2017 iMac 27" UK pricing. Greedy pigs or just me?

[Rmonster]

Customise your 27‑inch iMac with Retina 5K display.
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• 4.2GHz quad-core Intel Core i7, Turbo Boost up to 4.5GHz
• 64GB 2400MHz DDR4
• 2TB SSD
• Radeon Pro 580 with 8GB video memory
• Magic Mouse 2
• Magic Keyboard - British

OK, so we've all known not to buy additional RAM from Apple IF you purchase a model where you are able to purchase and install third party yourself. But why do they still take the pi$$ - I guess because they have the data and can work out how many uninformed will just pay through the nose. Yes, I guess that they have to focus on the shareholders for the sake of compliance but really?

And yes, 8, 16, 24, 32B RAM is more that 80% of users will need. But the Apple Configured RAM upgrade prices are insane, hugely.

And yes, I realise that 2TB SSD is more than most people will need or select.

BUT, on Apple UK this comes in at £4,949 - That's GBP not USD.

REALLY?

Yes, I know that this is a website for people who enjoy using Apple products. I do, but "fan boy" is just an invented term to insult people who just appreciate the positive aspects of Apple products. I just appreciate good design and implementation. So I know that some people will say "If you don't like it don't buy it and why are you on an Apple based rumors/forums site?"

The reason is that i have more Apple products that you can imagine dating back to the Apple II, I owned a rare Apple III for a while (wish I hadn't sold that) and have collected vintage items from most ranges as well as all modern products for me AND my kids, so multiple multiple products.

I appreciate that technology gets more complex as time moves on but my old Apple stuff, for the main part, works perfectly. I'm taking two more recent iMacs to the repair shop tomorrow - yes, I still love them even though Apple are leaving me behind at the moment.

And yet here I am, £4,949 albeit for a maxed out but NON-pro iMac. With their recent history it might cook itself &/or major components just outside warranty or Applecare, but then be almost impossible to fix economically. But it's arsenic free right?

Am I just have having a bad day or are they really just greedy greedy pigs in 2017?

No insults intended to pigs.

Please do give honest feedback, good or bad. I'm so aghast that it ain't going to offend me.

Cheers
Rich

 

[JazzyGB1]

Customise your 27‑inch iMac with Retina 5K display.
Add To Favourites

• 4.2GHz quad-core Intel Core i7, Turbo Boost up to 4.5GHz
• 64GB 2400MHz DDR4
• 2TB SSD
• Radeon Pro 580 with 8GB video memory
• Magic Mouse 2
• Magic Keyboard - British

OK, so we've all known not to buy additional RAM from Apple IF you purchase a model where you are able to purchase and install third party yourself. But why do they still take the pi$$ - I guess because they have the data and can work out how many uninformed will just pay through the nose. Yes, I guess that they have to focus on the shareholders for the sake of compliance but really?

And yes, 8, 16, 24, 32B RAM is more that 80% of users will need. But the Apple Configured RAM upgrade prices are insane, hugely.

And yes, I realise that 2TB SSD is more than most people will need or select.

BUT, on Apple UK this comes in at £4,949 - That's GBP not USD.

REALLY?

Yes, I know that this is a website for people who enjoy using Apple products. I do, but "fan boy" is just an invented term to insult people who just appreciate the positive aspects of Apple products. I just appreciate good design and implementation. So I know that some people will say "If you don't like it don't buy it and why are you on an Apple based rumors/forums site?"

The reason is that i have more Apple products that you can imagine dating back to the Apple II, I owned a rare Apple III for a while (wish I hadn't sold that) and have collected vintage items from most ranges as well as all modern products for me AND my kids, so multiple multiple products.

I appreciate that technology gets more complex as time moves on but my old Apple stuff, for the main part, works perfectly. I'm taking two more recent iMacs to the repair shop tomorrow - yes, I still love them even though Apple are leaving me behind at the moment.

And yet here I am, £4,949 albeit for a maxed out but NON-pro iMac. With their recent history it might cook itself &/or major components just outside warranty or Applecare, but then be almost impossible to fix economically. But it's arsenic free right?

