Saturday, September 4

The new iMac   one step shy of a complete media center


I'm in agreement with Engadget & Paul Jackson of Forrester Research. What's missing on the new iMac is a TVtuner card. Think wall-mounting media center. Think of finally getting rid of your ancient huge TV. Think Tivo type record/playback system.

It's about high time apple bridged the gap between a computer and a full blown media center. Integrated tuner cards could have cost as little as $100 a unit. That's a small price for such a huge leap in functionality.
DVR functionality is becoming increasingly interesting to technology-literate consumers; TiVo in the US and Sky+ in the UK are redefining how people consume TV programming.(see endnote 6) Furthermore, Microsoft is forging ahead with its Windows XP Media Center Edition, looking to build on lessons from the past year. In the new iMac, Apple presents us with a fabulous living-room-compatible unit with an excellent display and lots of storage designed for digital media ? but doesn't allow for connectivity to the broadcast network. Sure, you can add an inexpensive box to do this, but you then ruin the sleek all-in-one design ? which is what makes this machine so desirable.


Quote from Forrester Research: The New iMac G5 ? A Missed Opportunity

Via Did Apple blow it with the new iMac? - Engadget - www.engadget.com

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