What’s the perfect Mac? It depends. Apple has plenty of notebooks, a broad range of iMacs, and powerful MacPro towers and a fast server line. What about the low end Mac line? What’s between the iMac and the Mac Pro? What’s missing in Apple’s new Mac product line?

With the exception of the very sub-$1,000 Mac mini, and the expensive MacPro line, Apple seems to have a product for any computer user with money or lots of money.

My first Mac cost $2,499 back in 1984 and didn’t come with much. A floppy drive, a 9-inch black/white/gray screen, and a very buggy OS. Very buggy. Cool. But buggy. Oh, and not much software.

24 years later and the same money gets you a time of the line iMac with OS X Leopard, a 24-inch screen, huge hard drive, plenty of RAM, and iLife ‘08 and enough money left over to cover dinner for two and a big tip.

So much for inflation, right?

Even the Mac mini sports Intel’s Core 2 Duo CPUs, so it’s no slouch even by cheap PC user standards. Apple’s new MacBook Air appears to be a hit among those willing to pay more for less and less, so Apple now has an ultra-light model.

What’s missing in Apple’s new Product line?

Discounting Apple’s traditional evolutionary product line expansion, I see two glaring gaps, though Apple’s attention to hand held models, and the overall Mac strategy aimed profit and revenue over market share may make both sit on the shelf for awhile.

The first is the low end. Or, rather, the mid-range low end, a Mac between the lowest priced iMac and the lowest priced Mac mini. A Mac mini with a less expensive. There’s not much money in low end displays, so I suspect Apple will remain restrained and disciplined and not bother with cheap.

After all, for those manufacturers who sell very cheap PCs, how many make money? How many have $18-billion in the bank? Apple, and… hmmmm…

The other gap in Apple’s product line, from my perspective, fills a personal need. The high end iMac is $2,249 and the low end MacPro is $2,799, sans display. How about a $1,999 MacPro mini-tower with dual CPU’s, space for dual hard drives, plenty of RAM (far less than the 32-gigs capable in the MacPro) and a few cards?

That’s a reasonable request from a long-time Mac user. I’d even settle for the same industrial aluminum design.

The problem here is that Apple has found a new market. Consumers who prefer mobility to power and expandability. Many PC users these days don’t want to be tethered to a huge box under the desk. Notebooks are all the rage, and I suspect Apple knows that handhelds will be all the rage in a few years.

What of the desktop? It won’t go away, but the trend is clear. The issue is whether there’s enough of a semi-pro market to make a MacPro mini-tower profitable; one that won’t take sales from the high end iMacs, or the more expensive and highly profitable MacPro models.

Still, I can dream. Or, continue my daily email requests to Steve Jobs until someone responds or my email starts bouncing. What about you? Are you satisfied with the current Mac product line or is something missing for you (besides a MacBook Pro for $199).

I, too, see two gaps in the lineup. The first is a docking laptop. At a former job, many of my colleagues used company-issued laptops everywhere, docking them when in the office to make them desktops. Mind you, I shed no tears at the death of DuoDock models, but Apple surely can provide a modern solution.

I would also like a tablet form factor. Let’s face it: existing tablet solutions are pitiful, and someone needs to rescue an otherwise brilliant idea. Apple has the designers and the interface to do it.

I agree there should be a “headless” Mac somewhere between the Mini and the Pro, but this doesn’t seem to be the area Apple’s concentrating on right now.

Andrew Purvis - 04 March 2008 12:33 AM

I would also like a tablet form factor. Let’s face it: existing tablet solutions are pitiful, and someone needs to rescue an otherwise brilliant idea. Apple has the designers and the interface to do it.

I strongly agree that Apple should get into this area, and that they’re the ones to do it. What I’m afraid of is that what they come up with won’t be sufficiently differentiated from an ultralight notebook. The problem is that “tablet” is the wrong metaphor: a tablet is still a notebook. I think the correct term is “book.” They should bring out a new device the size of a standard octavo book: 6 x 9 x 1 or 5.5 x 8.5 x .75, something in that area. Something you can stick under your arm while you use both hands for something else, like...well, a book.

