An iMac for sale on Apple’s website for a mere $999 sounds like reasonable value. Until, that is, you realize that the computer in question is from 2006; pre-dating even the first generation iPhone.
That’s what Twitter user @DylanMcD8 recently discovered on the Apple Online Store. Sadly (or perhaps not), it doesn’t seem that Apple is actually planning to start selling the 14-year-old iMac 17-inch 1.83-GHz Intel Core 2 Duo again. It appears to have been the result of some kind of technical issue.
The 2006 iMac, for what it’s worth, came with dual-core processor, 512MB of RAM, 160GB Serial ATA hard drive, and a pretty ancient graphics card. You also get (or, rather, got) Apple’s AirPort Extreme router, 3x USB 2.0 ports and a pair of FireWire 400 ports. All squeezed into a 17-inch form factor. The white plastic design looks like a giant iPod: a product that Apple barely makes (and never promotes) circa 2020. When this Mac came out, it was Apple’s best-selling product.
To be fair, out of the computers made by every manufacturer, I’d probably opt for a 14-year-old iMac before I would a 14-year-old [insert other computer]. I’ve got a colleague who still works regularly on a 10-year-old Mac and swears it doesn’t slow him down too much. (Although it will only run up to macOS High Sierra as an operating system.) There’s still plenty you could do on a 2006 iMac. But if you really want one you’d be better off picking one up on eBay for under $50.
It seems that its presence on the Apple Online Store may have been a mistake, though. It’s not showing up when I search for it. On Twitter, the replies to DylanMcD8’s post include one from a user who actually went through with the purchase. Only to quickly receive a cancellation email from Apple.
Still, it does get me thinking: If Apple did, for some reason, start selling new versions of old Macs (with the same spec they shipped with), what would you buy? And how much would you be willing to pay? Let me know in the comments below.
Via: Gizmodo
