01-23-2005, 09:21 PM

Okies. Listen up and listen good. The original Macintosh was designed to have only user interaction from the outside. It was very difficult even to cahnge the memory. Big Mistake by Apple. The Apple IIgs: What customers wanted was a computer that was user-friendly and with the most common peripherals built in, like the //c, and expandable for the not-so-common peripherals, like the //e. Apple realized their mistake in time to recover, bringing out the Macintosh II series of computers. These were a hit because the were user-friend, yet supported expansion. Now, Apple have diverted to style. The iMac G4 was enough of a mistake, being very hard to customize in terms of hardware, but the iMac G5 and Mac Mini have taken this too far. When will Apple go back to Simplicity, and powerful functional machines?
:mac: all the way :mac:

01-23-2005, 09:26 PM

Originally Posted by peanuthorst

The iMac G4 was enough of a mistake, being very hard to customize in terms of hardware, but the iMac G5 and Mac Mini have taken this too far. When will Apple go back to Simplicity, and powerful functional machines?
:mac: all the way :mac:

So do you want them to be easier to upgrade or more powerful? I think they are plenty simple, but I wish the upgrade/BTO options were a little better.

01-23-2005, 09:33 PM

Originally Posted by mynameis

So do you want them to be easier to upgrade or more powerful? I think they are plenty simple, but I wish the upgrade/BTO options were a little better.

neye: Whatever happened? You try upgrading an iMac G5 to have a new hard drive, or a Mac Mini to have a SuperDrive. Maybe some of us would prefer to work on our own machines instead of handing them over to dealerships we barely know :mac:

01-23-2005, 09:41 PM

The iMac is the modern-day descendent of the original Mac: an all-in-one box, with everything you need, at a reasonable cost. With too little stock memory. :mac:

The G5 towers are the descendents of the Mac II series: Powerful, expandable, capable of accommodating virtually anything you could cram or plug in. And priced so high that only a professional (or a really dedicated enthusiast) could afford one.

The mini is not truly new, either. It's much like the Mac LC systems: compact, affordable, not very upgradable, monitor sold seperately.

The details change, but not much else.

01-23-2005, 10:39 PM

You all make good points. I just love the new BSD based OS X and it's super secure nature. After my wintel experience, it has been a monumental relief

01-24-2005, 12:49 AM

I bought the PowerBook only coz it looked good.

01-24-2005, 04:51 AM

Originally Posted by technologist

The iMac is the modern-day descendent of the original Mac: an all-in-one box, with everything you need, at a reasonable cost. With too little stock memory. :mac:

The G5 towers are the descendents of the Mac II series: Powerful, expandable, capable of accommodating virtually anything you could cram or plug in. And priced so high that only a professional (or a really dedicated enthusiast) could afford one.

The mini is not truly new, either. It's much like the Mac LC systems: compact, affordable, not very upgradable, monitor sold seperately.

The details change, but not much else.

That's exactly the way I see it...
Apple didn't change their way that much after all.

01-24-2005, 08:29 AM

computers and user interaction has come a long way since the first Macintosh. I think it is ok for the Macintosh to adapt to new times.

01-24-2005, 12:49 PM

Yes, it would be very foolish to just stick with the original purpose, with out being flexible to the changing times and consumer needs, who cares what it was suppose to be for, its what its doing now, which im sure is more important than many could forsee.

01-24-2005, 01:16 PM

I don't know what the original purpose was, but the purpose I want (and it currently has) is:

- Being enjoyable to use - when you sit on a comp as much as I do...
- Just Working - I don't care *how* it works, and shouldn't have to know (complete opposite of Linux and Windows), nor do I ever want to have to worry about keeping it working (antivirus, antispyware, drivers etc) ever again.
- Style (see point 1)
- Robustness, I want a machine that feels "well made"
- Performance
- Couldn't give two hoots about customisability as long as I can upgrade the RAM.

01-24-2005, 05:26 PM

I just ordered my first Mac...and it should finally be here in a few days. I feel that your poll is missing one option...The reason I purchased it is for "simplicity." That's it. If you want power (speed) or the ability to customize the system, you should own a PC. If you look at a Mac, the style is just apart of the simplicity. There is nothing special about the way they look, except it's very clean looking. To me, that's what a Mac represents.

I feel that stability on a Mac is nothing more than smoke and mirrors. If there were as many people using Macs as PCs, you'd hear about many more problems. People don't really write viruses, or develope spyware for Macs because it's a small part of the market. If the marketshare was 50/50, Macs would be just as problematic in that sense.

back to the main question....simplicity is the answer.

01-24-2005, 07:38 PM

Actually they would still not be as problematic as PCs. Why? Primary reason being that almost all desktop PCs are operated as a user account who has full privileges, which means anything you run (including spyware or other apps you didn't want) have full access to all of the machine. If you use your Mac as a less-privileged user account, when not installing or modifying the configuration, then you are not nearly as vulnerable.

Also I feel you're confusing the term stability with problem-free (as in viruses and spyware). While it's true that if Macs occupied a larger marketshare they'd be more of a target for these folks, that has little or nothing to do with stability, a trait of operating systems that relates to how well they can run for extended periods of time, and how resistant they are to crashing.

01-24-2005, 08:37 PM

Originally Posted by technologist

The mini is not truly new, either. It's much like the Mac LC systems: compact, affordable, not very upgradable, monitor sold seperately.

The details change, but not much else.

Really? As i recall, and i should because i have a FosterFarms model (Elsie III) LC III+ and i was able to upgrade the hard drive to a 5Gb, RAM from 4 to 36Mb, and add the 768k Video memory mod, plus installed a 386 co-processor through the PDS. I also took the liberty of upgrading the CPU core to a 40MHz 68040 from the original 33MHz 68030, and all this was very easy to access. So i would not say that the Mac Mini is _anything_ like the LC series. Remember LC stood for Low Cost, not Low Customizability :mac: