Some more thoughts on a mid-tower Mac
Posted by Dennis Sellers 
Apr 22, 2008 at 6:04am
No one knows Mac gaming like Peter Cohen at Macworld. In a recent column, he says that “interest in Psystar shows market for gaming Mac.” I think he’s right, though I’d niggle over some of the details.
In case you haven’t heard, Psystar is the company that’s promised an “OpenMac” Mac clone. However, it’s also caused a storm of controversy over its questionable promises and more than a hint of vaporware.
Before we continue, read Peter’s article. I’ll wait.
Okay, back? Good. I think Peter is correct in thinking there’s a market for a mid-range Mac. However, I disagree with his assumption that for Apple to take advantage of that market, Apple would have to allow Mac OS X to be run on non-Apple boxes. I think that a box introduced at near the same prices as the iMac (above the Mac mini) that had some basic expandability would sell like hot cakes.
There are places where the iMac and the Mac mini make sense. But an expandable box between the two would be great. I think the group of customers for such a box is made of two types of people. The first is the gamer. The second is the person that wants an expandable system for longevity.
On the other hand, if Apple merely made it possible to upgrade the graphics card in the iMac, the iMac could fill this niche as well as its current spot as an all-in-one for the consumer/prosumer market.
Thoughts? Write me at dsellers@macsimumnews.com
“Macsimum News” is a proud supporter of Planet Gumbo, which feeds the hungry. We urge you to help them in their efforts.
Al Says:
I think a mid-price headless Mac will never happen unless Apple drastically reconfigures its business plan.
A midsize box is an open invitation to modders and tinkerers. The same demographic who are into jail breaking the iPhone. Apple is probably pretty wary about what this group can do to their rep/brand name. They’ll try out all sorts of modifications, basically violate the EULA, then raise a stink when their machines get hobbled or bricked, demanding that Apple come up with fix for a ‘bug’ that they ‘discovered’. They’ll also be the 5% of users who #### up 80% of Apple’s support resources.
Nope, a midsize tower will just end up as a fuel source for the anti-Apple FUD machine. As an AAPL holder, that’s against my interests.
Posted on April 22, 2008
Al Says:
Ah, c’mon. That was kcus backwards in a totally benign context and it got censored?
Posted on April 22, 2008
Looking For Options Says:
Now that Apple has destroyed the iMac with lower resolution glossy screens that distract and distort in their attempt to appeal to the PeeCee crowd, an iMac is no longer an option. I like the mini, but cannot abide Vampire Video. I also do not need an over $2k Pro tower, so building a white-box looks to be in my future.
I have been using Macs since the days of 9” B & W screens and have bought a truckload of Macs over the years. However, I want a real video card that I can upgrade and will not, under any circumstance, buy another glossy screen Macintosh.
It’s Apple’s choice- not mine.
Posted on April 22, 2008
Chris Says:
Here’s what’s wrong with Apples “Let them eat cake” attitude.
1. You can’t get an iMac with a non-glossy display.
2. You can’t upgrade the video card in an iMac with a standard PCI-E graphics card.
3. You can’t get a Mac mini with anything better than integrated graphics.
4. You can’t get a Mac mini with a 3.5” hard drive.
5. The Mac Pro is way too expensive for anyone but businesses and the wealthy.
My Core 2 Quad powered Hackintosh cost me less than $1000 and performs as well or better than the Mac Pro I have at work and has a much more powerful video card. It’s a hassle to keep it updated and patched and I’d gladly have paid $500 more for an official Mac but because of the above I don’t really have a choice.
There is a market for a mid size tower and Apple is leaving money on the table by not going after it.
Posted on April 22, 2008
RoDe Says:
Apple will never create a mid size tower. So don’t hold your breath for that one, cause you’ll suffocate.
I totally agree that a non-glossy option for the iMac is a must. I also think they should make the iMac more accessible. There is room for a second HD, so why not. I also think they should offer more GPU options. Maybe not SLI but an NVIDIA 8800GT would go a long way.
Posted on April 22, 2008
Peter Says:
One of the things to remember, also, is that the box itself has to be big enough to hold the card. Sure, Apple could add an expansion card slot for a different graphics card. However, it doesn’t help much if you can’t fit it in the box.
Think of the PowerMac Cube. Beautiful enclosure, small size, and it had a slot for a graphics card! But there were only two cards, from NVidea, that would actually fit. Thus, the whole “Apple could add it in the Mac mini!” is a non-starter. I think even the iMac is questionable (unless they went back to the iMac G5 case).
Posted on April 22, 2008
Chris Says:
[Al Says:
Nope, a midsize tower will just end up as a fuel source for the anti-Apple FUD machine. As an AAPL holder, that’s against my interests.]
Well, that’s already pretty much the case. There are thousands out there like me that gave up on Apple and built their own. As an AAPL shareholder I would think you’d want people like me to buy from Apple rather than Newegg. I WANT to buy from Apple but they won’t make what I want to buy!
