Apple Reverses G4 downgrade

puck13 writes "According to MacInTouch "Apple has reversed the cancellation of existing Power Mac G4 orders, according to impeccable sources, and is calling back customers to explain. The Apple Store will honor existing orders for the previous configurations at the previous prices. People who ordered the G4/500 model that cannot be produced due to Motorola's production issues, will be offered a choice of the original G4/450 configuration at the original price or a discount on their G4/500 configuration, as if it had been ordered custom-built with a 450-MHz processor selected. " Check out yesterday's story for more information.

Comments

There is so much misinformation here

[TheInternet]

I can't believe how many people are willing to fly off the handle without understanding what they're talking about.

Major points:

1. DRAM prices have doubled more or less in the last few months. Meanwhile, Apple's prices remained constant.
2. The stock price is up nine points for two major reasons:
   
   1. IBM is going to making Motorola's G4s (HUGE!)
   2. Apple has $700 million in product backlog
   3. Apple CFO Fred Anderson was not shy about the fact that Apple's December quarter numbers will be substantially higher.
   
   
3. The G4/400 was not just increased in price. Virtually no one realizes it, but this is a NEW G4/400 model. A bit of background is necessary to explain:
   When the G4 first came out, the 400mhz version was the only one available. But it was not much more than a G3 in G4's clothing. This "low-end" G4 had a G4 CPU, and a G4 casing, but the motherboard was basically a G3. This motherboad is codenamed "Yikes." The "real" G4s use a motherboard called "Sawtooth." With this motherboard, you get:
   
   • AGP (instead of PCI)
   • twice the memory bandwidth -- 800MB/sec vs. of 400MB/sec
   • 1.5GB total RAM capacity vs. 1.0GB total RAM capacity
   • A Ultra ATA/66 interface
   • An internal FireWire port, in addition to the two external
   • Two independent USB buses
   • AirPort capabilities o Wiring to support Apple Cinema Display
   
   The old G4/400 has none of this. So although the G4/400 started out life as a Yikes based machine (a revamped G3), Apple just graduated it to a Sawtooth machine overnight, with significant enhancements. As such, the price increase is actually justified, particuarly when taking into account the RAM issue.
   
   So whoever preorded a G4/400 prior to all this is probably going to get much more than they originally bargained for -- at no additional cost.
   

- Scott
------
Scott Stevenson

Who brought the smart kid?

[cancrman]

There's nothing like massive consumer & media backlash to make someone change their mind, huh?

But the fact that they seriously thought that they could get away with it really bothered me. "Oh hey, we're Apple so you know that G4 400 that we said was going to cost you $1600? Well now that's gonna be a 350. But you can still get the 400 for $2,500 if you want." Total insanity. At least they got wise. I guess they banked on the fact that the Macintosh faithful are probably some of the most loyal consumers out there and thought that they could ream them just a little bit more.

I can't believe I'm saying this but - Way to go angry Mac users!

Pete

Pete

Re:still not gonna buy one

[Sloppy]

4. Reach MHz/price-parity with Intel.

If this is one of the things holding you back, then you may have made a very foolish decision.

First of all, when was the last time you needed a certain clock rate? Are you trying to listen to your computer on the radio, and your radio only receives the 500-600 MHz bands? Isn't it enough that the Macs have already met and exceeded the performance you can get with Intel machines?

As for price, I can see your point and have sympathy. But keep in mind that a lot of people who buy Intel machines also end up using Microsoft software, thereby getting trapped in the annual or biannual software rental process (a.k.a. the "upgrade path"). For most people (granted, I'm not counting the Linux users), Macs are cheaper than their Intel counterparts. One of the reasons that the Mac appears so expensive at first is that they come bundled with an OS that you have to mostly pay for "up front".

---

Re:still not gonna buy one

[um... Lucas]

1 - OS X will ship when it's ready. Do you want them to pull a Microsoft and ship it sooner and then augment it with service packs to get it to a useable state?

2 - Apples just not large enough to offer a wide variety of video cards... They commit to buying all their chips from ATI and presumably get a huge discount because of that...

3 - I have to agree with that... Those keyboards suck

4 - Is a non-issue... Only someone that has no idea as to how the innards work and that is resistant to having it explained would really request this. If Apple can achieve equivilant performance with 1/2 the MHz, what do i care?

5 - I haven't seen Sherlock 2 yet (OS 9 apparently kills ATM, and i can't have that!) but let apple do whatever they want with their bundled apps... It's not terribly difficult to develope a quicktime player using Apple's API's and overlaying an interface of your choice on top of it.

Re:Oh, my!

[the eric conspiracy]

The problem for Apple is that they aren't likely to ever attract a significant number of new customers until they change their business practices.

That is a rather fanstastic assertion given the fact of the matter is that 50% of iMac sales are first time Apple customers.