How much of a premium are you willing to pay?

[vniow]

I asked (http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=26088) this question last year and I think it may be relevant to ask it again due to the recent iPod mini fiasco.

How much of a premium are you willing to pay for Apple's products?

[vniow]

I'll go first.


Zip. Zero. None.

The only reason I bought my iBook is because it was the best deal I could find on something that suited my needs, if there was a PC notebook for a better deal I would not have hesitated to pick it up. I personally don't believe in the concept of Apple as a premium brand, they make tools, good tools but still tools and if I can do the same job and get the same results with a different tool then I will do so.

I don't make a lot on money and even less now since I may or may not have a job so I'm looking at things which will give me the best value for the dollar, the iBook that I bought fits that, the iPod mini on the other hand....

[edesignuk]

Maybe a little, but not much. Personally I am fine with Windows, XP is stable if looked after (up to date antivirus etc, it's not rocket science). Saying that I still badly want a dual G5 :D

http://upload.edesignuk.net/uploaded_data/smilies/smilie_drool.gif

[wrldwzrd89]

I'm with you, vniow, but in a different way. In my opinion, Apple's products only cost more because they have more and better stuff built-in. This theory can somewhat be verified by attempting to configure a Windows PC similarly to one of Apple's machines. The prices are much closer now, aren't they? This means that Apple is not charging very much of a premium, if any at all, but rather going for increased value for money. Therefore, I'm willing to pay however much Apple decides to charge.

[mactastic]

I won't pay anything just for the apple logo, but as was suggested earlier, I have absolutely no problem paying a premium price for quality merchandise. It's the same reason I don't mind paying top dollar for an All-Clad pot, I know I'll most likely pass it on to my kid, and that represents a good value to me. Now the iPod mini.... I don't think I'd buy that simply because it doesn't represent a good value to me, but neither does a 20" iMac for what they are charging.

By and large, you get what you pay for. I almost never take up the low bidder on a building project, they are either leaving something out, or don't command a decent price because they suck. I don't mind paying a little more for someone who is there on time, is sober, and is a good craftsperson.

[snickelfritz]

The Apple logo is worth a premium.

[vniow]

Originally posted by snickelfritz
The Apple logo is worth a premium.

Wow, you must be loaded!

[edesignuk]

Originally posted by snickelfritz
The Apple logo is worth a premium.
You can't be serious? Maybe to you the OS, or some other "real" element is. But not just a little Apple logo.

[7on]

I initially bought my Powerbook because of 2 reasons

a) at the time it was comparable in spec to the fastest Alienware but like $1000 cheaper

b) Macintoshes are the industry standard for print making and designing, where my current major will take me

Though from now on I'll pretty much buy anything Apple from now on just based on my current experiences, that is if I need it.

[pinto32]

I just got an iBook (first mac) and I dont feel like I payd a premium for it.
1)its a quality product....far better than 95% of PC laptops
2)OS X is a work of art!!!
3) iLife, iCal, Sherlock, all of this great built-in software! Seriously, when jobs gives those lists of what you would have to pay to get the equivelants on windows, he isnt kidding!

I have been a PC user for years, and I will never go back (barring hell freezing over......again......:D )

[i_wolf]

I don't think there is any premium. Every Mac comes with fantastic software (iLife) which if you were to purchase same for a dell you buy for family (and lets be honest you would prob have to.... ) would cost you a fortune.
Then there is build quality. Sure Apple's high end machines may be more expensive than dells, but you get what you pay for. The build quality is worlds apart.
Windows XP, is not in the same league as OS X ... IMO. XP simply doesn't hold a torch to a good unix/linux based distribution like Gentoo, FreeBSD , OS X. Sure you can also get Gentoo and FreeBSD for x86 but, try getting Joe Bloggs off the street to install and set up linux properly.
Another thing apple offers is something that maybe only SGI, Sun and maybe IBM with their AIX can offer : Their OS and Hardware are tuned together and built around each other. Makes for speed, reliability and harmonious running.
There are numerous other arguments.... for and against... but I think most people agree owning a Mac more than pays for itself over time. Especially since Mac's tend to last longer (i.e. they see speed improvements from OS to OS.... windows runs slower on same hardware from generation to generation).

