“At the Apple headquarters in Cupertino, California, CEO Steve Jobs unveiled new iMac desktop computers on Tuesday, featuring a sleek aluminum-and-glass design,” Richard Koman reports for CIO Today. “Jobs spent most of his iMac talk cooing over the new aluminum-and-glass design. ‘It’s just stunning. It’s just gorgeous,’ Jobs said.”
Koman reports, “But the updates are modest, considering they were due to be delivered in June, observed Rob Enderle, principal analyst for the Enderle Group. ‘The iMacs were late and there’s no touch stuff,’ he said, arguing that ‘the iMac is lagging behind the HP TouchSmart.’
Koman reports, “He added that it’s ‘unusual for HP to be ahead of Apple’ in the all-in-one machines, and said that today’s announcements show that ‘for the past six months, the major work was on the iPhone and it pretty much eclipsed everything else.'”
Full article, Think Before You Click™, here.
MacDailyNews Take: Did we miss the announcement where Apple promised new iMacs in June? No, we did not, because Apple promised no such thing. So, right off the bat, unsurprisingly, Enderle is wrong.
Here’s a little test anyone can try: pretend that you’re using a vertical touchscreen for 5 minutes — single touches, please — HP’s so-called “TouchSmart” can’t do multi-touch. So, click around, manipulate pretend scroll bars, imagine some typing on the keyboard, then back up to the screen, back and forth, pointing and clicking for 5 minutes. We’ll wait…
What’s that, your arms are tired? You’d better start curling dumbbells, if you’re going to listen to dumbbells like Rob Enderle.
As Steve Jobs said yesterday, “Makes sense for the iPhone, not sure it makes sense in the Mac.”
A multi-touch UI for laptop, tablet, or kiosk Mac? No problem. For a desktop with a vertical screen? No.
HP’s suggests their thing is great for “checking the weather before you leave the office.” As if pointing and pressing icons on a vertical screen is somehow easier than simply squeezing the sides of a Mighty Mouse once to get the weather instantly via Dashboard as with Apple’s iMac.
Here’s another test: take a look at the machines side-by-side below:
Rob Enderle must be as blind as he is stupid. What the hell is that thing on the right? Does HP have even a single “designer” on the payroll? If so, the poor bastard got his degree at The Fugly Institute. Extraneous Nonsense is not a good aesthetic to follow.
HP’s conglomeration comes with an AMD Turion 64 X 2 Dual Core processor. Apple’s iMac comes with your choice of an 2.0GHz, 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, or 2.8GHz Intel Core 2 Extreme processor.
HP’s mess comes with a footprint of 21.77-inches! Apple’s iMac footprint is a mere 7.4-inches — or zero if you mount it on an arm. (You’ll need a medium-sized crane to “mount” HP’s pile of junk somewhere; we’d suggest a landfill, if they’d take it.)
HP’s contraption comes with Microsoft’s “Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium.” Apple’s iMac comes with Mac OS X and, if it must, can also run Windows. HP’s thing can’t run Mac OS X or iLife, iWork, Final Cut, etc.
The HP pile has a 19-inch screen and retails for $1,849.99. Apple’s 20-inch iMac costs $650.99 less at $1199.00. Apple’s 24-inch iMac costs $50.99 less at $1,799.00.
Apple’s iMac lags behind HP’s piece like a new BMW lags behind a 1991 Yugo with a flat tire. HP has never been ahead of Apple in all-in-one-machines — or anything else for that matter, beyond overcharging for printer cartridges and foisting low-end junk onto the PC market targeted at those occupying the left side of the bell curve.
As Steve Jobs said yesterday, “We can’t ship junk. There are thresholds we can’t cross because of who we are. The difference is, we don’t offer stripped-down, lousy products.”
Rob Enderle is simply an idiot — picking apart these Enderle messes sometimes makes us feel bad; it’s like taunting the retarded — but Richard Koman and other writers who continue to quote his nonsense are the ones who come off as the real morons.
that is the proverbial picture the ancient taoists had in mind when they coined the phrase “a picture is worth a thousand words.”
it is the contrast of elegance and WTF.
well done.
This guy is nuts.
However, so was Pol Pot and he still had his followers!
Here’s a little test anyone can try: How many people here thought Macs with a touch screen would be a good idea, that is, until Jobs decided for you that perhaps it wasn’t a good idea? How many here will say it’s a bad idea right up until Apple introduces a Mac with a touch screen?
Totally agree with you MDN. HP looks like an antique next to Apple’s iMac in every way. You did forget to mention that HP is using a 5 year old operating system called Vista to boot.
Underware just has no clue about Apple products and why anyone would want to pay two grand for that HP heap is beyond me. It’s about as elegant as an old lamp.
WTF? That HP bizarro PC is more elegant than the iMac? And when did Apple EVER promise the iMac in June?
Where does Enderle come up with this excrement? And why does he get quoted in the media? He’s a whore, plain and simple. What a total frigtard!
It never ceases to amaze me how moronic this guy who must not be named. He has never predicted any thing about Apple correctly–or even remotely close. Yet, you have the media quoting him as if his statements are facts. He has never even touched a mac. It’s ludicrous. Simply ludicrous.
What the hell is this world coming to?!
@shen:
try: …it is a juxtaposition of elegance and WTF.
There are truth in your words realist. We are always waist deep in fanboy poop here, nonetheless, the HP computer doesn’t measure up to the sheer elegance of both the iMac hardware and software. To suggest otherwise is simply an odd point of view.
Don’t forget the iMac is still an earthquake risk.
