sootman's Journal: If Apple REALLY cared about being green...

I applaud Apple's recent environmental improvements. They started using smaller packaging for all of their products (software, hardware, iPods) and they've also recently started making their products "greener" as well with recyclable materials and fewer bad chemicals.

BUT--they're still pushing all-in-one designs which are SO inherently wasteful. Laptops, obviously, have their limitations, but why isn't there a standalone computer between the $600 Mac mini and the $2200 Mac Pro? Why does the iMac get revised so much more often than these two? I was lucky enough to get a good price on a used Mac Pro but I'd still prefer to have gotten a physically smaller tower that also draws less energy. During the G3/G4/G5 years there was almost always an entry-level box starting at around $1500. Now all the $1000-$2000 Macs have built-in screens.

Every monitor I've ever owned has lasted through at least two computers.* Computers have gotten over 10x faster in last ten years but screens have only gotten about 4x larger. Of what I currently own, most of my computers are 2-3 years old but most of my monitors are 4-5 years old. And to take it even further, many have had multiple inputs! For example, most of my monitors are LCDs from Dell. Not only do most Dell LCDs have DVI and VGA connectors, many also have jacks for various other video inputs--composite (RCA), component, and/or S-Video. I've got a Dell LCD in my room that's connected to a Mac (DVI), a PC (VGA), a cable box (S-Video), and a VCR (composite). Maybe that's not an ideal setup for everyone but I don't watch TV if I'm on the computer so it's fine for me. (And by the way, they even support picture-in-picture.) And don't tell me it's a quality difference--Apple doesn't manufacture their own LCD panels, they buy them, same as everyone else. In fact, a few years ago they were using the exact same panel for their 20" widescreen LCD that Dell used!

* Except for an early DVI-D 18" IBM flat panel, which is awesome but only works with the 32 MB ATI Rage Fury Pro AGP video card I bought at the same time. For some reason, no DVI-I computer I own will drive it, though when I plug it into my work's MacBook Pro the laptop's screen flashes for a moment, indicating that it knows I've plugged in something. Any ideas?