Apple Archive

The Headless Mac as an Upgrade Path for Low End Mac Users

, 2005.01.07

Many people have been speculating that Apple will release a US$499 Mac very soon. They see the primary market for this Mac as those who own iPods and currently use Windows PCs. Many of these people would most likely consider Macs if they were less expensive.

This seems to make sense, since the prevailing opinion I've heard is that Macs are too expensive, so buyers generally don't consider them when looking at new computers.

In fact, last week I was talking with someone who is considering a new laptop. He was thinking that a Dell might be a good option, because they seem to be very reasonably priced. I told him how configuring it with the features he wanted would bring it up to the price range of lower-end Apple and IBM laptops.

When I mentioned that Apple had a laptop for $999 with most of the features that he'd want already built in, he seemed fairly interested.

Perhaps placing a low-end desktop in the $500 range just to dispel the price myth is a good idea. On the other side, people will notice if the $500 Mac is missing features one might expect in a typical desktop computer and then - since Apple tends to get a lot of criticism - complain about what an awful machine Apple's selling and what a rip-off it is to consumers.

Power Mac G4I'm thinking of another market for this machine, however. Right now, many people are still using older blue & white G3s (300-450 MHz) and 1st generation G4 machines running at 350-500 MHz. While some of these people may have upgraded the processor, others were reluctant to do so because other aspects of the system were equally outdated.

For example, the video card in the blue & white G3 is PCI, and current video cards are generally AGP 4x or 8x. Also, system bus speeds in older machines (100 MHz in the models mentions) prevent the faster upgrade processors from reaching their full potential. (See our Guide to G4 ZIF Upgrades and Guide to Power Mac G4 Upgrades for processor upgrade options. Some upgrades cost more than these older Power Macs are worth.)

A fairly basic $500 Mac with a G4 running at 1.2 GHz or so would still have enough processor power to do almost anything that people currently using blue & white G3s and older G4s are doing with those machines. The only exception might be limited space inside the new case for hard drives - and probably no PCI slots.

Assuming that the user can do without the PCI slots (many ports that formerly required PCI cards can now be bought as USB peripherals - audio interfaces, for example - or are now standard on the Mac). FireWire hard drive enclosures are fairly cheap, so their existing drives could be effectively moved to the new "cheap" Mac. And their old monitor could be used with the new system.

A low-end "headless" Mac could serve as an alternative upgrade path for Mac users who don't want to buy a new high-end system yet want something faster than they already have.

As for the idea that a new low cost Mac could take away PC sales and cause more people to buy Macs, this may only be partly true. It could take away PC sales from companies like Dell and Gateway - those consumers simply just looking at commercially available PCs. But people who have systems built for them (even cheap ones) will soon find that they can build a "better" PC system (at least spec-wise) for less money than the "headless" Mac.

Then again with all the spyware and viruses just waiting to infest brand-new PCs, people may opt for the slightly more expensive headless Mac just to avoid those headaches.

About LEM Support Usage Privacy Contact

Follow Low End Mac on Twitter
Join Low End Mac on Facebook

Page not found | Low End Mac

Well this is somewhat embarrassing, isn’t it?

It seems we can’t find what you’re looking for. Perhaps searching, or one of the links below, can help.

Most Used Categories

Archives

Try looking in the monthly archives. :)

Page not found | Low End Mac

Well this is somewhat embarrassing, isn’t it?

It seems we can’t find what you’re looking for. Perhaps searching, or one of the links below, can help.

Most Used Categories

Archives

Try looking in the monthly archives. :)

Favorite Sites

MacSurfer
Cult of Mac
Shrine of Apple
MacInTouch
MyAppleMenu
InfoMac
The Mac Observer
Accelerate Your Mac
RetroMacCast
The Vintage Mac Museum
Deal Brothers
DealMac
Mac2Sell
Mac Driver Museum
JAG's House
System 6 Heaven
System 7 Today
the pickle's Low-End Mac FAQ

Affiliates

Amazon.com
The iTunes Store
PC Connection Express
Macgo Blu-ray Player
Parallels Desktop for Mac
eBay

Low End Mac's Amazon.com store

Advertise

Well this is somewhat embarrassing, isn’t it?

It seems we can’t find what you’re looking for. Perhaps searching, or one of the links below, can help.

Most Used Categories

Archives

Try looking in the monthly archives. :)

at BackBeat Media (646-546-5194). This number is for advertising only.

Open Link