it was anonymous and I am not posting anonymously. At any rate, I had nothing to do with that and don't know who did. Perhaps someone else is on Slashdot besides you and me.
As for your observations about my self esteme, you are simply trying to start a flame.
Find one post I have ever made with a slang reference to MS or Windows.
I only came here to do two things; kick some ass, and drink some beer...looks like we're almost out of beer.
XP can easily be virus free. Three easy steps:
1) Start with a fresh install of Windows.
2) Plug in monitor, power, keyboard, mouse.
3) Stop.
So long as you follow these three steps EXACTLY, you will not have a single virus on your computer.
DISCLAIMER: I cannot make any promises if you attempt any other actions with the PC.
would you go to a best buy to get a sparc station? that would be ridiculous. you'd go to a vendor that had what you want. a single vendor is never a good example of anything. considering i currently own 10 or so mac games (ha!), i'm quite sure theres more than 3. but it is a point that there simply aren't as many games for mac. this does mean that a lot of the stinkers don't cross over, though.
Don't worry - its just stigmata. Pass me a napkin and don't you dare tell my mother.
Cache = store, etc. I think you might mean cachet. That's pronounced "kash-ay" for you Americans that don't speak foreign.
This is an obviously bogus comparison. Since when is a 2.4 celery a 1.25 ppc? Even worse, motherboard integrated el cheapo graphics don't compare to a Radeon 9200. This is not even considering the iLife suite, the comm ports on the mac, and os x. The high-end dell machine is nice, I'll admit, but what it gains in terms of hardware is compensated for by things like the iLife suite on the mac.
specially when you're trying to run OS X on Intel's processor.
A lot of people I know bought a Mac because of OS X, it didn't matter if it was "slower" than a comparable Intel processor in certain functions. Show me an Intel processor than can run OS X (not just Darwin) then we can start talking about speed comparisons.
At last a reasonably priced Apple computer. And the international prices don't have the standard 50% Apple International tax, they are reasonably close to the US prices after currency conversion!
:)
For a laugh earlier I configured a system on Dells site with similar features. This was a 2.6GHz Celeron 2400C system. It came out higher priced than the eMac (eMac 549, Dell 580) for as close a match of specification as possible (and I made sure that warranties, etc, were minimal on the Dell, I'm not an Apple owner so I won't cheat like that!). Certainly not a bad deal in my opinion, especially with iLife and Panther included (after a year of using XP, I realise how much I loathe it). The Dell looked like a turd as well, if that matters to you!
If I do as you suggest, I'm looking at a $180 Playstation 2. A TV is, say $200. Virtual PC: $130. That's an extra $510 tax just to play games and run windows applications.
I'm willing to bet $5 he already has a TV. And a $180 PS2 will set you back almost as far as a decent videocard... oh and you don't have to pray your game starts whenever you want to play it either.
Stable. Check. I last saw a bluescreen crash about 18 months ago - due to a network card that failed. Yes, a hardware problem.
Windows XP... Stable... funny, never thought I'd see them in the same sentence together. I personally have NEVER seen an XP bluescreen... my WinXP never gets that far, just freezes up.
Virus free. Check. I'm sorry, but if you run random attachments you receive in the mail, you're asking for trouble.
Want some crack? 'Course you do! If you think opening email attachments is the only way to get a virus in Windows, you probably have never been on a corporate network where they spread like wildfire.
Low-stress. Check. Windows just works.
Stress is the reason I dumped my Windows PC after being a strict user since Windows 3.0. If MS can't make a decent OS, I don't want to give them any more money.
SuperDrive (DVD-R/CD-RW); writes DVD-R discs at up to 8x speed, reads DVDs at up to 10x speed, writes CD-R discs at up to 24x speed, writes CD-RW discs at up to 10x speed, reads CDs at up to 32x speed
8X DVD-R speed, that's twice what they're putting in the G5s! Bonus points for that. It's nice that it's not a bare-bones low end model.
