“Apple Computer is working feverishly on the design of a new Macintosh computer that the company hopes will strengthen its position in the education sector when it goes on sale later this year,” Kasper Jade reports for AppleInsider. “The new low-cost PC, which will act as a replacement for Apple’s now defunct eMac line, appears to be on track to catch the latter half of the 2006 educational buying season.”
Jade reports, “In keeping true to its roots of designing educational Macs as plug-and-play solutions, people familiar with Apple’s product roadmap say the company is building the new Mac around an all-in-one enclosure. Though unlike the eMac, which employed cumbersome CRT-based displays, the new educational computer will follow a design pattern similar to the company’s LCD-based iMac Core Duo desktops, these people say. The departure away from CRT displays and towards pricier flat-screens means that Apple will have to carefully balance its component costs and shave as much as possible off the computer’s bill-of-materials if it plans to hit a home run with educational institutions.”
“The computer’s new industrial design is expected to eliminate some of the financial complexities of the eMac. One of the pitfalls Apple discovered while building the unwieldy CRT-based Mac was that its bulbous enclosure quickly became one of — if not the most — expensive part of the computer to manufacturer,” jade reports. “In using its new iMac design as a blueprint for the eMac replacement, Apple will also save on freight and packaging costs that will result from the computer’s substantially smaller footprint and lighter weight . It’s also believed that the Mac will borrow industry standard components already employed by Apple’s Mac mini and MacBook line of consumer PCs, enabling further cost reductions… It’s still unclear whether the computer will be made readily available for purchase by the average consumer.”
Full article here.
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Related MacDailyNews articles:
RUMOR: Apple working on low-cost 19-inch widescreen CRT all-in-one eMac successor – March 27, 2006
Apple ends eMac consumer availability, the ‘e’ is just for education again – October 12, 2005
single core Intel CPU (with integrated graphic) + small LCD = Mac Mini + 12-13″ LCD display. Likely either WiFi or ethernet but not both, 1-2 USB, no firewire, no bluetooth/IR/frontrow, no isight cam. 512 base, single RAM slot.
This is not rocket science.
There you guys go again . . . Apple does not have to be creative at all, just secretive. This fuels the a zillion rumors & then apple just skims off the best ideas from those rumors.
Mintdog said “no firewire” and no FrontRow, but I disagree. Some schools use their school machines for video projects. Firewire will still be useful for camera connections. FrontRow is just software, so it can stay – no cost there. I agree that the IR, Isight, and Remote have to go.
The easel concept is quite intriguing. The most stable shape in geometry is a pyramid. Let one side flare out for the square screen, and you’d have a shape new to the industry, quite unique, eye-catching and unmistakable, but still as functional, stable, and user-friendly. Now if you could make it attractive and take advantage of it to make the ports integrated usefully (on the back leg?), with some of them easy to reach, and the industry wouldn’t be able to stop talking about it.
On the other hand, if I were a school system, why would I buy all-in-ones, paying the cost of an LCD as well, only to have to replace them in 3-4 years and repeat that cost. What’s wrong with the Mini for education?
Here’s an idea – can keep the Mini form factor for all future education computers, but create an LCD housing into which it can be inserted – like a cartridge. Each upgrade cycle you just buy a new Mini, transfer whatever needs to be transered (not much, on an education machine – maybe nothing), slap in the new one, and sell the old ones . Now that LCD technology so greatly exceeds CRT’s for longevity, and since I don’t see any near-term replacement for them that can match their cost, it’s a perfect solution. Every sale you get, you lock that buyer into future upgrades with your own products, because they won’t want to switch from it in the future and repurchase something incompatible.
What do you think? Can Apple create something like this simply, cheaply, and elegantly?
Grrrilla,
Hey I like the idea of the mini cartridge! About time someone does an all-in-one with user-swapable components.
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”smile” style=”border:0;” /> Just please make the cartridge so it can be unlocked and swapped literally within seconds.
What do you think? Can Apple create something like this simply, cheaply, and elegantly?
First, Apple would have to commit to the mini cartridge as a standard. No dropping the form after a few years, when your installed base is ready to upgrade (think PowerBook Duo).
Second, both the CPU and monitor would have to be usable as stand-alones. School boards are cold to the idea of vendor-specific lock ins, but they DO like the word “flexibility”. Having the CPU and monitor usable as either all-in-one or in components would be a good selling point.
And third, Apple would be putting itself against $200 Dell monitors. If Apple prices too high, customers will just say forget the all-in-one, and buy cheap monitors for their regular minis.
Apple can do it if they want to. We’ll see what happens!
The redesign should be flat, stackable, and easy to store on rolling carts. They should be dumb terminals that load off of XServe.
Right on mintdog about the hardware.
They could make a cheap 15″eMac, single core chip with a new stable design computer and still meet the margin requirements for steve-o.
Of course what they don’t want to do is take sales away from the iMac so it will have to be dumbed down a bit like your options.
too many rumors not enough products
yen no ka…nya no ruun emac betiru…ai no abis benokon…