I suppose what they would do would be something more like a giant iPod Touch, but I really think it should have a keyboard. You could open it up like a standard laptop to write e-mails, take notes or whatever. Yes, it would be too small for touch typing; I can hear the screams now! But I strongly feel it should have the standard layout. You should then be able to open it all the way to 180 degrees, disabling the keyboard at that point of course, to use it as an e-book reader or media viewer. Throw in a phone too, what the Hell. I’d live my life on a device like this if they brought it out.

Of course, the incredible spewing forth of bile and vitriol at the MacBook Air would be as nothing compared to what this new type of device would face: “Nothing but a toy!” “Can’t edit video on it!” “I want a MacBook Pro the same size, only with a bigger screen!” On second thought, maybe nobody has the courage to face it.

I agree with all of you.  I would say the biggest gap is the headless mac in the 1700-2K range.  I love the iMac, but its not that expandable, and I really love the macpro but its really more machine than the average user needs.  It would be nice to be able to replace my g4 tower with another tower, keep the display, but not have to shuck out the cash for a MP.

Gatesbasher - 04 March 2008 11:45 AM

I suppose what they would do would be something more like a giant iPod Touch, but I really think it should have a keyboard.

The iPod Touch/iPhone is precisely what screams out that Apple can (and should be expected to) head in this direction. Tablet interfaces—stylus, basic touches, etc.—have come off more as computers with ATM interfaces than, well, a good idea. This can change.

I am going to stay away from the main topic of what’s best and what Apple should do next. I will say this, when I went to the Apple store to buy my first Mac I picked out the the 1st generation “Mac Pro”. I just did not like the idea at the time of having a computer where I could not get inside to do anything. What if I wanted a bigger monitor or to put in a bigger internal hard drive, from what I understand you can’t modify anything with an IMac. I like the thought of knowing that when they come out with say those new 32 gig c.d (heard rumors of them) drives that I will be able to open up my pro and switch out the traditional c.d. drive with the new one and so on for other hardware like the video card. I can buy Apples biggest monitor and upgrade from the 23 inch H.D if I want.

I plan to get my fiancee a IMac soon. An IMac for her would be perfect but me no way.

I’ve said it over and over… Apple needs a small, modular Mac.

I call it the Half-Mac Pro… Quad-core, half the PCI slots, half the RAM slots, 3 drive bays (min.), HALF the size!

I don’t want an iMac. I don’t want the huge beast of a MacPro (and it’s not about price) and the Mac mini is a joke.
I use a MacBook Pro, but I’d love a desktop machine, that could actually sit on my desktop, with a lot more horsepower than my MBP.

There IS a market for it.

Andrew Purvis - 04 March 2008 06:23 PM

Gatesbasher - 04 March 2008 11:45 AM

I suppose what they would do would be something more like a giant iPod Touch, but I really think it should have a keyboard.

The iPod Touch/iPhone is precisely what screams out that Apple can (and should be expected to) head in this direction. Tablet interfaces—stylus, basic touches, etc.—have come off more as computers with ATM interfaces than, well, a good idea. This can change.

I agree this is what they will probably do. But you’re going to want some kind of protective cover over that big glass display anyway. It might as well be a keyboard. Maybe this could be the distinguishing difference between a “book” computer and an ultralight “notebook” computer: in a notebook, the display is in the lid, and the body of the machine is the keyboard side. In a “book” computer, the keyboard could be in the lid, and the body of the machine could be the display. If you weren’t interested in typing anything more than a few characters, you could just fold the lid back all the way, but I really think a lot of people would like to be able to type e-mails and notes on a semi-standard, if small keyboard. On the other hand, maybe I’m a dinosaur. That possibility has been suggested to me more than once!

While an expandable desktop beneath the Mac Pro is a real gap in Apple’s line, I’m not sure how big a market it really is.  These days it seems that most people want portables, even those who never take them out of the house. A MacBook or MacBook Pro really is more power than most people need.

Personally, I haven’t had a desktop in over a decade for my own use, and really haven’t wanted one.