- 2005.01.04
I have never seen such a fever of unrepentant rumor-retelling as that
surrounding the $500 "headless iMac." Remember, folks, there was just
one unsubstantiated
rumor - and then
another
that sounded suspiciously like the first.
Now everyone's yapping about a headless iMac.
Just remember, you read it here first: Low-End Macs: Why Apple Needs a Headless Model for
Education and Home Users (2004.04.16).
I really think I started the ball rolling with this one, though:
How a Revised Cube Could Save Apple
Education (2002.12.05).
Editor's addition: Adkins wasn't the first to call for a headless
iMac. I first suggested it in The Tiny
iMac (1998.08.05 - ten days before the iMac was first available for
sale), and followed that with A Compact
iMac? (1998.09.10).
I haven't been alone in calling for a modular consumer Mac. Gene
Steinberg (Mac Night Owl) called for such a model in March 2003.
"A low-cost, headless iMac may be just the ticket to give Apple
credibility in a lot of places. It may even help preserve its
educational presence."
Alex Salkever (Business Week Online) has been asking for the same
thing (see
The iMac Needs to Lose Its Head, 2004.02.11). And there have
been numerous others - google "headless iMac" and you can
find hundreds of articles for and against the idea.
I once wrote: "Until they can
produce a headless iMac for under $600 or so, Windows will own the
entry level." If the rumors are true, this will be the first time Apple
has offered a Mac at such a price. In fact, the first time they've
dropped below US$799 (CD-ROM versions of the G3 iMac).
Last May, I suggested other configurations for a headless consumer
Mac in One Size Does Not Fit All: Mac
Solutions for the Entry Level (2004.05.05). And these articles are
just the tip of the iceberg. We desperately want Apple to make a
low-end Mac for the consumer market. We want Apple to grow their
installed base.
I also proposed a "media center" iMac, which is what some sites are
now calling the "headless iMac," in I Want iMacTV
(1998.09.17). Of course, that was before iMovie, iDVD, or even CD-RW
drives came standard with any Mac - and long before
EyeTV made it possible to record analog video to the iMac's
hard drive.
Then again, we're not all agreed here at Low End Mac. Anne Onymus
penned Why We'll Never See Another
Modular Desktop Design from Apple (2002.12.11):
- "Call it pigheaded stubbornness (with apologies to the porcine
population), but I think that Apple wants to be perceived in a certain
way - and Steve Jobs doesn't see any type of traditional desktop design
fitting that image. Profits and stockholders be damned. Apple is never
going to pursue the huge market for desktop Macs. It might turn them
into a 10% player...."
Then again, Anne was wrong about
the flat-panel iMac, too.
is a longtime Mac user. He was using digital sensors on Apple II computers in the 1980's and has networked computers in his classroom since before the internet existed. In 2006 he was selected at the California Computer Using Educator's teacher of the year. His students have used NASA space probes and regularly participate in piloting new materials for NASA. He is the author of two books and numerous articles and scientific papers. He currently teaches astronomy and physics in California, where he lives with his twin sons, Jony and Ben.< And there's still a Mac G3 in his classroom which finds occasional use.
