Where's the Mac?

OK, so we've got:

Desktops

• Mac Mini - low cost entry level machine for newbies and switchers (doubles up as a great media center) $599 (£399)
  
  


• iMac - Mac integrated with screen for home users $1299 (£879)
  
  


• Mac Pro - Quad processor Mega Mac for professional Users $2499 (£1699)
  
  

Laptops

• MacBook - Entry level laptop $1099 (£749)
  
  


• MacBook Pro - Professional level laptop $1999 (£1399)
  
  

So where's the Mac?

Where's the machine between the iMac and the Mac Pro for average PC users who want a single Core Duo 2 in a classic tower or mini tower configuration.

The Mac that's highly expandable and gives them the safe warm feeling of upgradability that current PCs have.

Something that's more substantial than the mac mini but doesn't have a built in screen like the iMac.

Something for about $1299 (£879).

The new Mac - Now that would really kick off major switching activity

technorati tags:mac, apple, osx

Comments

[simon j]

Did you really write this Don?
Surely it IS the iMac. You can buy a 17' for £879? Why would you not want an all in one?
I suppose you mean that if you want something expandable you have to buy a Mac Pro? I think there is a very clear line between the iMac and the Mac Pro buyer and there really doesn't need an 'inbetween' that would confuse the buyer and the product line...

[Don]

Yes I really did write this Simon ;-)

I'm not sure if a traditional PC buyer would go for an iMac due to the very fact it has the integrated screen. Not dissing the iMac in anyway as it's an ace machine at an extremely competitive price point.

But put yourself in the shoes of your average PC user who considers themselves a bit of a dab hand with PCs and has perhaps built a couple over the years. They're used to a tower configuration, adding a few disks here and there, upgrading the graphics card etc.

They're not Pro users but consider themselves a bit of a power user. They've got a 19" LCD monitor they're perfectly happy with. They've read the blurb, seen the glowing reports and want to try the mac way.

Mac Mini - That little thing can't replace my PC tower (OK - so it can but stick with me)

iMac - Don't need that screen. Yes it's stylish but I want something that looks more industrial and I can upgrade (yes we know it's got Firewire and USB2) and I'm used to a tower configuration.

Mac Pro - Wow! what a machine but my last PC only cost me £700, I'm not going to pay over double that for a quad processor beast. I don't need Quad processors.

See where I'm coming from?

And that clear line between the iMac and Mac Pro is over £800 between the base models of those machines.

[simon j]

Yep, I do get what you mean. I just think you're going to have a really hard time persuading the " I built my own PC" crowd to ever migrate to a Mac.
Even a high end Mac Mini, the Mac Maxi (joking...the factory might go on strike) with better graphics and access to inside the case, and upgradable, much like the Cube would fit the bill.

[colinc]

I have an iMac, and what worries me is that in a few years time I will have a Mac that's out of date attached to a perfectly good 20" LCD that I can't use for anything else. If you could effectively buy the iMac's innards in a separate box and add your own screen it would probably make a lot more sense.

[Where’s the Mac? - Deja]

[...] I really couldn’t agree more, in fact, that’s what I said back in August 2006! [...]