[lustiouss]

When will apple be releasing something for the PRO user in the iMac line?

[onlyafterdark]

Um, never?

The iMac is a consumer line.

[Banana]

Would be an interesting exercise, though. If they made it and managed to keep it upgradable and expandable, that'd be an insane machine, and probably a first AIO for professional..

Of course, it'll have to come with a tag of oh, $9,999 due to parts that aren't off the shelves.

So, no.

[MacRonin]

And the screen ratio is all wrong on that monstrosity of a mock-up...

[torifile]

No freakin' way. This 20" that I have in front of me is all *I* could handle without my head asploding. I can't imagine what real "consumers" (I think I fall squarely in the prosumer category) would think. And it would be outrageously heavy and expensive.

[Robo]

The only 30" all-in-one I can see would be a special 30th Anniversary Macintosh in April. A 30" iMac? No.

[Reid]

I still think the O'Grady "plasma mac" rumor could have some truth to it. What better living room PC could you conceive of than, essentially, a 30-40" LCD iMac (although probably not called iMac) with DVR functionality? They ought to be able to price it around $3,000 for a 30", and $4,000 for a 40", and would have to include a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse (in addition to the obvious remote). Certainly not within reach of everybody, but not unreasonable considering what you'd get.

And, of course, they'd be black.

[lustiouss]

torifile, I've been using a iMac 20" for the past year. Keep in mind that I am coming from a PRO user POV. I develop and design Audio, RIA, and Web Apps. Additionally, I have two other boxes that run Debian and Ubuntu, and another running XP. Note, I also watch DVD's directly on the iMac.

The iMac 20" was my 'switch' to the Mac platform and have been quite happy with my purchase. Yes, I could have went for the G5 desktop however, I choose the iMac instead. Why? AIO, screen real estate, portability and yes I'm a sucker for good design. Does any of this say that I am just a consumer target? (onlyafterdark) – no, case of, can only purchase a product that is being offered till it “gets much better”.

I'll be honest with you on the size factor too. I'm no longer a virgin -- the 20" is now comparable to a regular sized screen for me.

Here comes the kicker, why not a larger display, why not an AIO geared towards the PRO user, why just a desktop, why fall short on expandability? These are just questions I have from time to time (MacRonin, this isn't meant to be a design contest of any sort), I have needs like everyone else, don’t I, but more importantly, I'm sure that there "IS" a real market for high powered AIO for the PRO user if of course given the right balance to include expandability and upgradeability as Banana mention. Call me crazy but quite honestly, I could not fathom any other company taking this on, more so than Apple.

I ask, is it really far fetched to attain a PRO user machine, which may be some what a spin-off from the iMac? After all we have iBooks/PowerBooks/MacPro's. Who beside myself -- with my aforementioned usage would utilize a product like this if available on the market, whether that be today, a year or two from now?

Lastly, I think that the iMac’s are heading in a great direction and I see a lot of potential with that concept. Things could really get more interesting.

[Banana]

Well, PM is supposed to be expandable and upgradable. That's what make it PM, and "Pro Machine" because of that. For that reason, AIO wouldn't work that well, as I said above, because to keep the upgradability and expandability would require parts that aren't off the shelves, and making a already expensive machine even more expensive with potential for more issues.

It's nice idea, but not as sensible in terms of $.

Reid's suggestion of it being a media center is somehow more plausible, but I'm not counting on Apple to release anything like that.

[hotch]

Originally Posted by Reid I still think the O'Grady "plasma mac" rumor could have some truth to it. What better living room PC could you conceive of than, essentially, a 30-40" LCD iMac (although probably not called iMac) with DVR functionality? They ought to be able to price it around $3,000 for a 30", and $4,000 for a 40", and would have to include a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse (in addition to the obvious remote). Certainly not within reach of everybody, but not unreasonable considering what you'd get. And, of course, they'd be black.

my TV

[Artap99]

I never understood what people saw in Lost. At least it's not as bad as a 30" iMac that for some reason, even though it's stretched out quite a few more inches, still has a substantial chin.

[flail]

Why is this a thread?

[maccrazy]

I think a 23-inch is possible. Anything bigger than that is just too big for most people's needs.

[Doxxic]

[chucker]

Originally Posted by lustiouss Yes, I could have went for the G5 desktop however, I choose the iMac instead. Why? AIO, screen real estate, portability and yes I'm a sucker for good design. Does any of this say that I am just a consumer target?

Yes, it does. The iMac doesn't have any expansion capabilities. You can't put, say, eSATA, SAS, Fibre Channel in it. You can't replace the graphics card. You can't add another hard drive. For a professional, that's simply not an option, and it's not intended to be.

So, yes, you're a consumer, or a "prosumer" at best. A 23-inch iMac might happen, but 30 inches? I just don't see any target audience for that.

