New iMacs and eMacs were released yesterday and were greeted with
less than effusive praise. "Yawn," seemed to be the general response,
even from the usually zealous Mac press. The real excitement seemed
to center around the price drops and improved options instead of the
iMac speed bump.
Sure, the 25% speed bump is welcome, and the price drop is a nice
thing for buyers, but the whole hardware scene seems to be getting
Mac users down. Well, maybe not getting them down, but at least
casting a cloud over things. The attitude now is "what have you done
for me lately?"
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Speed bumps used to be greeted with some sense of excitement. No
longer. It appears that speed bumps (and additional processors)
aren't indication of real progress. Once upon a time, a speed bump
meant things were getting better and better. Now, it seems, a speed
bump means that Apple is just covering its behind as Intel's chips
keep getting faster.
Anyone remember when the first dual processor machines were
introduced? The general reaction seemed to be that Apple was leaning
on dual processors to make up for the lack of speed, instead of a
party atmosphere.
The longer this drags out, the worst things will get for Apple. If
Apple announced a brand new chip that ran at 1.8 GHz tomorrow, what
would the reaction be? Yawn again, most likely. 2 GHz? You might
get a bit of a reaction. 2.5? Now you're talking!
The point is that Apple will need a substantial increase in
processor power to shake things up. While users may have once been
satisfied with a 100 MHz jump every once in a while, Apple has fallen
so far behind that only a substantial increase in power will make us
sit up and take notice.
Many people have speculated that customers are holding off on
upgrading their machines until they see a significant speed increase.
How much of a speed increase will be required before people start
putting down their hard earned money? I'm certain that a 200 MHz
increase won't do it. 500? That might be worth it.
The next generation Apple chip (whether from Motorola, IBM, AMD,
or Intel) had better blow the doors off the current crop. Otherwise,
most people will likely just keep plugging away with their old Macs.
It's not really that much slower, now is it?
Just about the only upside is that Apple may benefit if it
delivers the goods. There's likely quite a bit of pent up demand for
faster machines right now, and Apple can probably expect a serious
run on its next generation chip.
Stephen Van
Esch is the founder and president of
the
E-learning Foundry, an online training
resource for Mac users. Steve loves the Mac and is doubly bilingual,
since he's also fluent in Windows and French.
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