New Intel iMacs on sale

[mlegower]

Originally posted by: mlegower
I still don't understand why they didn't move to AMD chips. They could have made their machines faster and more efficient than the PPCs and still differentiated themselves from the majority of OEM Windows PCs.

Originally posted by: ElFenix
AMD can't offer a whole platform together. intel can. intel makes the processor, the chipsets, the motherboards, everything. intel has lots of experience at coming up with innovative industrial designs (which aren't adopted by PC makers because of their razor thin margins). AMD does not.

And now I do understand. :]

 

[mikeford]

Anybody know yet what makes the pc a "mac"?

Any hardware reviews yet?

 

[nyker96]

does this mean we can mk our pcs into macs?

 

[killershroom1985]

Originally posted by: nyker96
does this mean we can mk our pcs into macs?

OS X has been on x86 since the developers got their copies. I've been running OS X on my amd athlon 64 for a few months now.

 

[mi1stormilst]

Originally posted by: mrVW
Where can I get a dual core dell for < $300?

Maybe he meant similar performance??? (-;

 

[ir0nw0lf]

Bad news for all of you thinking that these Macs will be able to install/run a current Microsoft OS -- they won't. Read on the net that these new Macs (not sure which ones if not all of them) will use EFI and not a traditional BIOS, meaning all current Microsoft operating systems won't install. That is unless someone can do a serious amount of hackery to get it to work.

EFI = Extensible Firmware Interface

due to Apple's use of the extensible firmware interface (EFI) rather than BIOS, current Windows releases will not run on the systems.

More info: Linky Link

 

[FrustratedUser]

Originally posted by: gravix

Originally posted by: Solema
By switching to Intel, Apple is exposing even further their ridiculous price premiums over comparable PC's. With essentially nothing but the OS and outer shell differentiating a Mac from a PC now, the disparity is obvious.

Couldn't agree more. I'm a former mac user, but these days the "Mac Tax" is absurd and frankly I don't think the OS is any better than linux. Steve Jobs puts some kind of trance on people to open up their pocket books, though, so I'm sure plenty of these new intel macs will get sold...

The bottom line here is:
Supply / Demand - you set the price, if they sell it's all good.

Sure, I like to see cheaper Macs too but after all they set the price and if they think they sell enough of them - the price will still be up there.

 

[BladeVenom]

Originally posted by: ncage

Originally posted by: Kraeji
i guess they got tired of slower processors

Umm how do you figure? IBM's Power processor processor is a very powerful processor.

Because Steve Jobs said it.

 

[Scarpozzi]

Does it play BF2 or Call of Duty 2?

 

[robertk2012]

Originally posted by: Winchester
They had a chance with me if the prices were <$1000 like other Intel powered computers. Heck I can get an equivalent Dell or eMachine for <$300.

Please show me. Id really like to see that.

 

[McPhreak]

Originally posted by: Scarpozzi
Does it play BF2 or Call of Duty 2?

Not yet. However, BF and COD are both out on Mac so there's no reason to think why they won't release BF2 and COD2 out on Mac as well.

 

[Gast]

Gah! to all of you nay sayers. I've been looking forward to this for a while. 1st off, those processors are not cheap. They are SEVERAL times faster than the Powerbooks and they consume ~the same power (or so Apples benchmarks say). Second, you are not just buying the hardware, you are buying the software as well. Don't forget that "Apple Office" comes with the computer as well. That in and of itsself is worth ~$300. There are several well designed apps that you would not get on the PC.

Now I will say there is such a thing as the "Mac Tax", but I would say it's no more than 10-20% than an equilivent PC would cost. That's roughly the difference of buying something at retail vs. buying it off of Amazon. And it's not like that money is just thrown away. Most of apple's hardware is well designed and in a very small/quiet formfactor. Not to say that apple doesn't have it's share of screwups everyonce in a while.

I'm really hoping to see some 3rd party benches, battery life, and some user reviews. I want to buy one so bad........

 

[AsianriceX]

Originally posted by: ElFenix

Originally posted by: Solema
By switching to Intel, Apple is exposing even further their ridiculous price premiums over comparable PC's. With essentially nothing but the OS and outer shell differentiating a Mac from a PC now, the disparity is obvious.

$1300 for a computer with 512MB of RAM and a slow 8x DVDRW drive that only does 2.4x DL? Ridiculous, Core Duo or not.

the 'way better than any PC maker has ever thought up' industrial design is much of it. plus, i bet they don't have leaking caps after a year like PCs. apple just doesn't have the 'cut costs at every turn' mentality that the average PC maker has.

No leaky Apple caps?

http://www.sudhian.com/showdocs.cfm?aid=665&pid=2529

One more site

http://www.oliver-kreuzenbeck.de/iMac_problems/iMac.html

 

[valkyriex]

Well, whatever the marked price is, you can always get it for 10% less online with the "student" discount.

 

[Lyfer]

I'm a huge mac fan an all but...$1.6k on a crappy dual core 2ghz cpu is fvcking rip-off!

 

[austai]

Originally posted by: Lyfer
I'm a huge mac fan an all but...$1.6k on a crappy dual core 2ghz cpu is fvcking rip-off!