I tend to think that people who write in CAPS are trolls, but since I can't mod you down, I guess I'll have to answer:
Yes, OS X (10.3 at least) is a very, very good operating system -- I own an iBook G4 -- but only if you agree with the design philosophy. OS X was designed for completely different people who want to do completely different things with computers than, say, Linux users. Lots of people in these discussions don't realize this and get their panties in a knot about which system is "better". This is sort of like asking if a bread knife is better than a scalpel.
Apple provides you with a flashy, very consistent, closed, minimal-options operating system that starts with the idea that choice is bad and will confuse the user. Steve Jobs tells you what you can and can't do, and in return, you don't have to deal with the computer as such: You just plug things in, and they work (or they don't). It is ideal for people who just want to listen to music, surf, do some email, and chat -- that is, 90 percent of the population. If this is all you want from a computer, by all means, go buy a Mac. It is what I recommend to my computer-illiterate colleagues when they complain about the latest Microsoft virus or crashing Windows.
However, some people think choice is good, and want to be able to decide for themselves just where they want to be in the big computer trade-off of ease-of-use and efficiency. To take the cliche example, one mouse button is not confusing, but when you do lots and lots of cut-and-paste, three buttons kick ass all over the place. One single desktop is not confusing, but virtual desktops give you more room to move without having to invent flashy tricks like Expose. A mail program without TLS support is one less option for the user, but if your provider happens to require that extra layer of security, you're screwed.
This is the reason why I will be installing Linux with KDE 3.2 on my iBook: I like choice, I am willing to learn things so that I can be more efficient, and the cozy, closed world of OS X is just too limited for what I want (and like) to do. Does this mean that I hate OS X or dispise it? No, it is just the wrong tool for the job in my case. No need for flames (or caps), just a rational assessment of my needs vs. those that OS X provides. Go forth and be happy with OS X, just realize that it is not the uberOS of the Gods. And please stop shouting.
As for the "best of Unix": Apple did the right thing from a business point of view. They realized that they could make all kinds of money without having to give anything in return by using BSD, and then even get to charge premium for a glossy GUI pasted over that. Basically, this is another case where the BSD people are helping a major corporation get richer (remember Micorosoft and the TCP stack?) while getting peanuts in return. If Apple had used Linux for the base system, they would have been forced to be part of the community and give full value in return instead of getting away with dropping a bone here and there. And they still could have sold that flashy GUI on top, made lots of money, made their users happy, whatever.
It is Apple's job (no pun intended) to be greedy: They are bound to shareholder value just like Microsoft. I just wonder if it should be our job to give them a free ride -- for any meaning of "free".
If you continue to base your opinions on a copy of Windows 3.1 you once used ten years ago - OS 9 was arguably even worse
I didn't post above, but I currently use both XP and 2000 daily. Make your own decisions but I also use OS X daily and it's far and away the most pleasant working environment I've encountered to date. That doesn't mean it's perfect, by any stretch of the imagination, but that's not the point now, is it.
As for "OS 9," um, who's talking about OS 9?
If you want Unix, install Linux... FreeBSD... SuSE... Debian... Lycoris... Lindows... There are choices in the Windows world.
Well, by the time I've finished clicking through the (Continue) buttons in an OS X install I've managed to install both the entire GUI environment and the entire Unix OS. I can also install other Unix systems on Mac hardware, but frankly I've got everything I need right here.
I don't need to install anything else except Logic Pro 6, Ableton Live, MetaSynth, ArtMatic Pro, MetaTrack, Voyager, VTrack, Absynth, OmniGraffle, OmniOutliner, OmniDiskSweeper, Studiometry, FileMakerPro, Adobe Creative Suite, LaunchBar, MySQL, Perl 5.8.3, Fink, Plone, Keynote, BBEdit, FastTrack Schedule Pro, Sonasphere, Toast 6, ZBrush, and a few more but I'll get to those tomorrow.
I run all these (plus my email, internet, contacts management, calendaring, etc) in the same operating environment; not an emulation shell, not after dual-booting, but in the very same operating system and simultaneously.
