Apple has hired Taiwanese contract manufacturer to produce one million iMacs with built-in 15in LCD screens, the United Daily News, a Chinese language newspaper, has reported.” Get the rest of the story at TheRegister. Our Take: I just wish Apple could also upgrade the iMacs to a low-end G4, with 512 MB RAM (memory is so cheap these days!), a better 3D graphics card and a CD-RW/DVD combo, all for $999. I would definetely get one of these!
Apple Signs Quanta to Build Next-Generation iMac
About The Author
Eugenia Loli
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSNews.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
Follow me on Twitter @EugeniaLoli
I’d love to see a decent G4 (700MHz+), at least 256M (preferably 512M), a nice sized HD, like 60 or 80G, and last but not least, a GeForce3 video card for the display.
<P>
I could take or leave the LCD display, especially at 15″ – too small! I’d rather see the iMac transmute into a form factor similar to the old Apple IIe, where you could just slide the CPU under the monitor/stand, and opt for a 17 or 19″ monitor.
<P>
One of the nicest designs Apple ever came up with was that 20th Anniversary Edition Mac, the one that had the vertical CD-ROM drive. That was sweet. Wish they’d actually gone ahead and introduced something similar to that, priced closer to the range that Mere Mortals(tm) could attain
I cannot ask for such high-end machine for iMac, as you do so, because I know that Apple would like to keep the high-end configurations for their Power Macs. The iMac, according to Apple, should be more low-end in order to have a good price. Based on these facts, I would be happy with something like this:
G4 CPU 500 or 600 Mhz.
512 MB of SDRAM (again, memory is extremely cheap these days!)
30 GB of hard drive
ATi Radeon VE 32 MB AGP (this is their cheap Radeon model)
DVD/CD-RW combo (one drive for both functions)
15′ LCD 1024×768 @ 75 Mhz, but if it has to be a CRT, I would definetely need 85 Hz on that resolution.
Slightly better speakers with a cheap on-board 3D source card
and also, the Developer’s CD to come with the rest of the software included.
If I could get that for $999, I would buy one tomorrow morning!
You made some good points about the low-end target market. If the configuration you describe ran OS X at a decent clip, I would probably let my arm be twisted into buying one, too
Still would like to see a 17″ monitor, though, if it’s a CRT.
Heck, who am I kidding? Apple will come out with what they want, despite my highly-opinionated wishes!
>If the configuration you describe ran OS X at a decent clip
MacOSX should run much faster in this configuration with the G4 at 500 instead of the today’s low-end iMac at G3 500 Mhz. Especially if the G4 come with some cache. G4s have some additional instructions in them over the G3s (comparable to x86’s MMX) so when used, software runs faster. Reportedly, MacOSX uses these instructions.
… Thanks, Eugenia
Any idea if the only multiprocessing G4’s are the higher end ones? It would be nice if Apple were to promote the multiprocessing aspects of OS X by releasing some lower-end machines with dual G4s, maybe at 400 or 500MHz. I always find it irritating that the dual processing solutions are so much more prevalent and inexpensive in the Intel side of the computing world.
Wouldn’t it be ironic if Jobs & Co. took up the original Be slogan of one processor per person isn’t enough?
>Any idea if the only multiprocessing G4’s are the higher end ones?
I think they are some to buy, I am not sure. These stuff are under the PowerMac label, are very expensive stuff. iMacs are like internet appliances products. Really low-end and you should not expect such things like SMP from them. They just offer the basic for today’s modern computers, but they run MacOSX (especially my requested configuration would rock for an iMac/MacOSX experience
.
You can get older dual 533 G4s in several places. Apple only offers dual systems in the upper price range, unfortunately.
Eugenia: On the Developer-Tools CD: You can still download the dev tools if they don’t come with your Mac, or just ask me, I have two of them IIRC.
Mmm, I would like it if apple came out with an affordable machine
with a normal vga connector, I don’t need a 15″ TFT…
I already have a 17″ TFT 🙂
Mmm, reading further on the register, the rumours that it could
be a detachable display aka webpad are nice…
maybe we’ll see it someday.
> On the Developer-Tools CD: You can still download the dev tools if they don’t come with your Mac.
<P>
Yes, but not with the crappy 33.6 kbps AOL I am cursed to use these days.
<P>
Thank you for the offer btw.
I don’t know about new Macs, but when Mac OS X is bought alone it comes with three CDs: Mac OS X, Mac OS 9, & Delevoper Tools.
Maybe, but when you buy an iMac you do not buy the MacOSX package, because it comes with the computer itself. So, it makes no sense for me to buy something for $129 when it is already included in the computer and the Dev Tools are available for free download, but I don’t have a DSL for them… A CD media only costs $0.30 pences these days, Apple should also offer the DevTools with the MacOSX package on an iMac.
Well, if it’s going to have a flat screen moniter I’d love to see it have one of their wide flatscreen moniters…
>Maybe, but when you buy an iMac you do not buy the MacOSX package, because it comes with the computer itself. […]
Yeah, I’m not sure what you get with the computer — I only know about buying it alone — but I agree, you should get everything.
the g4 has a SIMD unit called Velocity Engine. The Quartz display layer is optimized for SIMD (as is PhotoShop, Illustrator…), making even a low-clocked G4 very fast.
The memory beign cheap these days does not mean you will get it for free. Even if it is cheap, Apple will charge you more for 512MB than for 128MB. And the fact is that Apple charges a bit too much for RAM. The iMac is a low-end machine so Apple needs to keep it cheap.
I’d rather have only 128MB of RAM and be free to buy some extra non-Apple (i.e. cheaper) RAM aside. My iBook runs ok with 128MB for now.
The Developer CD does not come with the computer, unfortunately.
I was a bit disppointed about that, but no big deal, you can either download them for free, or you can buy the upgrade to 10.1 for $20 (which comes with the Developer Tools CD) on http://www.apple.com/macosx/upgrade/