15" iMac Line Quietly Dropped US$100, Starting At US$1299

by , 11:00 AM EDT, October 7th, 2002

Observer BlueDjinn noted that Apple has quietly dropped the price of the 15" iMac line by US$100. The product line now starts at US$1299, and tops out at US$1699. On the two low end models, that puts the iMac back a the same price as when Apple introduced the flat screen Macs, and the high-end 800 MHz SuperDrive model is priced at US$100 less than when it was introduced. In March of this year, Apple raised the price of the iMac line by US$100 citing rising component prices, but then reduced the price of the 800 MHz unit a few months later. That configuration is now priced US$200 than it was at its height. The current configurations and pricing:

The 15-inch flat screen iMac, for a suggested retail price of $1,699 (US), includes:

• an 800 MHz PowerPC G4 processor with Velocity Engine;
• DVD-R/CD-RW SuperDrive optical drive;
• NVIDIA GeForce2 MX with 32MB DDR memory;
• 256MB SDRAM;
• 60GB Ultra ATA hard drive; and
• Apple Pro Speakers.

The 15-inch flat screen iMac, for a suggested retail price of $1,499 (US), includes:

• a 700 MHz PowerPC G4 processor with Velocity Engine;
• DVD-ROM/CD-RW Combo optical drive;
• NVIDIA GeForce2 MX with 32MB DDR memory;
• 256MB SDRAM;
• 40GB Ultra ATA hard drive; and
• Apple Pro Speakers.

The 15-inch flat screen iMac, for a suggested retail price of $1,299 (US), includes:

• a 700 MHz PowerPC G4 processor with Velocity Engine;
• CD-RW optical drive;
• NVIDIA GeForce2 MX with 32MB DDR memory;
• 128MB SDRAM; and
• 40GB Ultra ATA hard drive.

You can find more information on the iMac at the Apple Store, or at the iMac home page at Apple's Web site.

The Mac Observer Spin:

This will no doubt start off a new round of speculation on whether the iMac line is about to be upgraded. It has been 9 months since the product shipped, and Apple typically updates its product lines every 9 months, so it's possible. Remember our Mac buying advice, however: a new Mac on your desk is worth two on a rumor site. Be that as it may, the price decrease should help the company kick off the new quarter with a bit of a zing. With R&D costs long covered, and component prices back in line for some time, the price decrease is overdue, if anything.