[Gymnut]

Well it should be interesting to see what the numbers are in the coming months->year in regards to iPod Mini's being sold. I for one will always buy as best as I can afford on the Macintosh platform even if a PC counterpart is always cheaper.

[MacsRgr8]

I think working with Mac is still much more fun. It looks better, "feels" better, works easier....
I don't call it a premium. I pay more to get more.

[rueyeet]

I'll gladly pay a modest premium for Apple, as long as Apple means:

1) Superior quality and design
2) An easier, more hassle-free user experience
3) I can run OS X on it. :D

Seriously: A lot of the complaints about the "premium" pricing of Apple products are overlooking that there are premium brands on the Wintel side too, and their stuff can cost as much or more than a Mac, easy. But their products sell, because those brands have a reputation for quality and excellence. IBM and Sony come to mind.

I'm not going to pay extra just 'cause it's Apple...but I will pay for what Apple delivers.

[ShadowHunter]

There is no premium on Apple products.

Calling a $1099 eMac a premium over a $599 Dell-box is not correct, you get what you pay for.

:D

[Dont Hurt Me]

Apple is quality and i dont mind paying a little more if iam paying for quality,power and innovation. I wont pay for more of G4 stagnation. It doesnt matter what apple wraps it up in. look at emac vs powerbooks or imac. i really am amazed that they have been able to keep selling a non advancing chip for so long. hats off to the software division and the ones wrapping this old stale chip in fancy new clothes. ill pay a premium for a premium product. G4 was premium 3 years ago. not today thankyou. still waiting for that G5.

[mactastic]

Originally posted by Dont Hurt Me
still waiting for that G5.

Did you miss the WWDC last July?:eek:

Or do you mean waiting for that G5 in the iMac/Powerbook/eMac?

[niter]

It depends on the item. I do not think I paid a premium for my iBook because it was several hundred less than my previous Gateway (mistake) and works far better. I have never been much for the name brand sort of deal...Prior to getting my iBook the only computer I consider having (other than a laptop) is one I built. Good parts, cheap price...all good to me.

Right now I really REALLY want an iPod, but they are out of my budget and I am going to make myself hold off. If the HP iPod whatever comes out cheaper, but exactly the same, I would get it. Well, that depends...if the price difference is $100, the cheaper wins. If the price difference is nil or $10, then I would get the Apple one to match my iBook.

I love Apple and I love supporting the company. I am going to buy Apple Ram? No. I am going to by the Bluetooth mouse because it looks so freaking cool despite I prefer a two buttoned mouse? No.

But I will say, Apple is what you pay for. That is why I convinced FH's Grandmother to get an eMac over a Dell. I believe the few extra hundred put in would be worth it in the long run.

[Dont Hurt Me]

Originally posted by mactastic
Did you miss the WWDC last July?:eek:

Or do you mean waiting for that G5 in the iMac/Powerbook/eMac? well i would love a imac G5 with a better then fx5200 :rolleyes: If they dont announce one in the next month or so i may get a duallies G5 tower but then i have to cut up my desk so it fits and i really dont want to do that. dont mind paying a premium for G5.:D

[Phatpat]

The apple logo is defintely worth a premium. I'd say 15%

[QCassidy352]

I will pay more for a mac because of OS X. It's not just that I think it's better than XP, but I also know it very well, whereas I would have a lot of learning to do on XP. OS X and my familiarity with it are, for me, the biggest reasons to stay with macs, as long as the price is not absurd.

[MacsRgr8]

Dear QCassidy352,

Sometimes Mac OS 9 can be usefull too... he he ;)

[beefcake]

I feel like I've payed a premium every time I walk out of the Apple store with a shopping bag with bungee cords :(

[rdowns]

Been using Macs since 1988 or so and I've never paid a premium. Well, always got great deals when I was a reseller but to me, Apple products were worth the price I paid and therefore did not represent a premium to me. Haven't been a reseller since 1995 but I still choose Macs.

