SillyDog701

[DJGM]

The following snippets are from popular Mac rumour site, ThinkSecret.com . . .

EXCLUSIVE: Apple to drop sub-$500 Mac bomb at Expo.

December 28, 2004 - With iPod-savvy Windows users clearly in its sights, Apple is expected to
announce a barebones, G4-based iMac without a display at Macworld Expo on January 11
that will retail for $499, highly reliable sources have confirmed to Think Secret.

The new Mac, code-named Q88, will be part of the iMac family and is expected to sport
a G4 processor at a speed around 1.25GHz. The new Mac is said to be incredibly small
and will be housed in a flat enclosure with a height similar to the 1.73 inches
of Apple's Xserve. Its size benefits will include the ability to stand the Mac
on its side or put it below a display or monitor.

Other expected features of the new iMac include:

* 256MB of RAM
* USB 2.0
* FireWire 400
* 10/100 BASE-T Ethernet
* 56K V.92 modem
* AirPort Extreme support

If it's true, and the unit is reasonably affordable, I might get myself one next year . . .


The full article at ThinkSecret.com

Details also at TheRegister.co.uk

[i]Subject changed from “Apple planning new cut price iMac . . . ?â€

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[Al]

I might consider it, when I see the prices for Canada. After all it is a G4

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[Don_HH2K]

That's good, but wait. How do you have an iMac without a display? Haven't iMacs always had integrated displays?
If they use the Power Mac cases, then that's fine, but it might be a bit akward to have an iMac "stub" (as I might call it) sitting on my desk, while using some other montior that hardly looks like something Mac-esque. But either way, for a price like $500 (and even a sub-$1000 Mac), how could I resist?

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[Antony]

ThinkSecret is somehow usually accurate on its prediction (or report). However, please keep in mind that before items officially announced by Apple, such report is considered as rumour.

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[Al]

That's good, but wait. How do you have an iMac without a display? Haven't iMacs always had integrated displays?
If they use the Power Mac cases, then that's fine, but it might be a bit akward to have an iMac "stub" (as I might call it) sitting on my desk, while using some other montior that hardly looks like something Mac-esque. But either way, for a price like $500 (and even a sub-$1000 Mac), how could I resist?

Wow, imagine a PC moniter on a Mac with a price that is what a dell would cost

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[Mandrake]

Wow, imagine a PC moniter on a Mac with a price that is what a dell would cost

Dell has a PC that includes a 17" monitor for $440 (USD).

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[Andrew T.]

I myself think that the idea of a new low-price Mac without the bane (or benefit, depending on your opinion) of an integrated monitor is a great idea. At only $500, such a model would be inexpensive enough for most anyone to consider. And since I've never cared for tower cases, I'm also thrilled at the idea of a Mac desktop system in a case that can be horizontally opposed to sit under a computer monitor.
As on the eMac and iMac, the case's compact form factor ought to severely limit or eliminate any opportunities for internal upgrades or expansion, however.

Will Apple Computer indeed introduce a new iMac model with specifications similar to these? I guess we will find out at Macworld Expo on January 11.

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[Andrew T.]

Well then...

It seems that Apple Computer itself isn't too happy about these "rumors" being posted. According to this Reuters UK article:

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Apple Computer has sued a popular Macintosh rumour Web site for allegedly distributing trade secrets, the latest in a string of lawsuits the company has filed to stop Internet leaks of details of upcoming products.

The latest suit also lends credibility to recent rumours about a Macintosh computer without a display and an office productivity software suite that surfaced in the run-up to Apple's annual trade show held here next week, where CEO Steve Jobs typically unveils new products.

Apple, in the complaint filed on Tuesday, sued Web site Think Secret and other unnamed individuals, claiming that Think Secret had induced these individuals to breach confidentiality agreements that they had signed with Apple.

Apple claimed that the information posted on Think Secret in November and December of this year, and earlier, could only have been obtained by someone who had signed a confidentiality agreement with Apple.

[. . .]

Apple is suing ThinkSecret.com for inducing individuals to breach confidentiality agreements concerning this news! I agree that this reaction on Apple's part would appear to increase the credibility of these rumors.

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[izanbardprince]

Actually, I'd be happy if they would just port Mac OS to PC hardware.

There is a pre-alpha release of an emulator that can run Mac OS X under Windows XP, EXTREMELY SLOW though, I think they said if you wanted it to run in real time you would need a Pentium 4 running at about 150 Ghz

Of course this is due to the overhead of emulating the kind of hardware Mac OS is expecting to run on, if they ported it to run natively on the PC, it would probably perform pretty well.

Of course, if Apple released Mac OS on decently priced hardware, they would lose their huge margin per sale, so that will never happen.

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[Antony]

There is a pre-alpha release of an emulator that can run Mac OS X under Windows XP, EXTREMELY SLOW though

The "pre-alpha release is called PearPC, please [sdt=5623]see this thread[/sdt]. And please make sure you use a licensed copy of Mac OS X when you run it under the emulator.

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