“If Apple’s new iMac G5, which premieres this weekend, looks familiar, there’s a good reason: It resembles an iPod, supersized. By evoking the iPod’s slimmed down innovative design, Apple is betting the iMac G5 picks up some of the buzz – and the tremendous sales – the portable music player has enjoyed,” Mary Huhn reports for The New York Post. “The company could use the help: Apple’s share of the personal computer market has shrunk to 2 percent from 8 percent over the past decade.”
“In a case where form drives function, the new modern-art iMac is an all-in-one component that incorporates the hard drive and processor into the 17-inch or 20-inch display. A two-inch thick, pure white rectangle, it can be hung on the wall like a flat-screen TV,” Huhn reports. “‘People buy a plasma TV not just for the picture – they like the design. You hang it on your wall,’ said Michael Gartenberg, an analyst with Jupiter Research. ‘There’s a design element in the G5 that will attract a lot of folks out there.'”
Huhn reports, “Designers agree… With a starting price of $1,299, it’s also less expensive that previous Apple desktops. That may not compare to a Windows-based bargain for $500, but that’s not comparing apples to apples, say analysts. ‘I would compare it to a good name-brand machine, like a $2,000 Sony Vaio laptop. It’s expensive but worth it,’ said Mark Anbinder, a senior consultant at Cornell University. ‘I wouldn’t compare it to a $499 Dell system that’s advertised on TV. I’d compare it to a $1,500 decent product with decent support… It’s a powerful machine, compact and inexpensive and does everything the average user needs.'”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Cornell’s Mark Anbinder says the new iMac G5 is “expensive” in one sentence and then “inexpensive” in the next. Huh? How about “the iMac G5 seems expensive until you look at the features and specs, then you realize it’s inexpensive and really quite a great deal from Apple,” instead?