Am I just have having a bad day or are they really just greedy greedy pigs in 2017?

No insults intended to pigs.

Please do give honest feedback, good or bad. I'm so aghast that it ain't going to offend me.

Cheers
Rich

I think they are taking the piss and not just on the 27" models.
The default hard drive in the 21" model is still 1TB 5400rpm - that's just shameful, I mean it's a joke.
A 5400rpm hard drive in 2017...it's not 2009 ffs!!!
1TB Fusion drives in the 27" models isn't much better either.
1TB SATA SSD drives should be standard by now in the 27" models IMO.

Apple have totally and utterly lost it IMO.
I mean I'm their target market I really am.
You can't get a much bigger 'Apple Man' than me.
I type this from my 12 core Mac Pro in my music studio, but my wife and I each have a MacBook Pro, iPhones, iPad Airs and even an Apple TV, plus I have a classic (160GB) iPod and she a 27" iMac too - needless to say we are fans.

And because of my influence we have 8 Macs at work. A plethora of friends and relatives too have all purchased Macs because of me.
So indirectly, excluding my own purchases, over the last decade or so I've probably been responsible for about £200,000 worth of sales for Apple in the form of computers, iPads and iPhones. Maybe not much in the grand scheme of Apple's sales perhaps, but certainly not nothing either.

And I'm sure there's many more like me responsible for even greater sales, so collectively we are very important.

The problem is Apple are going sideways at best and backwards at worst.

So my wife and I still use the iPhones 6s Plus because the iPhone 7 dropped the headphone socket.
Our Macbook Pros are from 2011 because we both have the 17" model that Apple decided to no longer make.
My studio Mac Pro is from 2009 because Apple replaced it with that trashcan looking abomination which is a closed system and totally over priced.

So they keep discontinuing products and replacing them with more expensive alternatives that in many ways actually have a lower spec.

My 8 year old Mac Pro for instance has 12TB of internal storage (including 1TB SSD), 24GB RAM and TWO optical drives (including a Blu Ray burner), plus I have USB2, USB3 and Firewire 400 & 800 ports via PCIe expansion ports, so it is MUCH better spec than the Mac Pro they replaced it with 4 years later!!!

Same goes for the MacBook Pro.
My old 2011 model has a quad core i7 processor, 16GB RAM, a self fitted 1TB SSD, 17"antiglare screen, PCIe slot, Firewire, Thunderbolt, magnetic charger, USB ports AND an optical drive.
Today there in no 17" option and the best 15" MacBook Pro costs a whopping £2699, but has only a meagre 500GB SSD, no pcie, no firewire, no optical drive, no anti glare screen, no magnetic charger and no standard USB!!!

And now they bring out a 'Pro' iMac for £5000!!!!
It's grossly over priced IMO.
I was eagerly awaiting the promised Modular Mac Pro, but if that's the sort of price they are looking at, then it's a total waste of time for me, I just don't have that budget.
Pro Macs have historically been purchased by many, not just 'pros'.
At £5000, it really will only be the reserve of the professional or the very wealthy and £5000 buys you a lot elsewhere.

Proof if ever it were needed that Apple Post Steve Jobs are shadow of their former selves.

 

[nambuccaheadsau]

Blame Brexit!

 

[Rmonster]

Blame Brexit!

Come on, I know that you are sufficiently intelligent to have more insight than that ;-)

 

[SoggyCheese]

That configuration comes in at $5299 on the US site. Taking the VAT off your UK pricing leaves an exchange rate of $1.28=£1.

Today exchange rate is $1.29=£1.

So no, I don't think they're being greedy, not in the way Apple normally get accused of anyway. Not unless they are stiffing everyone with the pricing structure.

 

[Rmonster]

That configuration comes in at $5299 on the US site. Taking the VAT off your UK pricing leaves an exchange rate of $1.28=£1.

Today exchange rate is $1.29=£1.

