I saw it coming years ago when Apple released the iPod Touch. Since that fateful day in September of 2007, it seemed like Apple tossed the desktop computer to the curb like a red-headed stepchild.Every once in a while, they updated the desktop lines, but with the exception of a really nice iMac update (to what we have today), there’s been little to get excited about outside the laptop and mobile lines.
Now before you say “oh no, not another ‘Apple is killing the desktop’ article,” let me just say that this isn’t. Only an idiot would make the assumption, observation or claim that Apple is going to give up billions of dollars in sales – especially when their new love affair with mobile hardware requires a Mac to be useful.
Apple product sales don’t lie. The Mac is a shrinking revenue stream for Apple, see the graphic below. It illustrates where Apple is making their money, and focusing their efforts.
Apple’s bread is buttered with iPhone and laptop sales. Hell, the iPad is netting Apple nearly as much as the Mac desktop line. And I suspect that a high portion of those desktop sales are iMacs, not MacPros.
Apple major product sales figures
While I doubt Apple is going to abandon the Mac any time soon, I think it’s worth thinking twice before buying a new MacPro. Of course some users will require the absolute most expansion and power they can get, but the vast majority of users (including print and web designers) can easily get away with an iMac.
Take my situation for example.
I purchased a 1st generation MacPro. At the time, I had a really nice 20″ LCD, expensive keyboard and mouse, a scanner, printer, speakers, and needed the RAM and hard drive slots for expansion. Plus, at the time the iMac was less than optimal for working on 500+ MB Photoshop files. I really had no choice but to get the MacPro.
Over the years, I upgraded to a all-in-one printer/scanner, and hard drives are much larger and cheaper, and RAM is still at an all-time low price. About two years ago, I upgraded to a Dell 30″ LCD screen which cost me about $1,000. It’s a fantastic monitor. But I still have that same original MacPro, and it’s getting long in the tooth. Don’t get me wrong, it handles everything I do with no problem.
But now my upgrade option is limited to another MacPro if I really want to get my money’s worth out of that 30″ LCD. What I would really would like to do is upgrade to a 27″ iMac. It would probably be a speed improvement (though not a whole lot), and would save a ton of space in my home office.
Buying another MacPro is out of the question for me. The shrinking need for the power and expansion of a MacPro, and Apple’s lack of focus on the desktop in general doesn’t instill a whole lot of faith in it for me to spend that kind of money again. I think the iMac still has legs – probably another ten years or so. But I suspect the MacPro will end up being Apple’s new server product soon. Oh wait, that just happened.
If you’re in the market for a new Mac and you’re the type who keeps a computer for several years, I highly recommend you take a look at the 27″ iMac. You’re going to save a minimum of $500 right off the bat, and you won’t be tied to a computer model due to an existing expense like a large LCD screen. When it’s time to upgrade, you’ll have the advantage of not having legacy hardware to worry about.
On the other hand, if you already have an LCD screen that’s a few years old and you tend to upgrade your hardware every two to three years, go for the big bad MacPro. Either way, the Mac isn’t going anywhere – at least not any time soon.
The problem with Apple and their systems – is the display (mostly) as they have gone all reflective (super) glare screens for some odd reason. I have a 20″ Apple Cinema (AL) and it is great … not too bring and absolutely no reflections – even with the internal/room lights are turned up (or even when the Sun is shining through the window).
The iPhone is not horrible, but it is also a small display. The ironic thing is these mobile devices have horrible displays for outside – in any kind of light. If its night … dusk or very cloudy … you are probably OK, otherwise you might just use the display as a odd mirror.
So the iPhone, the iPad and all the iMacs have horrible displays – I have seen worse – yet I expect more from Apple. The Mac Books have optional anti-glare screens for extra $$$ and they have to be custom ordered from the online store. This is all very dumb and very unlike the “Apple” I know.
Apple is also killing (successfull) their pro line up. They have ditched the XServe hardware, they have neglected the Pro Towers and they have killed Final Cut Pro … these are all things that a pro shop would spend $50K + on … to get what they needed – servers, high speed network/SAN/NAS disk arrays, high speed backups …
Ironically Apple is pushing Thunderbolt for high speed I/O, which is great, but I have no idea why they killed the need for Thunderbolt … as most people that would want/need it are people who would be editing/rendering HD 1080p (or higher) on their system(s).
