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iMac II to have LCD/Firewire/DVD/AirPort/new color
Cheeseman writes "The usually very reliable Japan Apple Watch quotes South Korean sources saying that the iMac II will be launched at the Paris Apple Expo in a couple of weeks. What's interesting about this is that one of the new colors will be the 'graphite and white' as seen on the G4. I suspect that this means that Apple will use the iMac II to get apple back into the business market and sell one G4 together with 10-30 iMacs IIs for about 10 to 25 grand. With AirPort this means that you've got an instant LAN that works out of the box with no cabling. " And the rumours are that the new machine will be less then 1000$US-though I would suspect that's a stripped down machine.
One: The AirPort does deliver data through the airwaves. However, it's strong-encrypted, if I'm not mistaken. You can certainly try stealing secrets, but you aren't going to get very far.
Two: There isn't normally much fuss about connecting wires, if your building has them. However, if your building is not wired (most homes are not, by the way) then it becomes a huge, and obscenely expensive, deal. Besides which, it's just easier if you can literally just bring a computer into the building and it's hooked up.
Three: There is stuff out for the PC, moreover it works with the AirPort (though due to the limitations in these pre-existing cards, you only get 2 Mbps instead of 11). Perhaps ones which will match up to the AirPort will be out soon; personally I hope they come out (I'm working on convincing my dad to "wire" the house with one and then get ADSL). Not only that, but as long as they follow the open standard which Apple used (and they'd be fools not to, since a card which isn't compatible with an open standard usually gets booted) they'll work with the AirPort too.
As for cordless-network peripherals which use USB, I certainly hope you're right. That'd be cool, though it would suck USB bandwidth big time; such network peripherals would be better if connected to FireWire, SCSI, an Ethernet port (as an adaptor), or even just a PCI slot.
Not really. Keep in mind, there's still such a thing as network addresses, even with AirPort. It would take longer to find the device, but it's certainly possible to find the machine.
Of course, I believe it's also possible to mandate authentication before an iBook can log into an AirPort network, so the kid would need a password to do it anyway.
Rage 128 is contemporary; you're confusing it with the Rage Pro.
They don't use TNT because there are no Mac TNT cards, and as for Voodoo3... well, I don't know. It matters little; Rage 128 can keep up with the other cards if they all render in 16-bit mode. Voodoo3 can't even do 32-bit, and all reviews I've ever seen of the TNT series' renderers states that they look comparatively terrible in 32-bit mode. And by the way, I've read that bit that the person from 3Dfx wrote trying to excuse^H^H^H^H^H^Hexplain why they don't use 32-bit; I've seen a Voodoo3 and Rage128 back to back and I don't buy the article for a second.
So yeah, you sacrifice 4 or 5 FPS max (most humans can't percieve the difference between 60 and 55 FPS anyway) but in return you get much better-looking graphics. I'll make that trade any day.
Having to slap in a primo expensive G4 to play nurse maid to all the wireless Iwhacks.
A low-end G4 will cost under $2000. A fully decked-out one will set you back $4000. That's pretty trivial to acompany that's going to be serving a dozen NetBoot iMacs, when you consider the money saved on administration. Plus there's no reason that I can see that another iMac couldn't serve as the server for a small office. Hard drive space might be tight, but that's upgradable.
The learning curve associated with making these 'alien' machines behave on a traditional UNIX/NT network.
This depends on the company. An engineering firm that has a lot of specialized apps on their NT or Unix machines might not do this too well, but for companies that do web browsing, email, database, graphics, and other more standard apps, this is not a big deal. Plus you can get Office 98 for the Mac, so that'll help the transition. And OS X is a real Unix, and as far as I know all of its networking can be done with TCP/IP. So once that's out, this will be less of an issue.
The high-price as compared to a traditional x86 PC.
If they can get a 350 MHz machine for $1000, that's not much of a price savings. If you include the value of a name-brand PC (in terms of support and quality) and the various TCO advantages of the Mac in general, this really isn't that much of a problem. And if NetBoot over AirPort works as advertised, that'll mean no one will have to worry about stringing wires around the office. Just set up the G4, configure it for NetBoot, and the iMac won't need anything but a power cord.