[RoDe Says:
Apple will never create a mid size tower. So don’t hold your breath for that one, cause you’ll suffocate.]
Which is my point. I didn’t hold my breath. I built my own mid size Mac. For some stupid reason Apple doesn’t want my money.
[Peter Says:
One of the things to remember, also, is that the box itself has to be big enough to hold the card. Sure, Apple could add an expansion card slot for a different graphics card. However, it doesn’t help much if you can’t fit it in the box.]
Obviously Apple would need to change the enclosure of the iMac or Mac mini to accommodate a removable graphics card or larger hard drive. That’s a fairly trivial exercise and is certainly not the reason why they haven’t already made those changes.
Posted on April 22, 2008
Ken Says:
When I think of the mid sized Mac I don’t really think of gamers, but the PC users who bought a Mac mini to “give Macs a try”.
Say I was in that group, tried the mini, liked it and went on to buy a large Apple display, then the Apple keyboard & mouse.
Now I want to upgrade, but the MacPro is the only option I have and it ain’t cheap. I can get an iMac, but I already have a fantastic Apple display so I don’t want to go that route. I need a mid-range Mac. Single processor with x number of cores, maybe room for a second drive and the ability to add to it later without a lot of fuss.
So basically we’re looking at the Mac mini users who want a better upgrade path, and gamers come in second for me.
Posted on April 22, 2008
Al Says:
@Chris.
Sorry, but there aren’t that many hackintosh hobbyists around to make a serious dent either way on Mac sales.
I imagine Jobs thinking about those iPhone EULA violators raising holy blogging hell about evil Apple ‘intentionally’ bricking their iPhones and claiming their right to a free fix. Jobs probably decided to hell with that, you guys who want a midsize Mac to tinker around with --go build your own hackintoshes. There aren’t enough of you to be worth the trouble.
Posted on April 22, 2008
John Says:
Sounds like a bit of FUD spreading is going on here.
The common wisdom notion that Apple will never build a midsize tower reminds me of a similarly widely-proclaimed notion that Apple would never produce a low end, headless Mac. Then Apple gave the world the Mac Mini.
The best thing to remember is that there has never been any official Apple statement that Apple would never produce midsize tower Mac. If there’s a market for it, they will.
I have to laugh at declarations that a midsize tower would cannabalize highend iMac and/or MacPro sales. Of course they will. It already happens. Some Mac Mini sales cannabalize some lowend iMac sales, some highend iMac sales cannabalize some lowend MacPro sales. Laptop sales cannabalize desktop sales.
However, remember this… a Mac sale is a Mac sale is a Mac sale. Not everyone has the same criteria when they buy a Mac. Some people would still buy a highend iMac even though a lowend midsize tower might be a little cheaper… they prefer or need the AIO form factor. Apple makes money on every Mac sold, regardless of model.
Done right… and after R&D;costs are paid off, a midsize tower could be the Mac with Apple’s highest profit margin.
Posted on April 22, 2008
Chris Says:
[Al Says:
@Chris.
Sorry, but there aren’t that many hackintosh hobbyists around to make a serious dent either way on Mac sales.]
That is true but I’m not suggesting that hackers are the only market for a mid size Mac. They are just the only ones that have the skills to cope with this hole in the product line. There are vast numbers of home users who are used to buying their computers separate from their monitor in the Windows world that would like to switch but they aren’t satisfied with the current lineup for many reasons. There are businesses that would buy a mid size Mac that won’t buy mini’s because they are too slow and they won’t buy iMacs because they are all-in-ones.
[I imagine Jobs thinking about those iPhone EULA violators raising holy blogging hell about evil Apple ‘intentionally’ bricking their iPhones and claiming their right to a free fix. Jobs probably decided to hell with that, you guys who want a midsize Mac to tinker around with --go build your own hackintoshes. There aren’t enough of you to be worth the trouble.]
If Apple would simply give the customer what they want there’d be no reason to violate the EULA and no reason to complain about Apple bricking anything. Apparently people want to install their own applications on their iPhones. Apparently people want to use their iPhones on any network they see fit. Apparently there are people out there that want to use a Mac but aren’t satisfied with the very small number of form factors available.
There is absolutely no reason why Apple can’t make a mid size expandable Mac and still make a healthy profit on it. Not doing so is borderline insane.
Posted on April 22, 2008
Article Information
Comment on this Article Print this Article Email this Article Digg This
Contributor
Dennis Sellers
Dennis has been a newspaper editor/reporter (seven years) and teacher (seven years). He has over 4,000 magazine, newspaper and online articles to his credit. He has also covered the Mac and tech industries for over a decade for such online publications as MacCentral, MacMinute and now MacsimumNews.
Synthmeister Says:
I agree totally. Even if Apple would give users more video card options when they buy an iMac, that would go a long way towards fixing this gap. Same goes for the Mac Mini. Offer the cheap version with the integrated video but also offer a version with a couple of video card options.
Or just offer a slightly larger Mini (Maxi?) with a real desktop harddrive (much cheaper and capacious) and a real video card.
Posted on April 22, 2008