The Headless Mac as an Upgrade Path for Low End Mac Users
, 2005.01.07
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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.
I'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other aspects of the system were equally outdated.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. 
Recent Apple Archive articles
- iPods, notebooks, and other modern electronics more readily replaced than repaired, 12.07. Whether it's an intermittent failure or a broken display cable, more often than not it's cheaper to replace a broken electronics device than repair it.
- Options for replacing your older iPod, 11.19. Whether you've run out of space on your old iPod or want features it doesn't have, here are your options in new and used iPods.
- Could the $200 'green' PC with gOS Linux become a threat to Apple?, 11.14. The low cost, low power Everex desktop comes with a customized version of Ubuntu Linux, has a Mac-like Dock, and sells for $400 less than the Mac mini.
- Leopard different, a bit buggy, but worth the upgrade, 11.02. Leopard on a Power Mac G4 and a MacBook Pro: It runs well on both computers, but each has some odd bugs, and some of the changes are a step backwards.
- More in the Apple Archive index.
Links for the Day
- Mac of the Day: 'Yikes!' Power Mac G4, Aug. 1999 - The only Power Mac G4 with PCI graphics was built on a modified G3 motherboard.
- Group of the Day: SuperMacs is for those using Umax SuperMac clones.
- November 21 in LEM history: 00: OS upgrades, downgrades - AltiVec vs. Pentium III - 01: Saved by the clones - Computer of the future - 02: Apple Education: Let's get to it - 03: Panther lets Macs and PCs work together, - Lombard SCSI bug - 05: 3 survivors from the 1970s - Real world battery life inadequate - Windows to Mac file transfer with Zip disks - $99 alternative to Microsoft Office - 06: Parallels 1.0 far more polished than beta
Recent Content on Low End Mac
- Just Right: Papa Bear, Mama Bear, and Baby Bear MacBooks, Charles W. Moore, 'Book Value, 11.20. Some people like small and light notebooks, others prefer huge desktop replacements, but the best value tends to be in the middle.
- Virtualization Shootout: VMWare Fusion 2 vs. Parallels Desktop 4, Kev Kitchens, Kitchens Sync, 11.20. Both programs do the same thing, but one runs Windows XP smoothly alongside Mac apps, while the other bogs down everything but Windows.
- Apple Caves to Hollywood with DRM on iTunes Videos, Frank Fox, Stop the Noiz, 11.20. HDCP on the new MacBooks means that you may never really own those videos you buy from the iTunes Store.
- Leopard Runs Very Nicely on PowerPC Macs, Simon Royal, Mac Spectrum, 11.19. Some claim that Mac OS X 10.5 is so optimized for Intel Macs that it runs poorly on PowerPC hardware. That's simply not the case.
- No High Definition iTunes Video for You, Dan Knight, Mac Musings, 11.19. The October 2008 MacBooks are preventing users from viewing some high-def iTunes content from being viewed on their external displays. Poor form!
- Every Working Computer Is Useful to Someone, Allison Payne, The Budget Mac, 11.19. Whether it's a PowerBook 1400, G3 iMac, or Power Mac G4, it could be all the computer someone needs.
- 3 WeatherBug Options for Apple Users, Charles W. Moore, Miscellaneous Ramblings, 11.19. Have instant access to current local weather conditions with a Dashboard widget, iPhone app, or Firefox plugin.
- Anticipating Macworld: Nehalem, Snow Leopard, and Updated Desktops, Dan Knight, Mac Musings, 11.18. Intel's Core i7 CPU has to make it way into the next Mac Pro, nVidia GeForce graphics will drive the iMac and Mac mini, and 'Snow Tiger' will unleash the animal within.
- Love My Refurb MacBook Pro, Eudora Forever, and the Lightest AA Batteries, Charles W. Moore, Miscellaneous Ramblings, 11.18. Also questions about nVidia GeForce 8600 problems in earlier MacBook Pro models and importing Eudora mailboxes into Eudora successors.
- More links in our archive.
Recent Deals
- Best Power Mac G4 and AGP Video Card Deals, 11.20. Used 400 MHz, $50; 733, $100; 800, $199; 1.25 GHz, $300; 800 MHz dual, $200, 867, $300; 1 GHz, $350; 1.42, $400.
- Best iBook G3 Deals, 11.20. Used 300 MHz clamshell, $150; 366, $199; 800 CD, $180; 600 CD-RW, $240; 700 Combo, $290; 900, $369; 14" 600, $360; 900, $449.
- Best Power Mac G3 and PCI Video Card Deals, 11.20. Used beige 300 MHz, $25; blue & white 350, $80; 400, $90; 450, $105; PCI video cards from $15; shipping additional.
- Best iMac G4 Deals, 11.18. Used 15" 700 MHz Combo, $243; 800 MHz, $280; 1 GHz, $380; 17" 1.25 GHz SuperDrive, $400; 20", $549.
- Best MacBook Air Deals, 11.18. New 1.6 80, $1,150 after rebate; 120, $1,744 a/r; 1.8 80, $1,794 a/r; 1.6 128 SSD, $2,150; used 1.8 64 SSD, $1,500; new, $2,200 a/r; 1.86, $2,398 a/r.
- Best Mac OS X 10.0-10.3 Deals, 11.18. Mac OS X 10.0.3, $30; 10.1, $20; 10.2, $60; 10.3 CD, DVD, $100; CD, $119; 10.1 Server, unlimited users, $58; 10.3 Server, unlimited, $150.
- Best iPod nano Deals, 11.17. Refurb 3G/4 GB, $79; new, $114; refurb 8 GB, $99; new, $125; 3G/8 GB, from $134; 16 GB, from $189. Prices include ground shipping.
- Best Titanium PowerBook G4 Deals, 11.17. Used 1 GHz with SuperDrive, $478 plus shipping.
- Best Xserve deals, 11.17. Used G4/1 GHz, $999; G5/2 GHz, $1,288; new 2.0 4-core Xeon, $1,900; refurb 3.0 4-core, $2,599; 2.8 GHz, $2,499; 3.0 8-core, $3,499.
- More deals in our archive.
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