[pier25]

> I'm guessing they've done the calculation and concluded the answer is "no", at least for the time being.

It's possible but I doubt it. Does Apple know how many of its iMac customers would prefer a tower? Or how many sales they've lost to hackintoshes?

[Terretta]

Yes, they do, in part because they opened up previously in the heyday of people building their own systems, and continue to engage deeply on the enthusiast asks right now contra-posed against their broader market understanding. Roughly, they figure out which enthusiast things will appeal to the larger market, and make it all work, fully integrated.

Per the curve shown in Geoffrey Moore’s “Crossing the Chasm”, HN exists largely on the left of the chasm, Apple is a trillion dollar company because it understood how to shift to the right of the chasm.

Visual explanation (.png):

https://smithhousedesign.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/smit...

[pier25]

> in part because they opened up previously in the heyday of people building their own systems

20+ years ago?

> continue to engage deeply on the enthusiast asks right now contra-posed against their broader market understanding

Is this speculation or you have concrete evidence of this claim?

> HN exists largely on the left of the chasm, Apple is a trillion dollar company because it understood how to shift to the right of the chasm.

It think it would be the opposite. Having a tower with macOS and consumer specs (no Xeon or ECC) would be pretty boring and conservative. I think that is one of the reasons Apple won't do it.

[Terretta]

> 20+ years ago?

Yeah. Back then lots of folks moonlit or ran local PC builder companies as small business PC builders and gaming PC builders. Before gateway and e-machines, and the like.

> speculation or evidence?

first hand knowledge

> think it would be the opposite

The curve is within a market. There are boring computers and exciting computers, workaday computers and toy computers, etc. Each has its curve.

Compare to automobiles, what gets shown at shows or on the track, what is limited edition, and finally what is high end then mainstream then outdated.

The high end buyers want them some of that enthusiast kit — without the high maintenance and visits to the mechanic.

That’s even true within a brand line, buyers want stuff they see getting played with over on the left of the chasm by competing enthusiasts, and they want their brand to adopt it too.

[pier25]

> first hand knowledge

Please do go on :)

[sixothree]

The more I think about it, the more I conclude they just cannot afford to support tower or modular designs for the enthusiast market. Not only would they "lose" money from costly upgrades. But it would also become apparent the lack of driver support Macs have; especially as it pertains to video cards.

Maybe the Mac Pro will change the support issue and they will eventually be able to enter this market. But I believe their biggest fear is being compared to Windows or Linux which both have tremendous hardware support.