To top it all off OS X comes with a full set of developer tools, documentation and optimization utilities, plus Cocoa+Obj-C is a match made in heaven.
There's no need to pay Apple for a decent Unix experience.
Well, I believe there is. I enjoy the ability to support quality whether it's a film, a restaurant, a music venue, a book, clothing, my neighborhood, an artist, etc. every single day.
The hardware is just a hunk of material until you've discovered/designed an interface with which to use it. Solely on a base consumer level, I'm very happy to pay Apple for what is, in daily practice, a superior computer operating system. From the level of both a technology consultant and a media creator, the solution is very simple.
OS X is a very impressive "Holy Grail" for all my current activities. Strap me in because I'm ready to get to work.
that the fan isn't as loud as in the previous model. It uses the newer G4, so there is some hope. But the quiet old fanless iMacs were really nice.
A phone book?
Wouldn't that ruin the 'design' that apple spend so much time on? But this is apple so when they nickle and dime you to death it is a Good Thing!
Just Damn.
This is the first consumer Mac update in five months.
What are they up to? Where is my dual G5 PowerBook anyway?
.. then I found that this clear plastic eMac stand COST $95 (you can find it when you select the eMac; price is from apple.ca)
Note to readers: that's 95 Canadian dollars, or 59 US dollars. US$95 would indeed be a lot, but US$59 seems reasonable for a well designed accessory that does its job well and adds certain convenience. Feel free to skip it and buy an aftermarket stand, or make your own, or use an old text book.
Don't believe the megahertz myth. Processor and bus speeds don't matter. The eMac will feel so much faster. I don't mean when you can see screen refresh, that is a feature. It's designed that way so you can enjoy more of the Apple Experience. I also don't mean the time it takes for your apps to launch. How can you enjoy the beauty of your desktop if an application quickly gets in the way? The time will seem to fly by as you wait for tasks to complete. You'll be enjoying the consistancy of the interface so much that the hours will pass like seconds.
No, Intel has nothing on Apple.
There's no need to pay Apple for a decent Unix experience.
...
Just like there was no need to pay Sun, or SGI, or MIPS, or DEC
; -- the corruption of government starts with its secrets. a truly free people keep no secrets. --
Add some software to your precious Dell, bucko:
$679 will get you XP Home instead of Pro, no office suite, no movie software, no firewire & no optical mouse.
Add all that stuff and you are looking at $898 now. Your Dell is a whopping $100 cheaper, which will be quickly eaten up by your Anti Virus & Firewall software you'll have to buy and you still don't have anything close to iDVD or Garage Band. Add Adobe Photo Album to make up for your lack of iPhoto and your Dell becomes $925
I'd bet that a high percentage of entry level consumers, if presented with both alternatives in a FUD free enviroment would pick the eMac over the Dell.
Ta-da yourself.
Besides, what source doesn't Apple share already, that a GNU license would force them to? Darwin is totally open. You can download the source here.
If you want Unix, install Linux or FreeBSD. Install SuSE, install Debian, Lycoris or even Lindows for that matter. There are choices in the Windows world.
Pssst. Linux isn't Windows. Just thought you should know.
http://www.rutemoeller.com/mp/ibook/ibook_e.html
It tells about how you can use an nvramrc to change graphic-options on your mac to enable monitor spanning (as apposed to monitor mirroring). It works on Radeon 7500 eMacs but it is unclear yet whether this trick will work on these new eMacs. Let's hope so....
Except market share.
Jonathanjk.com
No iMovie,iDVD or GarageBand on the Dell is there? Those apps kick the crap out of comparible apps for Windows. Those are the apps I use a lot. I consider more than just cost when buying a machine.
"I don't think it's selfish, to eat defenseless shellfish." -NOFX
No Virtual PC yet for my g5, though. My solution was to build an athlon system, in case i desperately need to do something in x86 land (specifically, play GTA:VC, but hey, i could do work on it too)
Don't worry - its just stigmata. Pass me a napkin and don't you dare tell my mother.
