Apple this week continued seeding new pre-release builds of Mac OS X 10.3.2 to developers, sources said. The company also detailed the update’s bug fixes to the High Level Toolbox frameworks. Also, Apple is to launch next-generation ‘New iMac’ desktops with magnesium-alloy cases early next year.
Apple Continues 10.3.2 Seeding; New iMac Cases
About The Author
Eugenia Loli
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSNews.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
Follow me on Twitter @EugeniaLoli
Also, Apple is to launch next-generation ‘New iMac’ desktops with magnesium-alloy cases early next year.
#define SELFISHNESS
…I hope they don’t get an idea to upgrade 12″ Powerbook early next year. It just ordered my first Apple ever, and it would be nice to at least have a state-of-art 12″ for a few months.
#undef SELFISHNESS
I hope this lowersthe price by a few hundred.
By the way, can anyone well-familiar with iMac construction explain why they can’t use VESA mounts to provide interchangeability of monitors? It would solve a “I can’t use the monitor for anything else once my iMac is deprecated” problem, wouldn’t it?
Finally apple has understood that iMac are overpriced.
Stability has another name under Linux, and maybe this pushed
apple to reconsider strategy. If they will lower by an average 350$ they could hit the market very hard.
We’ll see.
😉
Thanks.
I have never thought about it. I am in the doubtful process of decide to switch or not and you really hit the point.
You buy this very good LCD Monitor together with the iMac and when you will change it (a time always come) you simply treat it as waste…. A detachable LCD Monitor with DVI inputs could be considered better, but what about the design ? Will the new iMac look so good w/o the built in Monitor ? How do they make it detachable w/o raising costs ?
Hope Apple has the answers for that.
🙂
My impression of the article what that the disign of the enclosure wasn’t changing, just the metals used under the pretty white dome. So I’m not really sure how this will have that much of an effect on the price. I certainly wouldn’t think more than $100 US (if that much).
i can’t believe no one else has thought of this. it could mark the introduction of the g5 into the imac line. maybe?!?!?
That would really be cool! Let the power macs all have dual processors, and let the imacs be single processor with a lower clock speed. Right now, the emac look a lot like the imacs (except for the LCD display of course).
From what I understand, VESA mount is just four small holes for screws in the back of the monitor. So, the only thing required from Apple to make their LCD screens compatible is making those holes and changing their “arm” to be user-detachable. As a result, you have a monitor that you can put on any standard VESA mount and the base station without the arm can work as a home server somewhere in the corner.
Any ideas on the new shape? Will there be a new shape?
Most importantly will the finally build a box WITHOUT a tethered monitor! It seems to me that many consumers would enjoy having a Mac with having to replace their current monitors!
FREE THE iMAC!
Apple does build a box without a detachable monitor. The Power Mac G4 goes for $1300 at 1.25GHz and $1600 for dual. The single is $500 less than the 1.25GHz iMac…
Yes, a so-called iBox (just a sufficiently expandable monitorless box) is long overdue. However, Apple doesn’t make their own one and doesn’t allow others to make it. Expandability should not be a premium feature present only in $2K+ machines.
“Finally apple has understood that iMac are overpriced.”
Overpriced to generate the same sales ratios as the first iMac yes… overpriced as compared to PCs of similar specs no.
“Most importantly will the finally build a box WITHOUT a tethered monitor! It seems to me that many consumers would enjoy having a Mac with having to replace their current monitors!”
I dont understand what your getting at… Apple makes (and has always made) macs without tethered monitors.
$2k+????? The Power Mac G4 1.25Ghz is only $1,299.00 and about as expandable as one could ask for, imo.
Yes, $2K+. Canadian dollars + sales tax
I live in British Columbia. We got 7% GST and 7% PST (I might be off by 0.5% here). Both apply for computers, electronics, and so on. So it is higher, after all
.
Well, out bucks cost less then foodstamps, government tacks on taxes, and Apple intentionally screws everyone outside US on exchange rates (by about $100 Canadian in this case). It stacks.
Blame canada
Well, that’s what I do routinely
However, Apple also takes part in price jacking, so I would blame it a bit, too 
Use the money you save on prescriptions drugs, in which we pay the r&d
I don’t take any prescription drugs, and if you complain too much, we’ll burn your White House again
.
Both Australia and New Zealand have prices above exchange rate ( + tax ). New Zealand is really bad. To be honest, I dont think it is Apple USA engaging in gouging. Much more likely it is the local subsidiary trying to recoupe the costs of their business ( lower volumes, shipping etc ).
We all know that but he kept eluding to the notion that Apple was doing some sort of price gouging.
I wanted him to say it point blank because that was the crux of his argument.
To summarize, Apple sells all-in-ones and machines without a monitor included that are significantly less than the $2K cap Kobold was eluding to.
Your post at least allowed him to save a LITTLE face and duck out without dragging this on and on.
“and if you complain too much, we’ll burn your White House again
.”
Actually was the British… You don’t want to know what happened to ’em down in Louisiana, the Britsh that is…
Tax in Ontario Canada is 8% + 7%… 15%!!! I wish the prices were lower, I wish the dollars were closer… we be woikin’ on that one…
Apple has a lot of opertunities; tablets, pdas, dvPods, et al. It’ll be interesting as they reveal these tools, and of course bringing to the desktop features like full XML file system, practicle and useful 3d desktop space etc.
I’d like to see CAD/CAM (Pro/E level) solutions on OSX (it’s UNIX after all).
Jb
To summarize, Apple sells all-in-ones and machines without a monitor included that are significantly less than the $2K cap Kobold was eluding to.
They don’t sell expandable machines under that limit. eMac and iMac are definitely not what you call “expandable”.
Your post at least allowed him to save a LITTLE face and duck out without dragging this on and on.
Go ahead if you want, “drag” on. Show me how I am wrong.
Much more likely it is the local subsidiary trying to recoupe the costs of their business ( lower volumes, shipping etc ).
I could understand the increase in price if I was living in the middle of frozen wasteland
. However, I live in Vancouver. That’s just a little bit north of border, and it sucks to be charged more just because of that, doesn’t it?
Actually was the British… You don’t want to know what happened to ’em down in Louisiana, the Britsh that is…
Well, I was purposefully as accurate as Anonymous who claimed that I was stealing their drug R&D.
NZ and OZ prices are just a simple plain RIPOFF! That is what you get when you have a monopoly on product being sold over here!
“Apple has sold just over one million New iMacs since the first model hit the market in January 2002. However, the company sold over three millions units of its first-generation iMac in three years, said the sources.”
Do the math: 3 million units/3 years = 1 million units per year. Now, consider that they’re saying that the new model has sold *over* 1 million units and the year isn’t over yet. Where did those guys learn to write articles, or are they full of FUD?
As a New Zealand Mac owner I couldn’t agree more. Renaissance seems to love slipping a hard one to New Zealand Apple users.
Let me do a price comparison…
Power Mac G5 Dual-2GHz @ store.apple.com = $4635 (converted to NZD)
Power Mac G5 Dual-2GHz @ magnummac.co.nz = $6523
All figures are in New Zealand Dollars. So basically a Power Mac G5 costs a NZer $2000 more than it does an American. Not to mention the fact we get paid less in relation to prices etc.
“Apple has sold just over one million New iMacs since the first model hit the market in January 2002. However, the company sold over three millions units of its first-generation iMac in three years, said the sources.”
Do the math: 3 million units/3 years = 1 million units per year. Now, consider that they’re saying that the new model has sold *over* 1 million units and the year isn’t over yet. Where did those guys learn to write articles, or are they full of FUD?
Ummm… it’s been almost two years since January 2002.
On topic, the changes are likely to the internal structure of the iMac rather than anything cosmetic, but darn, a nice matte metallic casing would look nice.
I think its pretty obvious that if you want a system in which you can trade up monitors you won’t be getting an iMac G4.
