Report: Apple leaks 17-inch iMac for $899?
(Credit:
Apple)
It's kind of funny when an Italian-language site breaks a wee bit of English-language-based Apple news, but that's what happened when SetteB.IT spotted a small mention of an $899 17-inch iMac for the education market on Apple's own Web site.
Currently, Apple is offering iMacs only in 20- and 24-inch screen sizes. The 20-inch model starts at $1,199, and the 24-incher starts at $1,499.
No word on when the "new" 17-incher will arrive (or if it's really new), but we'll await official confirmation from Apple.
Anybody interested? In this economy, I think the sub-$1,000 market is a good spot for Apple to play in--especially when it comes to cash-strapped parents of students.
(Source: Gizmodo via SetteB.IT)
Update: Wired's Gadget Lab is reporting that the "new" 17-inch iMac isn't really new and is just a reference to the old white plastic iMac 17-incher. Of course, Apple could very well do a 17-inch aluminum iMac at some point, so we'll see how this all plays out.
Hunkered down in New York City, Executive Editor David Carnoy covers the gamut of gadgets and writes his Fully Equipped column, which carries the tag line "The electronics you lust for." He's also the author of "Knife Music," a novel. E-mail David. Follow David on Twitter. 
In the end, don't feel betrayed. In the computer industry, the trend has been better specs for less price over the years. Everyone can look at todays models (regarless of brand) and say, "wow, that laptop I bought a few years ago is nowhere near as powerful as the one being sold today and for a lower price."
My guess is that the 17 inch iMac has a 17 inch monitor. Just a guess.
:)
an Apple Mac well into the sub 1k range
what did steve jobs leaving do to Apple?
Apple frequently has models available for education customers at reduced prices.
Non story.
Once again C|Net journalists FAIL at journalism 101: fact checking.
While I agree that whatever their 17" education iMac has spec wise that it will probably be a bit overpriced I think you are getting a little silly in suggesting that a single core netbook would be faster than a dual core iMac.
And that Apple-mouse that even Leo Laporte says you should throw out and get a real Microsoft mouse.
I assure you aluminium is easy to break.
Of course the trolls who actually think Apple would sell 5-year old tech just for education are completely clueless as well; Apple has NEVER sold substantially degraded product to education merely to charge a few hundred dollars less. None of their education products have less horsepower than the lowest level current retail unit, in this case a new MacBook or Mini.
The obvious reason is that to make money off education, Apple must use the same supply chain components as their retail lines do. They can't juggle out-of-date hardware in the same factories as new product because it would be too expensive to run disparate assembly lines with separate sourcing suppliers.
You know what's a waste of time? Reading your posts.
Windows labs just have a higher hardware failure, incompatibility with software, roaming profiles and network issues.
Any competent IT would also tell you they would rather have mac than windows machines.
Second- issues with software incompatibility? Please, don't make me laugh. PC's (as in non iMac or macbooks) are what everyone else has to play nice with ... remember that 90% market share for the rest of us? Do I worry about being compatible with Pages or Numbers? Hardly. My pc's and macs (we run both in my shop and at home) play nice with each other when it comes to MS Office and Adobe PS & Dreamweaver.
Third: Read up on roaming mandatory and super mandatory user profiles, your FUD will be dispelled. Fourth: Network issues? Please. If we employ the same logic as most applets do ... using ONE type of router and the same compatible adapter ... problems not only diminish, but the PC world offers much more configuration options as well as browser config control. Ever hear of UPnP, DDNS, and URL/keyword content filtering? Probably not if you use the Airport ... which, by the way, works great in an all mac world-if that's what your school board can afford to purchase.
"Any competent IT would also tell you they would rather have mac than windows machines"
Hold on a minute there applusr. I'd rather have PC's so I can keep my job. Macs don't require as much attention as Macs. You want to put us out of work?
ITDph : I only said they would like to have macs, but I also said that schools should have both platforms.
After purchasing an imac on ebay, I found it to be too cool. It wasn't a computer that I could use all day long. The frustration started with everything that wouldn't run. Even in bootcamp, I could never get the proper driver to make my dell printer print in color. Much of my software didn't run. The final clincher was the headaches I got off my 20" glass screen with its super-glare feature. Looking on the web for a cure, I was amazed at how many users had this problem and eventually gave up on their Mac or just restricted its use to several hours a day.
After 3 weeks of this, I sold my imac on ebay and made a few dollars. It appears there is always someone who is willing to value "cool" over praticality.
Please, don't say things that are too stupid to believe. Boot Camp was nothing more than partitioning software and some drivers for the Mac hardware. There was nothing there to cause your Dell driver not to work except for your pirated version of Windows. You have to understand how programs work before complaining.
The screen glare feature wasn't a case of blinding people, so there again you don't understand the issue. The glare folks complained about are serious mirror-like reflections that appeared in the black areas of the screen.
Now, what computer system was it you designed before Steve met Woz? Did you work at OSI? Did you design Paragons or Crays or Altairs? If you did, you would no better than the ignorance you are spouting.
Nut since it's a crApple .... it most likely WILL LEAK.
Don't forget to buy crApple Care. ..... YOU WILL NEED IT! Because Apple's are Guaranteed to croak a month after the warranty expires.
In truth though, when I made the switch to an 20" iMac after forever being Windows, I immediately wanted the 24".
People willing to take the 17" plunge should really just go for the larger sizes. You will be glad you did.
Anyways, if you watch and wait on the Apple refurbished Mac list, you can get a 20" iMac for less than that - hey, that's how I got the last Macbook.
Without knowing any of the specs beyond the size of the monitor I think we are jumping to conclusions in assuming that this machine wouldn't be a bad deal.
Apple should be ashamed of duping people of their hard earned money for such poor performance per dollar.
I wouldn't read too much into Fry's poor Apple sales as being indicative of Apple's success of failure.
have fun shopping and fry's and buying their reshelved, defective products. Yes, you can get a good deal there if you know what you are doing, but the average fry's shopper gets screwed by their shady practices.
do you even shop at Fry's?
RT
www.online-privacy.pro.tc
- by 3rdalbum March 22, 2009 1:57 AM PDT
- Yes, but will that 17 inch iMac run Snow Leopard + 1? Will certain Apple programs require "20 inch display or greater" and refuse to run otherwise? These are the real problems that potential buyers will have to look at, as Apple has a reputation of making its new software require the new operating system, and the new operating system will refuse to work on the old machine.
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- by grtgrfx March 22, 2009 10:18 PM PDT
- No, the idea that any new Mac would not run the current OS at time of purchase is ridiculous. Has never happened and never would. What a stupid comment. If anything, smaller displays have an EASIER time displaying advanced graphics, because with fewer pixels, they're less of a drain on the GPU. Where do you stupid posters get your ideas?
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Showing 1 of 2 pages (56 Comments)Why did Tiger require a Firewire port, after all? And why does Garageband's video tutorial require a dual-core processor?