[psmith2.0]

Yeah, that's not what an iMac is for, lustiouss. You should be looking at towers and the standalone displays if you're truly requiring those professional features (expansion, upgradeability, etc.).

The iMac just isn't designed with that in mind.

Now that's NOT saying the iMac isn't a kick-butt, more-than-capable computer (we use them at my job and they're awesome: I'm doing "professional" print work with the Adobe CS2 software day-in and day-out).

But we don't require the things chucker lists, so we knew it was a better, smarter purchase for us (and coming off of 400-800MHz G4 towers, it's still a HUGE leap for us).

You say:

AIO, screen real estate, portability and...good design

That's the iMac, as is! Well, three of them anyway. As for "screen real estate", remember: these new Intel iMacs have DVI out and allow for spanning, so if it's screen real estate you're big on (and it sounds like that's the major factor for you), you can get a separate, large-as-you-want display and have it sitting beside the iMac.

But I have to say: I'm nothing but pleased with the 20" iMac's 1680x1050. Every day I come in and sit behind it, it's like I'm in a movie theater!

The day Apple releases a 30" iMac is the day I...well, I don't know.

I could almost imagine them doing a 23" model (just to be cute and get some geek applause), but it'll probably cost $2,000 or so. Who is going to spend $2,500 (or much higher, most likely) on a 30" AIO?



Nobody I know...

[MrENGLISH™]

I have a Rev A 20" iMac G5 and it's got some weight to it.... I can't even imagine how much heavier a 30" iMac would be. I've used the 30" display before at my previous job and to me it was too much space. Only worked good when I was using After Effects and my project had 50+ layers. 20" iMac is big enough in my opinion but if they were to make it bigger I can't imagine them going higher than 23".

The day they release a 30" iMac is the same day they release a 20" MacBook Pro

[intlplby]

i think this would be doable if there was some sort of connector from the iMac to maybe a "mini upgrade tower"

kind of like a small white box that houses slots for extra HDs and PCIexpress slots..... basically you can have the computer entirely in one form factor and when it's time for you to upgrade with more components you just buy an expansion box....... it wouldn't be necessary except for those of use with lots of extras in our comps, those of use who are already using towers anyways

i personally already use a minitower with my powerbook that houses 4 HDs..... it would be awesome if i could also have two PCIexpress slots in there so i could use a PCIexpress soundcard instead of also needing an external soundcard too....

the minitower could be used with any of apple's products - iMac, MacBook Pros........ it allows desktop expandability for portables when used at home..... that would be nice... you'd just need some sort of connection that allows a lot of throughput for all the extra devices

[chucker]

Originally Posted by intlplby the minitower could be used with any of apple's products - iMac, MacBook Pros........ it allows desktop expandability for portables when used at home..... that would be nice... you'd just need some sort of connection that allows a lot of throughput for all the extra devices

The problem with that is that there are no external interfaces fast enough to house PCIe cards. The closest you could get is probably ExpressCard.

[intlplby]

it would have to be an apple proprietary solution, but it would be cool to have someone do it... if anyone can it would be apple because they like to control everything... in this case they would be making the connector on the computer end and the expansion tower end

[xyzzy]

Never...at least not within the same design. I had a 20" iMac for 1 week and it was already too ugly (I got rid of it for other reasons though). One day Apple will realize that their glossy white scheme can only be scaled up so far before it starts to look hideous. That boundary exists somewhere between a 17" and 20" iMac IMO.

[kieran]

I disagree...

..while the 30" Cinema is entirely way too much real estate for most people's needs, most will agree that it still fits in with the rest of Apple designed hardware...

The 30" is gorgeous..

[bassplayinMacFiend]

Originally Posted by Artap99 I never understood what people saw in Lost.

Adibesi from Oz (the HBO series) stars in it. Oh yeah, at one point Delenn from Babylon 5 was in the show as well.

Actually, I've never watched the show so I couldn't tell you.

[JK47]

I would settle for a 23 inch......and by settle, I mean if Apple made one, I would buy immediately.

[Buthidae]

Holy Illegal Instruction Batman!

The iMac is squarely a consumer line. I could never see Apple making one with an insanely sized screen like that! Who on earth would pay for that?

Of course... now that I've said that, Steve will want to go make me look like an idiot...

[Robo]

The 30" screen costs $2,499 right now.

Even if Apple drops the price to $1,999 soon, that would still mean that a 30" AIO would probably start around $2,999.

For that kind of money, it had better be more than a 30" iMac.

I think that the next-gen iMac will have a 20" screen standard. Maybe a 23" screen will be available. But again, the only 30" AIO I can see Apple making anytime soon would be some special anniversary edition, and I think even that is unlikely (but it would be cool).

I don't like saying "never," but a 30" iMac is almost as ridiculous as that screen ratio. (Sorry.)

[Brad]

Originally Posted by flail Why is this a thread?

I wondered the same.

This kind of nonsense should stay in the mockup thread.