The cost of training and new Apple-knowledgable IT/IS staff.
This is an issue, although some aspects of Mac networking (like file sharing) are so simple that literally anyone can be trained to do it in an hour or two. It's certainly true that this would be an expense, but I'm not sure it's all that big a deal.
Software development costs. You can't chuck a working bit of in-house software because Marketing wants Iwhacks..
No one is suggesting that this is the right solution for every company, nor that they should immediately throw out all their PC's. But I suspect there are a lot of companies that run 90% standard apps like office and Netscape, and those work cross-platform just fine. Those companies should be able to make the switch with minimal pain.
Considering 3com owns Palm and 3com also develops 802.13(or is it 802.11?) devices, it isn't inconcievable that future Palms will either carry or have as optional upgrades a wireless networking solution
-AS
-AS
*Pikachu*
A Fast Ethernet switch for $50/port? Where are you getting this info from; I'd love to buyt a switch from them if it's that cheap.
I might also add that NetBoot over AirPort actually works quite well; ever seen it? Spiffy, to say the least.
And yeah, you can get a decent Ethernet card for $50 and spend the extra money on cabling (buying the card would be pointless seeing as how every Mac made in the last ten years comes with Ethernet already). But the switch is still the problem. At $50 a port for 11 ports, that would be $550 (I might add that the AirPort handles the same number of devices for $300; that's quite a bit of savings).
In short, for a small home network of five devices, AirPort and 100Base-T cost the same amount, assuming $50/port for a switch which could handle the same number of devices as an AirPort, and $50 for good Ethernet cards. However, also consider that 100Base-T is severe overkill for a network of only five devices, and even at ten you're only just starting to feel a severe crunch on bandwidth. Then, of course, there's the ease of use of the AirPort network; 100Base-T can't beat that.
Consider this also: if the rumors that a single G4 can act as an AirPort are true, then the cost of 11 AirPort cards is the same as that of 11 Ethernet cards and a fast switch at $50/port. This, of course, assumes that you want to use the G4 on the network, and it's already installed (you'd have to buy a machine to act as a server on the 100Base-T network anyway).
So in the end, for a home LAN the AirPort is actually ideal. For a business LAN... maybe if the business were really small. But businesses should be using higher-end solutions anyway. The AirPort was designed as a home and classroom LAN solution, and at this it excels.
Less than one day of inventory in channel? Holee Cow!
Y'know, a well kept secret is that Apple's past financial problems weren't because people didn't want to buy Macs. The problem was that Apple's assembly lines were doggedly churning out low end models nobody wanted while the models people did want couldn't be had for love or money. I once got one of the few 540c "Blackbirds" to be had because we told Apple we were doing a demo for the President of the United States (kind of a half truth -- he was in the same room as the powerbook doing the demo, but was not interested. We did get some interest from the secret service though.)
Now if they could only do something to win back the confidence of developers, that would be something indeed.
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
Wait a minute.... first, the G4 500 numbers are estimated, second, I have actual results for http://infopad.eecs.berkeley.ed u/CIC/summary/local/ where the K7 650's SPECfp score is 0.2 points higher than the one given by Archintosh, third... Maserati failed to mention the SPECint95 results:
CPU Int FP
K7 550 23.6/20.6
K7 600 27.2/21.6
K7 650 29.4/22.4
P3 550 22.2/15.0
P3 600 24.0/15.9
G4 450 21.4/20.4
G4 500 23.8/22.6***
please note: I estimated the G4 500's SPECint score by dividing the G4 450's score by 450 and then multiplying by 500, rounding up
the SPECfp95 estimate is from the Archintosh website...
_______________________________________________
There is no statute of limitation on stupidity.
Since the Mach parts have the source released in Darwin, and apparently the x86 stuff is in there.
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Business. Numbers. Money. People. Computer World.
This is GREAT news for schools. Many schools that can finally afford to have new computers, can't afford the networking. Sure some LUG may volunteer to wire a school, but that usually just doesn't happen.
Most elementry schools consist of on Mac server, with the librarian as the admin, and a bunch of clients. This is wonderful news for them!