Come on -- drink the Mac kool-aid! Since the "value" can't really be defended, the information must be censored. Praise Big Brother!
Speaking of which, Apple's sales are flat, their marketshare is declining... As a Macintosh fan I'm as disgusted with Apple's luxury pricing as all the PC users out there. I want the Mac platform to be around a long time, and pretending the eMac is a good low-end value is not the way to do it. They should either price the machine correctly, or give a G5 and position it at the mid-range (3Ghz Dells).
Anyway, just because you like Apple/Macs doesn't mean that you have to go to the wall for a dubious G4 eMac.
Business. Numbers. Money. People. Computer World.
Let's compare:
I picked the Dimension 2400 ($599 US as of 4/14/04)
Note: I did not do the XP Pro update, the Digital media pack update (w/o Plus!), JukeBox/Picture Studio Updates.....if I did?
Grand Total? $948 Dollars.
The conclusion is this, the eMac is competitively priced, fully featured and is aimed at the same market as the Dimension 2400, people who are probably buying their first computer ever or want a second computer (or third =)) for a child/spouse etc...
Similarly the 4600 can be done this way, but the price ends up at $1109 using the same criteria as listed above with the following exceptions on which Dell has the lead:
In the 4600 the following are superior and standard: Intel ® Pentium® 4 Processor 2.8GHz w/533MHz FSB Integrated 5.1 Channel Audio
The big weakness is the Integrated Intel® Extreme Graphics 2 but at least with the 4600 you can upgrade it through Dell with the:
Again these machines (especially the 2400 and the eMac) are geared to people who want Dell/Apple to ship them a computer that just works, out of the box. You could swap in better components (RAM, HD, Optical Drives (for both), PCI cards/processors for the Dell (I am speaking general components) but this is not in the scope of my comparison as I would imagine they are not of concern of the intended purchasing audience. I hope you find this to be an interesting read, and take it with an open mind.
I also want to acknowledge that I know the previous post was intended to be funny =)
-pH1nk
Argh. The laws of science be a harsh mistress.
They (sorta) did. They just couldn't lower the price on the Cubes to sell enough, however. The specs were too close to the towers.
. . . I can't believe I just said they were too fast. . . You know what I mean.
Get into your time machine and go get a G5 eMac for $600!
Value means different things to different people. For some it's money-related, for others it's ease-of-use/quality-of-life types of things. Neither view is right or wrong. It's a matter of personal perspective to me. The hardcore gamer has a different idea of what value is compared to a person who's into graphics, movie editing, etc.
The eMac is what it is. If you pump enough RAM into it it will run OSX 10.3 just fine. You may not be able to play games and encode DVD's at the same time, but how many people really do those things at the same time anyway? For what you get, I think the eMac is reasonably priced. Not uber-cheap like the Dells and othe boxen people like to trot out, but for a low-end UNIX workstation (which is what it really is at this point) it's fine.
As others have commented, Apple is a hardware company at it's heart. Ipod discussions aside, they live and die by hardware sales, so they have no incentive to enter the bottom tier of the PC market where they can't compete with Dell et al. They offer what they and a fair number of other people consider to be an improved computer-using experience over what you may get with a low-end Windows box, and they charge a premium for it. Either you agree or you don't and you buy accordingly.
No, the eMac is a machine for people who are going to buy a Macintosh no matter what and can't afford a better one. I think it mainly exists to upsell people to the iMac.
Frankly, with a G4, the machine is Dead End. It's 2004 now, not 2001. You might be able to squeak by and play Halo, but next year's game / video app is going to require more oomph. It's a word processor, not a home computer.
Think of all those people who bought iMacs 5 years ago -- that machine was price and speed competitive with PCs and it sold like hotcakes. Where's the machine that will get those iMac1 users into the Apple Store? It ain't the eMac! (My sister is in this boat, and probably will be getting rid of her 400mhz iMac for a PC.)
I'm fine with Apple selling "upmarket" machines, but let's see some upmarket hardware! Not this 3 year old shit.
