Apple to drop sub-$500 Mac bomb at Expo

[Tim Dorr Veteran]

With iPod-savvy Windows users clearly in its sights, Apple is expected to announce a bare bones, G4-based iMac without a display at Mac 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 PowerPC 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.

Along with lowering costs by forgoing a display (Apple's entry-level eMac sells for $799 with a built-in 17-inch CRT display), the so-called "headless" iMac will allow Apple's target audience -- Windows users looking for a cheap, second PC -- to keep their current peripherals or decide on their own what to pair with the system, be it a high-priced LCD display or an inexpensive display. Sources except the device to feature both DVI and VGA connectivity, although whether this will be provided through dual ports or through a single DVI port with a VGA adapter remains to be seen.

The new Mac is expected to have a Combo drive only, but possibly an upgrade path to a SuperDrive at a higher price. It is unclear how big the hard drive capacity will be, although sources indicate it will be between 40GB and 80GB.

Other expected features of the iMac include:

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

In terms of software, Apple will include a special iLife suite (minus iDVD) as well as AppleWorks, sources believe.

The new Mac is expected to be introduced by Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs at his keynote address on Tuesday, January 11, but is not expected to be available until later in the first quarter. Sources indicate "issues" have arisen in production of the new Mac, but that Apple never planned on shipping the new device immediately upon introduction. The plan is to air freight the new model from its manufacturing plants in Asia for at least the first three months of shipments, sources report.

The announcement of the new, inexpensive Mac will be a dream come true for Mac aficionados who have begged and pleaded for years to see just such a PC. Until now, the company has downplayed speculation that it would get into the low-end PC market. "In terms of our pricing, I feel very good about where each of our product lines are priced," Peter Oppenheimer, Apple's CFO, said in October. "To date, we have chosen not to compete in the sub-$800 desktop market and have put that R&D investment in expanding our products in the music area, in software, and in hardware."

So what has changed to motivate Apple in producing a low-cost Mac? In a word, iPod.

"Think of your traditional iPod owner," said a source. "This new product will be for a Windows user who has experienced the iPod, the ease of use of the iTunes software, and has played around with a Mac at an Apple retail store just long enough to know he'd buy one if it were a little cheaper."

Apple executives announced on October 13 that 45% to 50% of its retail stores customers bought a Mac as their first PC or were new to the platform in the fiscal fourth-quarter. The company has refused to divulge more exacting figures on iPod buyers who also buy a Mac, for competitive reasons.

According to sources, internal Apple surveys of its retail store customers and those buying iPod's showed a large number of PC users would be willing to buy a Mac if it were cheap enough, less of a virus carrier (which all Macs already are), and offered easier to use software solutions not available on Windows-based PCs. Now, Apple feels they have the answer.

Apple has been working on the low-end Mac for almost a year, sources report. Indications are Apple has been working mostly on finding the right mix of price, performance and features that would motivate Windows users to consider a Mac, and less on the actual engineering of the product. "It doesn't take a rocket scientist to design a bare-bones PC," said one source familiar with the project. "What it takes is a team of marketing and software experts to find the right mix to convince Windows users to buy a Mac at a price that is not much more than the cost of an iPod."

Source: http://www.thinksecret.com/news/0412expo2.html

[KeR]

awesome I'll get me one...this is a good move for apple.

[Fedorpheux]

they have cheap PCs, too...and it didnt take them this long to think of cheap PCs....whoopee :rolleyes:

[blackice912 Veteran]

I'll snatch one of these up!

[Porsche Design]

can i get one?

yes, finally

[sfalcon]

Semi-intriguing. But I've seen laptops for sale around this price with better specs and a built-in display. I may consider picking up one of these though if they do it right. Memory hopefully will be upgradeable but I doubt it.

[thetman]

i have little money, too many computers and no space or real use for it, but since its made by Apple Ill buy one for the hell of it, plus ill bet it will look pretty damn cool

[NetRyder]

Not bad. Finally, a step in the right direction. :)

Will be interesting to find out more.

[acoustikrage]

awesome, i want.

[randy_tho]

Ok so they are marketing a 500 dollar computer to someone that drops 300 bucks on a dedicated music player. It just seems wrong. I mean can't you just see someone hooking up that old 14" crt to one of these. Suddenly Apples aren't so "pretty".

And if you add an LCD you have an expensive slow computer. :)

[ssvegeta384]

Finally, I can afford a Mac!

[New Hack City]

If this is legit then that's me switching to Mac OS X.

[dt]

Awesome.

Though I don't expect to get one, I guess that they will call this the iMac micro to go along with a possible new flash-based iPod micro, also to be released on the same expo. ;-) I'm just guessing, though!

[CaKeY]

This is a great move for Apple. If I didnt know better I'd say they're actually trying to compete with microsoft. However, if it were up to me I'd make the 56k modem an option and add an extra 256 megs of ram instead.

[MR_Candyman]

interesting...I'll keep an eye out for it...might make me adopt one

[habtro]

oh goody, better get one of these when it comes out :D

[SOB BOT]

I didnt see this coming at all, it sounds awesome though!

[Tim Dorr Veteran]

Ok so they are marketing a 500 dollar computer to someone that drops 300 bucks on a dedicated music player.  It just seems wrong.  I mean can't you just see someone hooking up that old 14" crt to one of these. Suddenly Apples aren't so "pretty".

And if you add an LCD you have an expensive slow computer. :)

585188481[/snapback]

Well, I think this is marketed to people that may already have a PC. In that case, then they have the LCD or display. Just throw in a cheap VGA/DVI switch box, and you're good to go :)

I think this might be an excellent router/firewall/fileserver for my network.

[Joseph B]

If Apple does this... :D :D :D = That is all you will be seeing.

[imtoomuch]

The question is how slow will it be? It's not worth even $500 if it's too slow.

[stardotstar]

hey that's awesome news, I would love to get a hands on a mac. They've been too expensive for me with my budget

[ahfunaki]

very cool, funny though that you can get this for the price of an ipod photo...lol

[Tim Dorr Veteran]

The question is how slow will it be?  It's not worth even $500 if it's too slow.

585188747[/snapback]

1.25Ghz G5 supposedly, but because it's running on OS X there really isn't a basis of comparison coming from another operating system. I found my iBook fast when I got it, and it was only a 900Mhz G3!

[randy_tho]

this might be an excellent router/firewall/fileserver for my network.

I don't see the point in spending that cash on it for any of those uses. You can get something that functional with a 150 dollar computer on Ebay and 60 dollar hard drive.

Depending on how small this thing is I don't see the point. And I wouldn't pay an extra 300 for the size. I see this as more a ploy to try to enter the low cost computer market backed by the over marketing typical of Apple.

I guess if you just wanted to run OS-X for some reason this would be the way to go without dumoing a ton into a new machine.

[NetRyder]

I don't see the point in spending that cash on it for any of those uses.  You can get something that functional with a 150 dollar computer on Ebay and 60 dollar hard drive.

585188905[/snapback]

True. Most people who have dedicated firewall/router boxes at home just use cheap, old machines running Linux/FreeBSD, and they work perfectly well. You really don't need a $500 1.25GHz Mac for something so simple. ;)