Do not meddle in the affairs of sysadmins, for they are subtle, and quick to anger.
The centerpiece is the SPECfp95 comparison. At the top of the three lines we have:
There are a few caveats about these numbers, most notably are the fact that the faster systems aren't currently shipping.
Honestly, I expected the Athlon to beat the G4. But even an extra 150MHz didn't do the trick.
Veteran, Bermuda Triangle Expeditionary Force, 1992-1951
rumored? it's true! the new G4 can be a basestation via SW - correction- the NEW AGP graphics G4 (with the airport expansion card installed) can be a basestation via SW.
it's really neat-o if you ask me. iMacs w/ Airport and SW basestation is GO!, too if what i've seen/read is correct.
if you think about it, it only makes sense. an iMac buzzing along with 10 iBooks strewed about some living room in people's laps, all playing Quake or whatnot... and no wires.
"one person, one computer"
In
As cool as the G4's and the iMacs are, I still believe the AirPort wireless networking is the real coup for Apple. Too many people are focusing on the color and design aspects of the latest offerings and forgetting the breakthrough that Airport affords the SOHO and business project group people.
People... we're talking about wireless networking at Ethernet speeds. Dosen't anyone else see the implications of this, or is everyone still trying to focus on industrial design and color? Tell me of a competing product that can match this, and forget the whiney assed complaints about the OS.
Give them a year and M$ will claim that they invented AirPort instead of Lucent and Apple.
'nuff said.
The Paris date has been suggested by several Mac rumor sites, but the LCD part is way off base. Apple just poured US$100 million into Samsung to help ramp up production of the iBook (IIRC, one of the reasons the iBook sells for US$1599 was because of unexpected increases in the costs of flat-panel screens). It's very unlikely that in the middle of a screen shortage now expected to last until 2001 they would add one to their best-selling machine.
:-]
Besides, adding an LCD would pretty much necessitate a total redesign of the machine; after all, what's the point of having a giant empty shell around where the monitor used to be? Again, doubtful in the short term.
Now, once they've got enough iBooks floating around, and the Cinema Display is unbundled from the G4 machines, then perhaps it will be time to look at this issue again.
Wouldn't mind upgrading my rev. B to a G4, though, I can tell you that.
I use Macs for work, Linux for education, and Windows for cardplaying.
iMac IIc
iMac IIx
iMac IIvx
iMac IIfx
iMac LC
For the 11 Mbps part, I'm not sure. There are some wireless LAN solutions available for PCs, but as far as I know they all require you to install a base station. The nice thing about AirPort is the ad-hoc networking: minimal setup, any machine can talk to any other machine without having to install extra hardware.
There are some rumours that some motherboards of x86 PCs may integrate BlueTooth chips in a few months. BlueTooth does not provide the same bandwidth as AirPort (100 times less), but it also provides the ad-hoc networking and it is supposed to be integrated in all kinds of devices, so that you could have your phone, your keyboard, your mouse, or any other device connected to your PC without wires and without requiring a line-of-sight like the IrDa stuff.
-Raphaël
Welcome to the world of the average personal computer user. The person who never upgrades, not even RAM. PCI? What's that mean? The person who isn't going to _ever_ fill up a 10GB hard drive with their Word files and recipe database. The person who doesn't do anything that an iMac can't do in under a second. The person who doesn't do anything that an iMac can't do in under a second. Multitasking? Many of them don't even understand how to use more than one program at once. They don't know what a Zip drive is, and don't know why they'd want one.
This is the target market for the iMac. This is also the majority of users. They don't want to have to know anything about their computers, and it's easier for them to buy a new computer every 3 years that for them to learn about them to the extent they can upgrade. It's not that they're dumb. It's that they don't care. They want to use their computer like a toaster.
Upgradability is not something these people are ever likely to care about, and it makes the initial purchase price of the computer higher. Which is something they will care about.
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This space unintentionally left unblank.
The wireless networking cards currently out for PC's should wirk with the AirPort (I know Farallon makes one which does).
The catch: these cards are only running at 2 MBps, rather than 11. But they'll work until the 11-MBps cards are developed, anyway.