Business. Numbers. Money. People. Computer World.
Yea! That's what we need, g5 cubes! Nevermind the heat problems with the old ones, these new g5's run super cold! Seriously though, if they can fix the heat problems with the cube design, or even have a different case design and a way to buy it without a monitor built in, that'd be great.
You'll be much happier with vi.
the eMac was originally introduced for "education", it was in fact only available via edu channels, i.e. at your university bookstore or via the Apple Store after you proved you were a teacher, student or school administrator. After initial sales, they opened up the buying to 'everyone'.
Think of it as the VW bug of the Mac line... the sad thing is it's now 30% or so faster than the original iMac that I spent a cool grand more on a couple of years back... that's tech for ya.
They did make this once, it was called the cube, and it was a complete failure. It didn't have much in the way of expandability, but it was completely silent, and it looked very nifty. Unfortunately, it didn't sell very well.
They do have cards that can upgrade a cube to an 800Mhz G4, but you're still going to be hampered by the rest of the hardware. It runs OS X just fine though.
Apple probably won't make something like it for a long long time.
- Sherman
Unfortunately there are many applications (including a few decent games) that don't boot, or run buggy from X running "classic." My faithful laser printer doesn't print from X running "classic." I can understand why it wouldn't work with a G5, but how difficult would it really be to allow dual-boot with the remaining G4 computers?
As I've commented elsewhere in this thread, the eMac is mainly meant as a cheap Mac that can be sold to schools, as in K-12 schools, not colleges or universities. The eMac will do just fine for almost anything you need in that setting or situation. Websurfing, basic digital imaging, paper-writing, etc... It's not meant to be a game box or anything else. I am guessing that any eMac Apple sells to home users or businesses is just gravy and not expected.
Compared to a similarly-equipped PC, the eMac isn't a bad deal. Comparing it to your $400 stripped-down box isn't fair, as a stripped down Mac is not the same animal is your typical integrated-everything cheap DOS box.
While I don't necessarily agree with Apples overall product/pricing strategy, it's obvious that they aim the iMacs at general home users and the PowerMacs at power users and businesses. And it's also obvious that Apple either doesn't give a rip about, or has decided to not really compete in the gaming market.
The G4 chip *may* be inadequate for high-end video games and heavy-duty digital imaging, etc. However, saying that a 1.25 Ghz chip is outdated may come as a surprise to Linux/BSD/*nix users all around the globe. Sure, an Intel CPU at that speed may groan while trying to run XP and modern games, but that is more an indictment of the OS than the CPU.
According to the NY Times today, Apple's recent quarterly results show that profits have tripled lately. Yes, that's due largely to incredible iPod sales, but I think it does show that Apple is not completely clueless when it comes to pricing its products.
Apple has never been the cheapest computer you can buy, in any sense of "cheapest." For many of us, this is a feature. Apple has never tried to compete with the cheapest machines on the market, either. But smart consumers know that there's a lot more to the cost of a computer than its price. If you get more value out of a PC of whatever brand, go for it. If you get more value out of a Mac, why are you complaining?
Apple's sales are flat, their marketshare is declining...
Assuming those two assertions are actually true, then the only conclusion one can draw is that the market is expanding. This is no big surprise, as Linux market share seems to be increasing dramatically, and Microsoft's market share is probably either flat or decreasing slightly. So what? All that matters is that there's a healthy market for Mac products. And there is.
Not sure how you get from Flat Sales and Declining Market Share to "healthy market"... Windows sales have been doing quite well.
I'm leaning towards the idea that Apple is trying to milk it's "legacy" base of Mac users while transitioning to a consumer device company. In which case, I hope not, but how else do you read the evidence? In that case, Apple would be just another Sony...
The question is if you are an Apple-Fan or a Mac-Fan. I'm the latter.
Business. Numbers. Money. People. Computer World.
