Rumor: Fruity iMacs To Get G4?


Not fact, but possibly fiction is a recent story at Spymac, which reports that Apple is not only keeping on the original egg-shaped iMac, but slotting a G4 into its convection-cooled enclosure.

"[They're] due for a major overhaul. Current timeframe is between October and December 2002," says Spymac, quoting an anonymous source.

Apple retained the original iMac in the wake of the LCD flat-Mac release in order to have a sufficiently-inexpensive model to sell to schools. However, the older Macs not only sport a mere G3, but also have inferior graphics cards, fewer USB ports and no DVD-R option. Nevertheless, there is still quite a bit of old stock still floating around, including the old Snow, Graphite and Indigo 500-700MHz machines, some with CDRWs.

The Spymac story suggests a time frame of late 2002 for G4 FruitMacs, which would appear reasonable, given that LCD iMacs could conceiveably have been speed-bumped by then. At any rate, it is clear that the G3 processor - in its current iteration - is close to being EOL'd.

Would you buy an original iMac with a G4? If you're an educator, do you prefer the durability of the old iMac over the possible vulnerability of the LCD in your classroom or lab? Post your comment.

Analysis The recent LCD iMac price rises mean that Apple would not have a model entry anywhere near budget price without the original iMac, a fact which must worry the folks in the de Anza suite no end. Why? Because it pushes potential new Mac buyers - that's you and me - into the second-hand market. Worse, an uncompetitively priced-and-performing G3 iMac virtually invites Dell sales representatives into your schoolyard - and you know what your mommy said about talking to strange Windows salesmen, don't you?