So no, I don't think they're being greedy, not in the way Apple normally get accused of anyway. Not unless they are stiffing everyone with the pricing structure.

Ok, thanks for the response. I admit that my insertion of UK pricing may not have been completely the point, but still somewhat of a significant factor. Upon reflection, maybe we are all getting stiffed, massively?

 

[JazzyGB1]

Blame Brexit!

Yes the pound is weaker against the dollar now, but that's not the reason Apple's prices are so high.
It's Apple's charges, they are just obscene.
For example, a 1TB SSD can be purchased for £240, Apple charge £630.
32GB DDR4 RAM can be purchased for £240, Apple charge £540.
Unlike a laptop, there's absolutely no advantage to 'slimming' the iMac, so it's a deliberate move to make it difficult to get into. For example it took me about 10 minutes to replace the HD in my 2011 i7 iMac with an SSD and getting into a G5 iMac was simplicity itself. There absolutely no reason why that couldn't be the case now and we could all just fit our own SSD.
Apple have deliberately chosen for this to be next to impossible on the current iMacs and so the charges for these upgrades is taking the piss.
Of course Apple will get both RAM and SSD's much cheaper than we can AND they will get to keep the bit you don't have (i.e the original 8GB and original 1TB HD) too, so the prices they are charging of these upgrades are exorbitant.
Mind you, as part of the EU we don't have a trade deal with the USA, so hopefully post Brexit we will and prices for Macs and other American goods will fall.

 

[Three141]

You're spot on about UK prices; it is nothing to do with Brexit as they have always charged us on the higher end and Australia gets it just as bad if not worse.

They charge what they can get away with; I don't doubt it costs more to do business here but I don't think the extra cost is reflected accurately in our prices.

I don't see this changing as I believe we still continue to flock to them.

 

[Appleaker]

It's because you went with the 2TB SSD and Apple RAM.... and there was the Brexit increase.

Their SSD prices are extremely high, even if they are some of the best speeds on the market.

Their RAM prices are extremely high with no excuse. Buying 3rd party RAM is better.

The new iMacs are actually better value than the last ones because they put in the highest end GPU into the standard configuration (not as a BTO upgrade).
[doublepost=1496741664][/doublepost]

You're spot on about UK prices; it is nothing to do with Brexit as they have always charged us on the higher end and Australia gets it just as bad if not worse.

They charge what they can get away with; I don't doubt it costs more to do business here but I don't think the extra cost is reflected accurately in our prices.

I don't see this changing as I believe we still continue to flock to them.

I don't know how you can say that the Brexit vote wasn't the main cause for the price increase. It happened after a massive drop in value of the pound against the dollar, and Apple said themselves give reasoning of changing exchange rates. Maybe you voted for Brexit (or maybe you didn't), but that doesn't make this any less true. It could have its advantages like trade deals, and the pound is slowly getting stronger (although Apple being Apple, they probably won't change the pricing back).
[doublepost=1496742126][/doublepost]

Yes the pound is weaker against the dollar now, but that's not the reason Apple's prices are so high.
It's Apple's charges, they are just obscene.
For example, a 1TB SSD can be purchased for £240, Apple charge £630.
32GB DDR4 RAM can be purchased for £240, Apple charge £540.
Unlike a laptop, there's absolutely no advantage to 'slimming' the iMac, so it's a deliberate move to make it difficult to get into. For example it took me about 10 minutes to replace the HD in my 2011 i7 iMac with an SSD and getting into a G5 iMac was simplicity itself. There absolutely no reason why that couldn't be the case now and we could all just fit our own SSD.
Apple have deliberately chosen for this to be next to impossible on the current iMacs and so the charges for these upgrades is taking the piss.
Of course Apple will get both RAM and SSD's much cheaper than we can AND they will get to keep the bit you don't have (i.e the original 8GB and original 1TB HD) too, so the prices they are charging of these upgrades are exorbitant.
Mind you, as part of the EU we don't have a trade deal with the USA, so hopefully post Brexit we will and prices for Macs and other American goods will fall.