There’s G4s right there at the Apple store for 1,299 and G5s at $1,599. Both are easily in the price range of an iMac G4 and offer the flexibility of getting whatever display you want. This is really a non-issue.
iMac G4 is an AIO. There are plenty of PCs that are AIO also that you also cannot upgrade the LCD display.
I remember the NeXT cubes being made out of magnesium alloy. I would like to see a magnesium alloy Cube added to the lineup. I wonder the new upgraded CHUD tools were not mentioned? I hope for 10.3.2 before the end of the year and who knows what suprises we will see at MWSF.
MOST of the price increase comes from your countries tax system. Here in the US, we do not includethe tax costin the price of a product becasue that is not something a company can control. you must remove the tax from the equasion to be fair.
of course,if you are buying from an apple reseller, you have to take into account a markup that the reseller might be adding. those extra bucks might not be apple, they might be the reseller gouging for a family vacation.
“Ummm… it’s been almost two years since January 2002.”
HOLY CRAP, I forgot what year it is! I’m embarassed now, thanks
upgrade the old classic imac with a nice new cover and price it starting at around $400 or $500 and you have something.
I also agree with previous posters regarding a headless imac but i’d add selling it at around $899 . A connected lcd seems like such a waste of a nice lcd.
the prices have come down during our recession but they need to come down further than where they are.
that recession ended almost 2 years ago, by definition, we have been in a flat economy for the balance of that time, much better than a recession, but not as good as a growing economy.
MOST of the price increase comes from your countries tax system. Here in the US, we do not includethe tax costin the price of a product becasue that is not something a company can control. you must remove the tax from the equasion to be fair.
I tend to add the tax to any purchase, since that’s how much cash I’d have to pay. It becomes a subconscious reaction. If I have to get more then 2K in cash to buy something, it costs $2K+, right? Of course, if I would compare two machines, I would either count it or not count for both of them, that’s without question.
of course,if you are buying from an apple reseller, you have to take into account a markup that the reseller might be adding. those extra bucks might not be apple, they might be the reseller gouging for a family vacation.
Well, while I can understand where my tax money goes (black hole
) and can’t change that, I don’t understand where that $100 that Apple charges in addition to American price (converted to Canadian) go. Shipping from China to Vancouver is certainly no more expensive them to Seattle (unless some distortion field makes trips to Vancouver take a lot longer).
So how long on 10.3.2? I’m anxious for Samba networking that WORKS.
like I said, a reseller is finansing his vacation.
Heh, other than a slight difference in weigh, users wouldn’t notice the difference between today’s zink case and next year’s magnesium alloy’s. They are covered by white polycarbon plastic anyway. The main reason is to reduce prices, I don’t need how prices would be reduced by spending a lad of cash on designing a new motherboard and other key components so they could use G5.
Canada’s government places an additional tariff on consumer electronics that can write to DVDs (and possibly CDs).
This is just my opinion but it seems to the new imac – while a really interesting piece of engineering – is a bit too extreme in looks for people that bought the original imac. The emac really is the new imac and the ilamp is in sort of an akward spot in their line up. The imac users that I work with are either completely happy with thier old imac or are are mulling over getting a emac (or ibook) vs bitting the bullet and getting a G5.
By untethered iMacs’ I mean, iMacs’ that compete with a $800.OO cnd Dell (P4 2.66 / 533)…Do you realize that 90% of users will be more than satisfied with a P4 2.66 … so the G4 1.25GHz tower with a entry point of $1800.00(without a screen) is not an option! That is why Apple needs an enry point non-tethered iMac.
A lot of these comments don’t make sense.
Why would you buy an iMac and look to remove its display and install PCI cards? They make Macs that do that in a price range that is actually lower than the cost of an iMac. Apple makes other computers besided the iMac.
“Apple shouldn’t raise or lower their price in certain countries. I hope Canada gets some Apple stores in the near future.”
I think the comments were illustrating that Apple doesn’t raise the price in other countries… (at least not more than what that country’s dollar amount is equal to.