The iMacs are great (except for the horrible display), though Apple really should offer a better screen option for these. There is a rumor the XServe may come back as a modified Pro Tower (which is kinda what they were previously- in a 1U/rack mountable form factor) but who knows … their transistion plan sucked (to put it politely).
I think this was an excellent article! I use my 2008 MBP for a lot of my freelance work and I’m seriously considering the 27″ iMac. I still have a dual 2 GHz G5 in my studio at home that seriously needs replacing. At my day job I have a 2009 MacPro tower with 2 TB drives, 2 4-core Xeons and 16 GB RAM, fine if you’re a company with lots of cash for such machines and with all the video I produce the extra horsepower is worth every penny but I don’t need all of that for my home business. One of my close friends in the sign business was considering a MacPro tower recently but went with the 27″ iMac too and he loves it. It handles large Photoshop files with ease. Again, excellent and timely article! Keep up the good work Giz!
What a dumb article.
Seriously, talk about stating the obvious! This was a real waste of time.
I’m sorry to disappoint. You are certainly welcome to register here and write your own article. As long as it is appropriate to the audience, I’ll publish it.
I’ll probably move to the iMac in the not too distant future, the dual core MBP is struggling with large photoshop files. Here is the upgrade option that will turbocharge the iMac.
70 meg tiff files will open in one second.
http://mpgproone.com/
When my G5 PowerMac tower fried with a book I was working on in it last year–thankfully I had daily bakups of the book files on a flash drive and daily backups of the whole hard drive on an external hard drive–I needed a new machine in a hurry. Tho’, except for once, my Macs had always been towers, I’d never gone under the hood to have anything, not even RAM, added.
Coincidentally, while on a visit to family in California, I’d seen the then largest iMac available, the 24-inch. I was impressed, in spiteof its glossy screen with what a great space-saver it was and its specs. So that’s what I got. (I wasn’t thrilled, of course, when–predictably–Apple came outworn the 27-inch just weeks later.)
Well, it’s more computer than I’ve ever owned. Faster multicore processors, the stock 4 Gig is more RAM than I’ve ever had (the store I got it at was local and not am Apple Store told me not to add RAM yet as it was too expensive and would come down in price), and the hard drive is also the largest of any computer I’ve ever owned. And I kept the old 23-inch Cinema Display to run a 2-monitor setup, which os great for book design: 2-page spread plus palettes on the iMac, any other programs plus email and Twitter on the second monitor. I’m always in touch while I work.
I still haven’t had tome or a demonstrable need to add the RAM, which has come down in price as predicted.
I think you’re probably the typical designer, in that when forced with the idea of “settling” for less, you find that you really didn’t need more.
A 27″ LCD, 8GB of RAM and the ability to add a Terabyte of HD is more than enough for any print designer – I don’t care how “unique” one thinks they are.
You’ve saved yourself a bunch of money, and got the job done, which is of course the goal. Congrats on not falling prey to the hype.
I have my iMac and love it. Hooked up another 24″ monitor to it and life it good.
I think Apple will allow it’s server software to run on non-Apple hardware.
I would bet against that. Apple’s MacPro system is perfectly capable of running as a server – and that’s the way they’re selling Mac OS X Server right now. I don’t see it changing.
The 27″ iMac is a great machine, no doubt. I’ve been using a 2006 MacBook Pro on my 30″ ACD for a couple of years now, so I clearly kind of had to upgrade to the Mac Pro (2010, octocore), which gave me a huge productivity boost. But you’re right, if I wouldn’t already have owned the display, I might have gone for the iMac or even a new MacBook Pro plus some external harddrives and lots of cables all around me.. uuh.
RAM upgrades are a hassle on iMacs. They can support only one internal HD. You’re constantly short on USB ports, and having to reach around the screen every time you need to control anything. Dual monitors is possible, but inelegant, due to the industrial design of the iMac. In short, it’s a cheaper workaround, but if you’re creating the workstation you really need, dig deep for the Pro.