iBase - an Alternative Budget iMac.

But what would it take for Apple to produce a real budget iMac? In my thinking, (and I guess if it's occured to me, it's occured to Apple) Apple could produce a much lower-cost iMac-style machine, suitable for schools, but what they'd have to remove might shock too much.

On the other hand, Apple aren't above shocking people. My model for what they'd do is the 'iBase'.

Let's start with the original iMac. The original iMac was limited because of its graphics, and its I/O. Remember 1998: The iMac had:

As an extra, you could include the irDA port, audio out / audio in + Mic input, which is significant, though irDA is somewhat underutilised. And don't forget the Mezzanine port.

And don't forget, many PC reviews considered the iMac so restricted as to be virtually useless. If Apple were to do a more budget oriented machine today, it would have to do something just as ruthless, if for no other reason than to avoid killing their current product line. So, this is what I would imagine.
 

In that sense, the iBase would be a classically invisaged network computer. It would be pretty dependant on external support, either from another computer or from an additional external media drive. The iBase would be the kind of machine you'd want in addition to your existing lineup, so it wouldn't kill Apple's existing products. So it would be good for homes, schools and even paranoid corporates. In addition, (and this is a pretty sensible philosophy anyway) it would promote AirPort as a standard media in the same sense that the original iMac promoted USB.

iBase is a budget machine in more than one way:

How much would a budget machine like this cost? I don't know. $500 or so? A better question is 'Given the compromises, would you want one?'A better question still  is to compare it with the original iMac and ask which would be the better machine. An even better question is to ask how much we take the incremental, peripheral improvements in the iMac for granted to the point where we perhaps don't realise how truly wonderful the new iMac is. I mean the original was almost useless and still way desirable, but this one is a truly magnificent, miles better than the original and a worthy successor.

I don't need one, but I'm strongly tempted to get one, just because I can.

-cheers from jules @P.


(Incidently, the ice-Keyboard isn't taken from the new Apple photos, but was a mock-up from an old Pro keyboard done about a year ago, when I first started thinking about iBase. Good guess though huh?)