Funny aside, we ordered a Mac at work for web site testing and I thoroughly enjoyed watching our small IT staff with no clue. (well, no clue about many other PC issues also) Told them to set it up in my office and I'd have it humming with all needed within an hour.

Later in the day, I had my monthly divisional meeting with the President and she asked about it. Told her she's wasting tons of money on Dell crap and too many support people. Pitched that the department I run (due for upgrades) go Mac. I could answer all except Exchange compatibility. Maybe there's hope for 17" iMacs to grace my staff's desks and a 20" for me.

:D

[billyboy]

A year ago I thought I paid a premium for my first ever Mac, a Powerbook, but then I found out what I got for my money, and it seems very reasonable to me now.

My housemate works with Macs, he worked with my Powerbook quite a bit designing a web site and he kept saying he was in the market for a laptop, and for his type of work he definitely wanted a Mac. His father agreed to help him out with a new computer, but took him to a friend's business and Apple computers werent an option.

The no name PC laptop he got was well cheaper than my PB, but I can now see what I paid for. From a distance the PC looks like a Powerbook Ti. Close up it looks like, dare I say, a cheap, thick, tin laptop. He is finding out little niggles with it - like 1.5 hours battery life, a key is already hanging off, it came with no software worth diddly, has XP family edition and strangely enough he doesnt have a very stylish power pack, no cables for connecting to anything, the speakers are complete ****e. It has audio in which is handy.

He seems to know his way around XP to the extent he knows how to share files with my PB, but I swear it is painful to watch him bringing up files buried deep down, and doing simple things like getting to google from IE, installing anti pop up stuff that works most of the time, updating Adaware, killing messages from Windows, downloading software, and so it goes on. I expect there are things he could to improve the desktop, better software etc, but for someone with my level of non existent computer nouse, it looks like it would be a real deal to get set up nicely on XP. It has a nice resolution screen but to me the desktop is just not friendly.

Knowing what I know now about Macs, it would have to be some sort of wonder machine not running Windows to get me to buy a PC. And if I bought my mates PC now I would just feel it was a waste of my money however cheap i got it for. I want to pay for something that just works and if that takes paying a premium up front, so be it.

[Horrortaxi]

I'm willing to pay more for a superior product.

[SiliconAddict]

I’ll answer with a “depends” Premium is in the eye of the beholder. I already know that if I get a PowerBook it will most likely be a 17”er. The problem is that after pricing it out it came out to be a tad over $4,000. (Admittedly this is with a spare battery, additional AC adapter, .Mac, and 1GB RAM.) As I’ve stated before I have no problems paying a premium but $4,000? I put less of a down payment on my new car! At prices like that I get VERY squeamish. I can drop the price down to $3,873 if I get rid of the extras but still. Where Apple really has you by the nads is with their AppleCare. Its practically extortion at $350. Dell, Toshiba, Gateway, et al throw in a 3-year warrantee to begin with. You do have the OPTION of upgrading that to priority service but by default the 3-year warrantee is good enough. Sorry folks but in this regard Apple is screwing its customers over big time.

In addition to that only the 17” and 15” PowerBooks come close to the performance of the Pentium M. http://www.barefeats.com/al15b.html As I have said before I can deal paying a premium price as long as I know I’m getting a premium product. Unfortunately the PowerBook line isn’t premium, and isn’t on par with its PC counterparts. In fact beyond specs I question the quality of current Apple laptops. The release of the new 15” PowerBook was a mess. I can’t count the number of complaints I read. In addition to that one of the two friends that I know who have iBooks had their hard drive fail on them. Now understandably things like this happen but this is why many OEMs have hard drive burn in standards. And last week my other friend had something happen where his iBook went to sleep and never came back. Two people I know and two bad systems one which was less then 4 months old. (The failed HD one.) That’s NOT a good track record. People speak of Apple quality. I want to know where it is? Was that a feature sported only on 2002 and older PowerBooks?!! I’m somewhat scared that I’m playing Russian roulette when it comes to a PowerBook. This REALLY should not be the case.

