You get an iSight instead of a modem, which is a good deal for a lot of users. For those that need the modem it's $100 less than the iSight. This won't work for a notebook, but it's a good idea for an iMac.

No built in modem, but the iSight is built in AND the case is thinnner. This is a winner of a trade-off in my book.

Unfortunately, kenaustus, I do believe you've just seen the future for all Mac products. After dropping it from a desktop, I don't think it's much of a stretch at all to predict that 56k modems will eventually be dropped from notebooks as well.

I haven't used a modem in like 10 years. And that involves taking my laptop on the road. Honestly between Wifi and ethernet ports everywhere, how often does the average person need a modem? If you do, then carry the little USB modem dongle with you. Geez, its not the end of the world. I could think of a dozen things I'd prefer to have in the space wasted by the modem port.

I'm not so sure that getting rid of modems on laptops would be a good idea. Yes, wifi and ethernet are available in most places, but not all. I do travel a lot, and not always to countries that have high speed access available. Having the modem available is nice.

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Mav wrote:
Unfortunately, kenaustus, I do believe you've just seen the future for all Mac products. After dropping it from a desktop, I don't think it's much of a stretch at all to predict that 56k modems will eventually be dropped from notebooks as well.

This is definitely a possibility. It would be very "Apple" to drag we the "great unwashed" kicking and screaming into the 21st century by saying to us, "We are not making machines with dial-up modems anymore.", while keeping them around as a BTO option on the non-iMac desktops and a USB add-on. Although personally, I think they will stay in the laptops...we'll see.

This is old news! It has been on Цlbaum's Delirium for like days.

(This is just a joke, inspired by regular comments on MacNN and the fact that I happened to notice that modem early, nothing more.)

I purchased a new iMac G5 at an Apple store this weekend. The store did not have the Apple USB Modem in stock to go with the computer. I contacted other Apple stores and searched the Apple.com website without luck. Today I just got off the phone with Apple Tech Support. The official word is they will not sell you one unless you buy it online as part of a computer package. Remarkably poor support for a brand new product. I am considering returning the computer. Maybe some national publicity to their supply chain / support flaw can get them to see the light.