I dunno, could US$100M get Samsung to build an entire factory entirely for Apple? Just because PCs are experience a screen shortage doesn't mean Apple has to!
Anyhow, it isn't all that absurd that the iMac use a LCD screen. If I am not mistaken, it's internals are very much similar to the iBook... I think Apple is(internally) using the UMA, unified motherboard architecture, to cut costs. Besides, the iMac/iBook/Powerbook are very similar, actually. Small form factor. Limited upgradeability. Low Power. I mean, how much motherboard, memory, hard disk, speakers, and CPU can one fit inside an iMac shell, with a 15" monitor(and heat source!) in the way? With an LCD they could add larger speakers, remove all fans entirely, and add glowing flashing neon lights inside the case(ugh)
I myself don't believe there will be an LCD with iMacII (or is it iiMac?) but it isn't unfeasible or impossible by a long shot.
-AS
-AS
*Pikachu*
Apple's been pretty reluctant lately about going after the big corporate accounts, but they've been slowly putting the pieces together: NetBoot and Mac OS X Server, the upcoming Mac OS X, migrating from AppleTalk to regular TCP/IP, VGA ports instead of the old Mac ports, standards-based AirPort, and now apparently a more business-colored iMac. It looks like they're trying to put the pieces together first before storming the castle. Good planning.
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not anonymous, just lazy
Has anyone noticed that Apple seems to be "listening" these days? Seems to me that now, whenever a great number of people want a certain thing, Apple responds. Examples:
Build a cheap Mac for once: iMac
Build a cheep notebook for once: iBook
You're not an open source company!: Darwin
Your OS isn't "modern": OS X
Man, flat panel displays are cool: Cinema Display
I wanna network my house, but I don't want cords everywhere!: Airport
Beige is boring: iMac colors
Those iMac colors are too fruity! I want graphite!: Graphite G4 and iMac II
When I look back just a couple years, it's amazing how far this company has come. I think it's response to the current state of computing in all areas of society (and clever marketing) has really been what's turned Apple around. I just hope they stay with this mindset...
This post is not a knock against Apple. Only an observation.
:) I fall prey to this myself.
What I find most remarkable about the new genesis of Mac's is not the hardware, which is undeniably exciting, but the influence the color seems to have. The poster of this article is probably right - their silver/shimmery grey new color combo is almost certainly aimed towards people who want to believe they have "serious" work to do, much as the bubbly tangerine, etc. hues were directed toward people intimidated by beige. What PHB will feel quite confident in his image with a "lime" ball on his desktop?
Nearly 40 years along in the development of computer technology and we have arrived at a point where the most potent selling point of a new machine is the way it makes you feel psychologically to have it on your desk.
May marketing live forever!
Not that this is very different from what has driven computers in the past few years, namely geeks who believe that there is some sort of ratio between the MHz on their chip and the power in their pants...
The most peculiar thing about humans is the divergance between what they claim is important to them and what evidence demonstrates they actually care about.
-konstant
-konstant
Yes! We are all individuals! I'm not!
I heard on the Seybold floor from an Apple rep that(via software???) the G4s could either talk to each other without an Airport card or they could serve a handful of computers without an Airport bay, one of those(or maybe both) options. I couldn't quite figure out what they meant... Would the G4 run special calculations on the Velocity engine and 'transmit' on RF that way? I thought all the G4 had was a pair of antennas?
-AS
-AS
*Pikachu*
IIANM Aiport uses the IEEE 802.11 Wavelan industry standard. PC compatible devices should be out this month or next month from Lucent or 3com. I'm not sure that wiring a building is all that great, anyway. It means one has to rewire when configurations change, when you go from 10 to 100, from 100 to gigabit, etc. Wireless(though slightly more expensive) offers flexibility and convenience at all levels-but I guess some people don't need/care for it.
-AS
-AS
*Pikachu*
Apple should use the same naming conventions automobiles do, that is, add the year to the end. So you would have iMac 1998, iMac 1999, and iMac 2000.
:)
The only possible problem is that Microsoft already does that with their OS and software, but for software I always thought it rather stupid, as the shelf life can be significantly longer. For hardware it makes sense, because Apple is doing at least one revision a year.