Finally you have the software. Since I’ve never used OS X for any great length of time I can’t say much on the topic. I do believe that the massive advantage OS X had 4 years ago over anything Windows has decreased dramatically. While finding your way around Windows XP can be clumsy at times (My Network Places is a freaking mess of options thrown together. Or how about the properties page of my computer. IMHO it’s in a counterintuitive location.) its still useable once you get use to HOW the collective mind of Microsoft works’ when it comes to their interface. At this point I can navigate, tweak, and make Windows my ***** with the best of them. Stability is almost a nonissue. My home XP box has been up for 3 months. Crash free and stable as a rock. (Admittedly I have about 8 critical updates to apply but I really don’t want to reboot for that.) So the reason for paying a premium for an Apple product from the OS standpoint is somewhat depreciated because of what Microsoft has done. Note I said depreciated. IMHO it still has major advantages over Windows. Then you come to the other half of the software equation. The iLife package. I don’t really know what to think about iLife. I haven’t used these applications other then iTunes for Windows. As much as I like iTunes I’m a feature person. I like my options. iTunes seems to be somewhat limited in the various options it has. One example. MusicMatch. It has built in alarms that allow you to set Music Match to go off at X time and play music. It has the ability to download cover art on any CD you pop into the drive. It has something called super tagging that reads the filename of the WMA or MP3 and fills in the black for the files metadata. The list goes on. What iTunes does it does well but I just wish the apps were a bit fuller. Obviously since I have little to no experience with OS X I do not know if this extends to the other iLife apps but again I like features and options. Does this make these apps bad? Nope. But for me they might fall by the wayside for other application which makes paying the afore mentioned premium less worthwhile.

OK I’ve been babbling for a page and a half. What does it all boil down to? It comes down to this. I think Apple products are overpriced when its comes to hardware and software but not by as much as some PC users I’ve talked to make it out to be. Maybe 10%-25% over a typical PC desktop/laptop which IMHO isn’t “bad”. What makes it “bad” is that what you get for that premium is inconsistent from product branch to product branch. No one would deny that the G5 PowerMac is on par with its PC counterpart right? But can the same really be said of the eMac, iMac, and iBook?
OK so after that little minirant you would think I’ve written off the Mac as an option right? Wrong. I believe that once Apple gets a G5 in the PowerBook it will do for the PowerBook what the G5 did for the PowerMac line. Bring it up to par with the rest of the computing world and once that happens I have NO problems paying that premium. In fact I’ve been saving for it. So far $1,700 (Would have had more but had to repair the car. :( ) I’m hoping to have at minimum 3 grand when the G5 is announced but I may wait an additional month to see what bugs fall out of it. Again I’m not a big fan of playing Russian roulette with my purchases. Also I’ve wanted to start working with *nix systems. Linux is still a mess GUI wise. I’d rather get a feel on a system such as Mac OS X. The reason is simple. I truly beleve in the long run Linux is going to kick Windows *** in the corp environment. Since I’m a network admin / helpdesk pro I need to know this stuff. Hence the reason Mac OS. That and I’m getting the distinct impression OS X is a tweaker’s\tinkerer’s\customizer’s dream OS.

OK that’s long enough. :D

[sparks9]

Since when is the iPod mini a fiasco? You can't know how well it will sell. Compare it to similar non-Apple mp3 players and you'll see that it's not more expensive.

You CAN'T compare it to a unit using a 1.8" HD (the iPod) like you CAN't compare an iPod to a unit which uses a 2.5" HD (like the Nomad Zen).

Smal = Expensive. You'll have to realize that before making such insane comments!

You'll probably buy a mini within the year yourself :)

[vniow]

Originally posted by sparks9
You'll probably buy a mini within the year yourself :)

Not if I can still get one which holds all 13GB of my music for $50 more...

Or even cheaper if I (probably) decide to go used/refurb...

[sparks9]

Originally posted by vniow
Not if I can still get one which holds all 13GB of my music for $50 more...

Or even cheaper if I (probably) decide to go used/refurb...

