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:

• No means of writing data to ANYTHING! It had a CD-ROM - an input-only media drive.
• Two expansion ports, one of which was already used by the keyboard / mouse. So, really it only had one fast expansion port: USB. And USB isn't fast.
• It had one network port - ethernet.
• It had one consumer port - the modem.
• And it still cost $1299.

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.
 

• The iBase would have NO external media support AT ALL. No Combo-Writer. No Combo-Drive, No DVD. No CD-RW. No CD-ROM. No Floppy. No Zip Drive. Nothing.
• The iBase would have two expansion ports: 1x USB and 1x Firewire. That way, the iBase is still a media machine - it can still do DV and can still do CD-RW etc at a cost.
• The iBase would have one network port - Airport. AirPort would come standard with the machine.
• The iBase would have no consumer port.

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:

• External interfaces cost; the iBase is budget because it supports only two external interfaces (and an AC power input).
• Media drives cost. The iBase only has a single hard drive for storage and a bottom of the range (20Gb?) one too.
• Speed costs (in terms of component costs and lost revenue from more upmarket products). The iBase has a low-end G3, perhaps as low as 500MHz or even 450MHz! It also has a slow bus, perhaps as slow as 66MHz.
• Internal circuitry costs: The iBase only has chips for the processor ( with Cache), Graphics, Sound, AirPort, USB, Firewire and ROM. Because AirPort is a standard feature I imagine, the Sound, AirPort, USB, Firewire and Glue logic to be all in one chip. That's four chips in total.
• DIMM slots cost. The iBase only has no on-chip RAM, just one DIMM, which you have to throw away if you want to expand. You can expand to 0.5Gb and you get a 128Mb DIMM as standard.
• LCDs cost. The iBase only has a 10-inch, 800x600 display. This 24.5cm for us Europeans, which gives us more measuring units per buck. Truth is, many people run their iMacs in this mode and it's the best that an old iBook, like mine can manage anyway. It will do. It will have to.
• Install disks come separately, and they cost. This allows and encourages buyers to buy more than one iBase per house / school. It also allows the iBase to be cheaper. If they cost $50, then it means each iBase can be perhaps $25 less.
• The machine is angled and adjusted without the use of hinges. Perhaps a plastic slotting mechanism would feature.
• The keyboard is a bit cheaper and smaller. It's not a 'pro' keyboard, but something like an iBook keyboard. It's still USB though and still has an infra-red mouse. An LCD display like this might cost $200 to the end user.

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.