But don't ask me what to do when there are two versions in the same year....maybe add season? Powerbook G3 Summer 1999?
The new 'graphite' look is obviously designed to appeal to PHB's and wearers of grey suits
No.
Some of us out here prefer the original Casablanca to the colorized. Some of us think a NeXT cube in any color but black would be stupid-looking (even in SGI metallic purple it just wouldn't look right). Some people in this world prefer Akira to Pokemon, Empire Strikes Back to Phantom Menace, Ani DiFranco to Christina Aguilera. Does taste require that we prefer happy cheerful things, or that the only reason someone would offer black as a color is so people with monochrome brains and monochrome lives would buy it? I am an artist, a so-called creative type - should everything I own be painted in dayglo or 70s racecar metallic purple? Or do you just think that the graphite scheme merely represents a lack of color, rather than a color to itself?
I don't know who Apple designed the Graphite scheme for, but I DO know - and I suspect Apple knows - that there are lots of artists and creative types who like a touch of oomph to things, serious oomph with ass-kicking potential, and would rather have something imposing and monochrome and dark as opposed to a bright happy jellybean. Has nothing to do with PHBs and suits - and in fact a PHB would STILL be unhappy with the brooding presence of a graphite iMac, and would continue to be unhappy until it shipped in opaque beige.
A hint: PHBs and suits never list black as their favorite color.
~ radiographite: art by john shepard
So I looked into this because of the iBook.
Lucent(and everyone else, btw) is releasing this fall(probably Sept, when iBooks ship) something called Wavelan(???), and industry standard extension to IEEE 802.11 which scales to 64nodes per station and 200ft away from the node. Apple, to cut costs, only does 10/11 nodes per station and 150ft from the node for the iBook. G4s and iMacs may support the full 64 node 200 ft thing, btw.
Lucent will sell PC Card and ISA adaptors for Wavelan, with 11Mbit(same as Airport) bandwidth. THey can be hooked into peer networks(if small), hubs(around a station), or LANs(stations connected to convnetional ethernet).
See! Lucent and 3Com both talk about it!
-AS
-AS
*Pikachu*
In reality, this is probably an obscurity, not a security matter. Unencrypted information is not safe on the office network anyways, so if you are relying on the physical seperation of the network you are not very secure.
Of course, I am aware 99% procent of all businesses (including everywhere I have worked) DO rely on the physical seperation for all but the most secret information, but still.
I do agree about the cost thing though. Built in wireless lans are a good thing because they get lans into the households, but for any bussiness that can afford to hire a highschool kid to pull the wires, ethernet will always be faster, cheaper, and easier.
Standards would be nice to, home lans are all the cooler if they can interact with non computer electronics...
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Well have you considered the possibility that this is interesting to a lot of other nerds besides yourself? Sure, most of the unix news isn't interesting to me, but I understand that there's thousands of other people out there who do care about unix, or open-source issues, palm pilots, etc, so I don't complain when there's news that I don't care for.
The revision A and B iMacs had infrared (IRDA) technology, same as what is in several of the Powerbooks. This was located in the front of the machine.
IRDA was removed in the "fruity" iMac line, partly because it didn't market very well. However, the other reason is that Apple was already working toward a synergy with the iBook, which does not have IRDA but does have AirPort.
Wireless tech will be in all Apple products very soon. iBook has it, the new G4 has it, so both consumer and pro lines are heading in that direction. The next revision Powerbook will probably drop infrared and pick up AirPort too.
But the MacOSRumors site says *not* to expect iMacII(or is it iiMac?) to be unveiled in France...
We'll see who has the better contacts, eh? Finally able to read the Japan Apple Watch article, it got slashdotted pretty bad.
On a side note, I don't believe there will be an LCD. Just *too* expensive for the home user/consumer right now. It'd be cheaper to go from a 15" to 19" CRT than from a 15"CRT to a 15"LCD!
So I'm more likely to believe the conservative 400MHz G3 with Rage128 on board an a 16"/17" monitor and Airport built in...
My 2 cents
-AS
-AS
*Pikachu*
(Besides, Apple has to ramp up production of iBooks and the new PowerMac- where are they going to make iMacs?)