The pundits are always wrong

Tech pundits love to write obituaries, if not for Apple, then for Apple gear.

While it may be true that the iMac looks seriously underpowered in comparison to a G5 desktop, it's certainly not the case when compared to comparable laptops. In fact, as you well know, laptops have to compromise their performance so much in order to conserve battery power, that they don't really fit my definition of a desktop alternative.

The success of laptops is more down to fashion than functionality, and if the iMac has a weakness it's what it always was: as a design statement, you either love it or hate it. And as a design statement, it can look old before its time.

That said, dusting off the old "iMac without a monitor" idea is hardly original thinking, and not really the answer. Pundits always assume that Apple want more cheapskate customers, but those are the customers you want to avoid. Sorry, cheapskates, but there's just non profit in ya. Apple would always rather target the wealthy (and competent).

The problem for the iMac is that, in appealing to the fashion- and design-conscious, it sowed the seeds of its own demise, because these people are fickle and unforgiving. The line, "...the chance that I'll buy another iMac... is nil" arises out of that, rather than anything else.

Because for what home users are likely to be doing, it is not underpowered. It's just not. For internet, word processing, messing around with iPhoto, and even making music, it's perfectly fine. It's not a big, ugly, hulking workstation for power users because it doesn't need to be.

Mark my words, the iPod will come in for its own line of criticism before too long, and the reasons given will purport to be rational and even technical, but actually, they'll based on the fickle passing of fashion