Neilis Posted July 25, 2007 Share Posted July 25, 2007 Ok, I've come up with an idea. The ultimate compromise between Apple staying proprietary and Apple releasing a general purpose OS X that works on any PC. THE APPLE MOTHERBOARD! Imagine this: Apple creates an ATX LGA775 motherboard (for now - future revisions will be different). It has integrated sound, network, modem, SerialATA, etc. Just about anything you need in a computer, integrated. With this you get all the normal things that come with a mobo (some case stickers, a custom backplate, cables, etc), along with a bundled copy of Mac OS X. Only available direct from Apple to cut down on eBay sellers buying wholesale and seperating the bundle and such. Retail price $300-400 (maybe $500, but that's a bit steep). You bring your own CPU, RAM, hard drive, video card, case, power supply, monitor, etc. With this: Apple caters to the hobbiest market. People who want to tinker with their systems, customize, etc, do so. A customer can build a tower, and beef up all the specs they care about while skipping on others (myself for example, I want lots of RAM, big hard drive, and good video, but the CPU itself needn't be all that powerful - I'm actualy happy with a single core). Apple also ensures that all systems of this type are running a legit copy of the operating system since it comes bundled with the motherboard. Apple maintains a reference design on the most important components of the system making their job much, much easier as far as providing hardware and driver support. Apple also gets to remain a "hardware" company and charge a premium on thier hardware. Their OS is still tied to THEIR hardware (even if it's only the heart of the system), and so you won't find people throwing it on Dell's and Gateway's. At least not without a bit of hacking, but that's already possible. They basically sacrifice none of their existing market, while opening up to the (not insignificant) hobbiest "do it yourself" market in the process. Heck I'd imagine that their prime audience here would be OSx86'ers who wanted a legal alternative for their hackintoshes . It's extra marketshare (which helps application support), and they still get to cash in on it. Thoughts? Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/58116-thought-the-apple-motherboard/ Share on other sites More sharing options...
bxsci(macuser) Posted July 25, 2007 Share Posted July 25, 2007 i like the idea - however apple most likely doesn't Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/58116-thought-the-apple-motherboard/#findComment-414952 Share on other sites More sharing options...
badge Posted July 25, 2007 Share Posted July 25, 2007 i've thought of it many times myself, I doubt The Steve would go for it though. It would take away from Apple's image having a bunch of people with "official" apple computers in cheapo pc cases. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/58116-thought-the-apple-motherboard/#findComment-414959 Share on other sites More sharing options...
pizzaboy75 Posted July 25, 2007 Share Posted July 25, 2007 Not to mention the nightmare situation they had with the "official" mac clones in the mid 90's! the company nearly went bankrupt at that time. apple is defenitly never going to do such a thing again. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/58116-thought-the-apple-motherboard/#findComment-415036 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soliber Posted July 25, 2007 Share Posted July 25, 2007 Besides, I heard that you have to flash a Mac firmware on a graphics card for it to work under OS X. It's not like you can just pop in any off-the-shelf graphics card >_> I just wished Apple would release a Mac tower that's a little more mid-end, instead of the mahoosive Mac Pro (too much money, too much power for most) >_> Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/58116-thought-the-apple-motherboard/#findComment-415038 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ramm Posted July 25, 2007 Share Posted July 25, 2007 Just buy a Logic Board and video card, sound card, etc. and you're all set. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/58116-thought-the-apple-motherboard/#findComment-415039 Share on other sites More sharing options...
360freak Posted August 15, 2007 Share Posted August 15, 2007 i just called and asked today before i read this, and they said you need to buy a complete system Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/58116-thought-the-apple-motherboard/#findComment-428159 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lactobacillus P Posted August 15, 2007 Share Posted August 15, 2007 Apple is also 'design' & nice profit margins. The very good sounding idea about an 'apple motherboard' sounds very interesting. Perhaps obtaining an intel logicboard is a possibility.....but that is not something for mere mortals. Just buy a genuine Mac that's the only solution to wanting to own a real hassle free OSX system! Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/58116-thought-the-apple-motherboard/#findComment-428168 Share on other sites More sharing options...
tran.man48 Posted August 15, 2007 Share Posted August 15, 2007 In theory, this idea is great. It allows people to build their own mac systems. In reality though, Apple probably wouldn't allow it. The Apple name is associated with well-built, beautiful high-end computers. Allowing anyone to just buy components and piece together their own mac will take away from this image. Macs would just become...ahem.. PC's. Also, having everyone with their own components will increase the need for apple support, because face it, some "normal" (doesn't have a clue about computers) people will try to buy the motherboard kit and build their own system. When something goes wrong, who are they gonna call? Apple support.... Basically, its just too much trouble for Apple to deal with. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/58116-thought-the-apple-motherboard/#findComment-428188 Share on other sites More sharing options...
bxsci(macuser) Posted August 15, 2007 Share Posted August 15, 2007 they should sell a mobo and a case - so from the outside it looks like a mac but on the inside its whatever you want it to be Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/58116-thought-the-apple-motherboard/#findComment-428295 Share on other sites More sharing options...
janderson7715 Posted August 15, 2007 Share Posted August 15, 2007 This idea was proposed before here. Apple is never going to consider doing it. It is completely opposite to their tight integration approach, it would make Steve Jobs sick. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/58116-thought-the-apple-motherboard/#findComment-428310 Share on other sites More sharing options...
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