I would still rather use the first iMac, eMac, or Mac Mini, than having to look at this ugly piece of garbage. And Steve is right: why have a touch screen when you are sitting at a desk? Especially, if the underlying software is not delivering a decent User Interface Experience.
Well, I feel sorry for Mr. Enderle. Obviously, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. … I must see differently ….
Then again, somebody must buy that kind of garbage that’s being put out there.
MDN – you stated, “As Steve Jobs said yesterday, “We can’t ship junk. There are thresholds we can’t cross because of who we are. The difference is, we don’t offer stripped-down, lousy products.”
Where in the presentation was this stated? Did I just miss it in the Apple video? My guess though the response was from a Q&A session that was not captured in Apple’s video of the presentation? What was the context? To what question was he responding?
Or is this quote a summary intent of the message he was trying to get across?
Not trying to be a smart ass, I am asking because I’m genuinely curious.
Thanks.
Peace.
That HP thing is quite a contraption. Can that be called an all-in-one?
Meanwhile, on another note, for the bottom of your portfolio’s, RUTH -for Ruth’s Cris Steak House, is dirt cheap and on the rise.
Anybody who uses his brain would realise that you cannot make a desktop PC with a touchscreen display (unless the screen slides down).
It’s not about what Steve Jobs sais, it’s about common sense!!!
theloniousMac,
Oh yes, I agree completely with MDN about the idiocy of comparing the HP to the Mac. This article is yet another example showing why Enderle cannot be taken seriously. However, I didn’t feel the need to point this out myself, because I’m sure many others will do that for me. I do, however, object to when MDN makes fanboy-like statements, and I believe the point I made above reflects an example of that.
I think touch screens on a Mac for POS devices would be nice. Typing, which I do a fair amount of, while engaging most of my upper body muscles would be exhausting. I don’t really know until I try the imaginary device. Even if Steve delivered one personally to me, if it didn’t rock it didn’t rock. I’ll stick with the ol’ keyboard. Hate to waste that one quarter of typing in high school.
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Mac fanatacism aside – that HP thingie is pretty darn ugly in comparison. As my brother in law says “Even Ray Charles can see that!”
What the hell is all that extra junk on the HPos? Seriously, does it fold up like an accordion or something? I don’t get it.
MW: choice
Lurker_PC … it was in the Q and A at the end. I haven’t watched what is on-line yet to know if that was included, but MDN’s quote is accurate from the Q and A.
Look at that HP design.. anybody will see that HP design is plain ugly. Want to compare with iMac ? Don’t make me laugh..
But again, some people just don’t see it. HP are for the blind.
Look, realist, those of us who have been around a little are quite certain that touch-screens are awful. The term “gorilla arm” goes back to the ’80s at least, when it was light pens. But let’s not criticize anyone for thinking touchscreens would be cool, since they are cool. Just impractical.
HOWEVER — and this is a big however — current desktop touch-screen designs are all based on the idea of a monitor positioned vertically (as monitors always have been). But this monitor position is not based on ergonomics; it’s a concession to the needs of a CRT. It’s not very far-fetched to imagine a touch-screen positioned flat on the desk like a keyboard (with a slight incline, of course). Under this scenario you would have no physical keyboard and type with multi-touch when necessary.
You know if you check him out, the guy is a half baked marketing guy. He’s not a technology guy, by any stretch of the imagination. He has been hyping HP for some time now. He sits on an advisory council with HP.
He’s simply brown nosing.
He makes noise and just like the mainstream liberal press feeds off each other, the computer press is terribly redundant. So here comes Enderle saying Apple sucks, which is a somewhat unique point of view these days, and people beat a path to his door to quote him.
Many of us thought that a touch screen iMac was a bad idea before Jobs said anything. Contrary to popular belief mac users think for themselves and have differing opinions than those of Apple’s management team. Read some mac forums and you will hear the people that drink the supposed kool-aid complain about most things Apple does. We love Apple because they demand and deliver excellence, most of the time, as we demand it from them. Perhaps you are the one drinking the “Apple hating kool-aid” because you are the one that believes they can’t do anything right or that Apple users are too stupid to see product shortcomings. We point out the flaws too but somehow you don’t seem to grasp that.
A touch screen computer is a neat idea and really useful in a kiosk situation but not very practical for everyday use. True, it would be neat but the novelty would wear off after a few hours when you stop using it. After about 15 minutes of pressing the screen as you reach your arms across your desk you would realize that it really isn’t a good idea. I have no doubt that there would be instances where it could be a great tool but for most normal computing tasks it wouldn’t be anything but a headache.
@Mac Nut
Not Ray Charles! He can see it’s ugly.
Did I mention that the entire “group” as in “Enderle Group” is just him and his wife?
Hell. I’m gonna start a group.
What you can’t see my little friend there? He says buy a Mac or he’ll bite you.
It’s NOT just about elegance (though the iMac is positively gorgeous compared to that landfill reject). The comparable iMac is over $600 cheaper! Also, aren’t those AMD chips 64-bit? Which means they have to run the 64-bit version of Vista–which means this computer is NOT compatible with most Windows-based software (designed for the 32-bit version of Windows). Isn’t that right?!?!?
Nice compare and contrast article. You might also be interested to know what I heard on CNN’s Market Watch segment this morning regarding the new iMac.
They start off the segment describing Apple’s new iMac, with sleek video and stuff, saying that Apple has unveiled a highly recyclable PC. THEN they switch to utter lies. They said that “the green iMac will cost consumers a pretty penny because the new iMac retails for about $1,200 where the previous iMac generation retailed for only $400. WHAT?!? Sounds like they’re willfully spreading FUD about the new iMacs or they just stupidly confused the iMac and the Mac mini. Deliberate deception or stupid mistake…what do you thin?