I have to say that I’m rather upset with Apple at the moment, they’re going to some pretty radical extremes – from my point of view at least.
Apple, many months ago, announced that an iMac update was in the works and the potential release date of August will now have consumers looking for a brushed aluminum enclosure that’s only about two inches thick. This new enclosure will somewhat resemble the current white iMac but it’s said to feature a shorter space below the actual display where most of the internals are housed.
What annoyed me about this redesign is the fact that with it the 17″ iMac is more than likely going to be discontinued. The 17″ iMac is one I’ve been looking into for many years now but never had the $1200 I needed in order to purchase it. Now the only ones that will be available to the public are the 20-inch and 24-inch iMacs. Both of which come with a hefty price tag, naturally.
What bothers me is the fact that children, new to computers, will be using a 20″ iMac before I am! The 17″ iMac was what many consumers considered the inexpensive way to introduce Apple technology into the home. Yes, there’s the mini-mac but even that’s being tossed out the window. You have to wonder why Apple is going to such extremes, are they losing that much money on current products that they feel the need to change them over to less, financially-friendly options?
I don’t think the 17″ iMac should be discontinued and I also don’t think that updating the iMac to some kind of brushed aluminum is really the way to go. Consumers like the simple white computer sitting on their desk, it’s easily recognized as the iMac, even on television shows for crying out loud! Then I got to thinking about how this could work to their benefit. We have the MacBook and the MacBook PRO. Why not create the aluminum version as an iMac PRO and then throw some more mods into it that would make it more of the high end iMac and leave the current ones alone? That’s just my take on it, of course.