You're a huge mac fan but you don't know or can't appreciate that each mac comes with tons of software the typical XP system doesn't have? How much is iMovie worth? GarageBand? The rest of iLife 06?

Even ignoring those apps, how much is not having to worry nearly as much about spyware and viruses worth?

If you don't care about iLife 06 or the reduced vulnerability of macs, or the industrial design, then macs aren't meant for you.

 

[handydave]

Originally posted by: Gast
Gah! to all of you nay sayers. I've been looking forward to this for a while. 1st off, those processors are not cheap. They are SEVERAL times faster than the Powerbooks and they consume ~the same power (or so Apples benchmarks say). Second, you are not just buying the hardware, you are buying the software as well. Don't forget that "Apple Office" comes with the computer as well. That in and of itsself is worth ~$300. There are several well designed apps that you would not get on the PC.

Now I will say there is such a thing as the "Mac Tax", but I would say it's no more than 10-20% than an equilivent PC would cost. That's roughly the difference of buying something at retail vs. buying it off of Amazon. And it's not like that money is just thrown away. Most of apple's hardware is well designed and in a very small/quiet formfactor. Not to say that apple doesn't have it's share of screwups everyonce in a while.

I'm really hoping to see some 3rd party benches, battery life, and some user reviews. I want to buy one so bad........

Folks, your not comparing like for like, kind of what Gast said.

These are LAPTOP processors in an Apple Dekstop. They aren't the P4 that are so cheap. If you want a fair price comparison, compare them to equivalent laptops from any of the WINTEL camps.


Here's a DELL:
http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/...cs=04&kc=6W300&l=en&oc=i9400sapp&s=bsd

 

[Avalon]

Originally posted by: austai

Originally posted by: Lyfer
I'm a huge mac fan an all but...$1.6k on a crappy dual core 2ghz cpu is fvcking rip-off!

You're a huge mac fan but you don't know or can't appreciate that each mac comes with tons of software the typical XP system doesn't have? How much is iMovie worth? GarageBand? The rest of iLife 06?

Even ignoring those apps, how much is not having to worry nearly as much about spyware and viruses worth?

If you don't care about iLife 06 or the reduced vulnerability of macs, or the industrial design, then macs aren't meant for you.

Reduced vulnerability? Just learn how to operate a computer. I did that years ago. I've run without spyware/virus protection forever, and never get anything. Just to keep things in check, I will install anti-virus/spyware software once every couple months to do a quick check, and I've turned out clean for years.

 

[awolkoff]

What apple needs to do is become an OS company. TONS of people would buy the mac OS for normal windows machines. They could sell it by saying "turns ANY computer into a mac."

:thumbsup:

 

[gwag]

Originally posted by: handydave



Folks, your not comparing like for like, kind of what Gast said.

These are LAPTOP processors in an Apple Dekstop. They aren't the P4 that are so cheap. If you want a fair price comparison, compare them to equivalent laptops from any of the WINTEL camps.


Here's a DELL:
http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/...cs=04&kc=6W300&l=en&oc=i9400sapp&s=bsd

Good thing someone has a brain around here.
People love to bash the mac but, if MS didn't have some one to copy off of you would just be getting windows ME this year.

 

[Yo2]

Originally posted by: cmv
Sweet! I don't own an Apple and I'm not all that enthusiastic about OS X (specifically, I don't find the UI "easy" or "intuitive") but this is cool. I wouldn't be surprised to see the prices come down. This is Apple. They don't "give them away" when they announce a new product.

ditto

 

[iamcdn28]

So what exactly are you little b!tches comparing the price of these laptops to? I hear you complaint, but I have to see one of you show another laptop with the same config for less. I can't even find a duel core laptop.

 

[rowcroft]

Nice thing about comparing it to the Dell is that the iMac and the Dell 9400 weigh about the same.... Dell ribbing aside I think people miss the point that these are not entry level systems.

You can buy a Mac Mini if you want entry level- also, I priced out a Gateway Intel Duo machine and with similar specs (slower video card, no firewire, no built-in video camera, no remote - great for presentations, no backlit keyboard) it was about $250 less then the Apple machine.

We're talking about 10-15% more for the Apple system. I don't know about you, but I would rather spend 10-15% more on just about anything for higher quality design and functionality (which the MacBook Pro has IMO). That's why I drive a BMW and not a Honda. What's great about an open market is that we all have the choice to buy what we want. Don't call me a MacZealot for buying a MacBook and I won't cut you off in your Accord.

 

[TrixAreForKids]

Cept if Apple's OS worked on any standard platform such as Windows, then Apple's OS would not be nearly as stable.

It's a lot easier to make a stable operating system when all aspects are controled.

Oh BTW, I am not a Apple user but I appreciate them and think that are very well computers. I don't think these computers are much overpriced. Apple's are expensive, that's the price you pay. But they are very nice if they have what you want.

 

[Lyfer]

Originally posted by: awolkoff

What apple needs to do is become an OS company. TONS of people would buy the mac OS for normal windows machines. They could sell it by saying "turns ANY computer into a mac."

:thumbsup:

FTW.