Since you don't care about size and the Apple brand, you should just get a 60 gb nomad3 for 50 dollars more than the mini.


;)

[sparks9]

Comparing the iPod and the iPod mini

[vniow]

AAC capability, the iPods interface and its design are worth its price.

If there were another player like that out there with a good interface and AAC capability for a good price I wouldn't hesitate to look at it.

Until then, mini's out. Too much for too little.

The size is nice, the colours are cute but in the end I can't justify not spending a bit more to something which would suit my needs 11 times better. Or better yet find a used one which comes with a dock and whatever....

[SiliconAddict]

Originally posted by vniow
due to the recent iPod mini fiasco.


Come back to the iPod Mini in 6 months and then call it a fiasco. Right now its too soon to tell if the average consumer will or will not bite on it. As Yoda once said "Size matters not" The iPod and iPod mini are close enough in size that, IMHO, I think there will be a fair amount of people focusing on not the size of the device but the capacity and price. But again, let’s wait 6 months before calling the mini a disaster.

[Crikey]

I was surprised when I learned more about Macs that they are frequently no more expensive than PCs are. You can find cheap commodity PC hardware for less, of course, but Apple's stuff in many cases doesn't cost any more than similar quality name-brand PCs. Compare the 12" PowerBook to anything on Dell's Web site and see what I mean.

In those cases where Apple stuff costs more, usually it offers advantages. The iPod is smaller than the slightly-cheaper units that are competing with it now, and certainly better-looking. And of course, Apple's excellent software is worth something.

With regard to the iPod Mini, I personally would rather spend the $50 to get the 15GB iPod, but some people will be enchanted by the Mini's small size and good looks, and who am I to criticize their tech-infatuation just because my own priorities differ? My guess is they will sell enough Minis to make it a successful product.

Cheers!

[applebum]

Originally posted by SiliconAddict

its still useable once you get use to HOW the collective mind of Microsoft works’ when it comes to their interface. At this point I can navigate, tweak, and make Windows my ***** with the best of them.

I think this is one of the keys. You get used to something, there are some things you like, you try to do the same things on another OS and it doesn't quite work the same. It is very hard to objectively compare 2 things unless you are very familiar with both. As you mentioned, you haven't used OSX very much. As a result, you really can't appreciate the value of iLife apps to determine value. Here is an example of how the 2 OSes are different. I bought a digital camera. I didn't want to mess with the included software. So I plugged the camera into my Mac. It found the camera and realized it was a camera and asked me if I wanted to install the software or simply use iPhoto. I clicked use iPhoto. From there I was able to hit import and it brought my pics over where I could fine tune them, put them in an album, order prints from Kodak, print them...very easy, very smooth. Even a beginner could have used ths. I then plugged the camera into my Windows machine. It found a USB storage device. That was it. Since I know Windows very well, I was able to go into Windows Explorer (not IE) and find my USB drive. I clicked on it and there were my pics. I double clicked one of them and it took me into Window picture viewer. There was not much editing I could do. I could print. That is about it. A beginner would have been lost. That is an example of added value that you can't appreciate unless you have used both platform regularly. For someone that has never used a computer, it would certainly be worth the extra money to use Apple as they could sit down and be working on their computer in no time.

So, yes, there is more value in the higher price, thus worth a premium.

[ITR 81]

As long it's Apple I'm willing to pay extra for it. I will however not pay extra for some run of the mill Windows machine.
But since I have both gov. and edu. discounts I rarely pay full price anyways.
Though I did recently pay full price for iPod AppleCare on a spur of moment.

I'll probably be buying the 3Ghz G5 PM when it comes out this summer, iPod mini, iSight, new Apple LCD, and a new G5 PB if it comes out.

Probably get AppleCare to cover it all and probably the next OS upgrade if it comes out this yr.

[Sabbath]

I would pay a small premium for it, but I dont think the general public would and thus Apple dont charge a brand premium as such. However they supply a premium product in my view, ie one that is superior to "comparable" computers and thus people will think the prices are higher.

And as we've been seeing the iPod minis competition is at least as expensive as the iPod mini