Not sure how you get from Flat Sales and Declining Market Share to "healthy market"
According to it's press release, Apple shipped 749,000 computers and 804,000 iPods in Q2, 2004. If its sales are "flat," that'd mean Apple should ship approximately 3 million machines this year, and about 3.2 million iPods. 3 million machines alone would be a pretty decent market, but the installed base is quite a lot larger. Macs tend to have a long useful life (I'm typing this on a machine that's 5 years old and which remains quite useful), so the market that third parties can sell into is quite a bit larger than that indicated by market share alone. That is how I get from "Flat Sales" to "healthy market."
I'm leaning towards the idea that Apple is trying to milk it's "legacy" base of Mac users while transitioning to a consumer device company. In which case, I hope not, but how else do you read the evidence?
Why? What evidence is there to support this idea? Apple's oft-stated and well known long term plan for the consumer market is the "digital lifestyle," and every time Steve Jobs brings that up, he includes a diagram with various consumer electronic devices and a Macintosh in the middle. iPod, iTunes, iSight, iPhoto, iMovie, iDVD, etc. are all meant to sell Macintosh computers. They work as well as they do specifically because Apple is able to integrate those things with the Mac hardware and OS.
So sure, you may see even more of Apple's income in the future come from consumer electronics like iPod, particularly if Apple can also sell those items into the Windows and Linux markets. But there's no way that Apple is going to give up control over the system at the heart of the digital lifestyle, not to mention the heart of its revenue, which is the Mac.
Jisho - A Japanese English German Russian French Dictionary for the rest of us.
Check out the article at arstechnica.com. Good discussion.
Basically, over the last few years, Apple's computer operation has operated at break-even, and they make profits on investments and ipods. I'm not sure how (or if) Apple's going to change that.
And the fact that you are using a 5 year old machine is a not healthy sign for Apple. Why don't you pickup one of these wonderful eMacs you are touting? That's right, they suck, they're way behind moore's law. I also wouldn't say a 5 year old Mac is any better than a 5 year old PC. (My Powerbook is also 5 years old -- i can't quite pull the trigger yet.)
Business. Numbers. Money. People. Computer World.
Toast 6 is indispensable to me, and far and away the best CD burning app I've ever come across on any platform.
BBEdit was nice, but I prefer SubEthaEdit for what I do (mainly html and css).
My list of apps to go on after a nuke and pave:
NcFTP - can't live without it. CLI only, but that's the way to go with ftp for me. Used to have to build from source, but there's an OS X binary installer available now to make my life easier.
SubEthaEdit - great icon, great app. Does exactly what it says on the tin. Works great as a standalone editor, but the shared edit features have been useful from time to time.
Toast Titanium 6 - indispensable. Perfection in a CD burning app.
Adium - necessary on my humble 600Mhz iBook which is still going strong. It has a small footprint and is much less CPU heavy than iChat or and of the other clients.
TinyFugue - again, used to have to build this from source, but no longer. I've tried other MUD clients, but this one keeps me loyal.
Photoshop 7 - can't afford the Creative Suite yet, so on the old one (which is still perfectly fine). Runs pretty well on my battered G3 iBook.
XRegion - simple app that allows me to change the region code on my DVD drive (firmware upgraded to unlock/uncripple it).
That's pretty much it - music, mail and browsing is taken care of with the apps Apple provides.
Oh, I almost forgot: Quake III Arena. Ok, so it's a little ropey on my iBook, but it's good for a couple of quick DMs on q3dm17 while waiting in airport lounges.
It plays better on my G5 box, but then I'd expect no less! The vital app install list is the same for the G5 except for two more apps that facilitate my living: Final Cut Pro 4 and DVD Studio Pro 1.5.
It ships with Panter (10.3) not Jaguar (10.2).
Make sure the machine is not connected to the Internet when the installation completes!
Otherwise, you'll get a virus anyway, even if you don't touch the computer.
Yes, my friends: it's that pathetic.
"Oooh, does that mean we get to kick some puffy white mad zionist butt?"
These morons don't seem to realize that karma can be manufactured at will. But what would you expect from someone who pays double for translucent buttons on his UI :).
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