It is the reason why their prices are 25% higher than they were before the Brexit vote (and of course for that short period after).

I think the SSDs are too expensive, but that comparison isn't accurate as you're comparing a SATA SSD against Apples PCIe SSD. That's 540MBps against 3GBps. Samsung 3GBps drive is around £450 (I think it has a higher RRP), so Apple are still charging too much. I hope they only way they go now is capacity over speed, hopefully their prices will reduce.

There is no excuse with RAM, it makes me worried about a future redesign where we'all have to pay Apple for it. There is already signs of that with the non user upgradeable RAM on the iMac Pro.

 

[JazzyGB1]

I think the SSDs are too expensive, but that comparison isn't accurate as you're comparing a SATA SSD against Apples PCIe SSD.

Yes but that (again) is of Apple's choosing.
The Fusion drive is just a normal SATA drive and a normal SATA SSD could easily be fitted instead of PCIe SSD and still offer significant speed increases over a spindle HD...I know I have one in my MacBook Pro.

The price of the Trashcan Mac Pro was $500 higher than it's 2012 counterpart from the get go and long before Brexit. Same goes for Apple's upgrades

So the price of the Mac Pro and their high prices for upgrades for their computers are because of Apple's gross over charging more than they are about anything else.

£1 = $1.29 which is 15% less its pre Brexit level, not 25%.

 

[sunshinerag]

Isn't the pound significantly down. It might be Apple expects the pound to weaken further, hence these prices. Really you need to look at it the other way, using pounds to purchase foreign made goods is going to be bad for the next few years at least. Other retailers will be jacking up the GBP prices soon too or like Cadbury reduce the chocolate sizes.

 

[Darajavahus]

They are even crazier in Poland. You guys in UK blame brexit, Poland didn't go through such a thing yet the prices are even higher, spec from first post is 25899.00 PLN which is 5370.56 British Pound.

5299.00USD to PLN is 19795.74 + 23% vat = 24348.76 they want aditional 1551PLN price of ipad

Price of not customized imac with radeon pro 580 is 2299USD to PLN 8591.48 + 23% vat 10567.52 yet the price is here 11499

 

[Three141]

[doublepost=1496741664][/doublepost]
I don't know how you can say that the Brexit vote wasn't the main cause for the price increase. It happened after a massive drop in value of the pound against the dollar, and Apple said themselves give reasoning of changing exchange rates. Maybe you voted for Brexit (or maybe you didn't), but that doesn't make this any less true. It could have its advantages like trade deals, and the pound is slowly getting stronger (although Apple being Apple, they probably won't change the pricing back).
.

I don't blame Brexit as Apple always hikes up the price in the UK; it's a historic traight, when the pound gets back to it, I don't expect the prices to fall, I mentioned Aus incurs this same 'premium' and a @Darajavahus mentioned this is happening in Poland; I do note when the pound was stronger than the dollar we were still paying a higher premium.

I did not vote Brexit.

 

[Appleaker]

I don't blame Brexit as Apple always hikes up the price in the UK; it's a historic traight, when the pound gets back to it, I don't expect the prices to fall, I mentioned Aus incurs this same 'premium' and a member mentioned this is happening in Poland; I do note when the pound was stronger than the dollar we were still paying a higher premium.

I did not vote Brexit.

I don't think there would have been the 25% increase if the fall in GBP value didn't occur, so i do blame Brexit for that increase. I agree that they are unlikely to change it back when the pound increase in value. I understand that the UK prices have always been above the USD to GBP exchange rate, but it hasn't been this bad. Although their recent increases due to exchange rates have been more unnecessarily drastic in other countries I think.

If this time they're not as greedy as we think and would put it back to previous pricing when the pound rises, a reason not to change it now would be instability, which may be why they need that 'wiggle room' for pricing.

Although in a lot of cases, it's not wiggle room at all. It's about £200 with the 12" and 13" MacBooks but the 15" MacBook Pros are ridiculous. Similarly, on something like the iPads its unnecessarily high.