Man, even when I've purchased a PC I've avoided the lowest-end products like the plague. It seems like those customers are just asking for trouble...
I guess I just get baffled when stories of Apple's ridiculous profit margins come out and people here go "Yeah, go Apple!" Huh?
Great, something we agree on. Apple can improve, but they won't improve by chasing market share and reducing profit and cash.II have Apple stuff which is WHY I ask them to be much better than they are
Only ignorance keeps the idea that Windows is horrible alive.
I keep hearing this without proof. The display fawning is getting tiresome.[1] Apple charges too much (subjective). The 27" iMac is cheaper than some monitors of equivalent quality and resolution.
How far are you going back to exactly?This shows in the actual quality of their products, which is dropping quite a bit in recent years, while the price skyrockets.
I keep hearing this without proof.
Apple is the most profitable company that is going out of business.
Don't you know that 64.971 percent of all statistics are made up?
Pete
hmmm dont really wanna point this out, but have you heard recently about apple, making money off every quarter for the last year or so.. in a recession, and are still going upwards, and have ~$34 in the bank.. doesnt sound like they're going outta business to me..
On other news this is quite impressive.. couple this, with the marginal market increase in the U.K earlier on a couple of weeks ago and this could be seen as quite impressive
PTP
And the credibility and analysis goes about as far as what I can say.
Hm...
Now that I'm thinking about this more, it is retail sales -- online sales not included. So this makes more sense to me.
I'm not sure this is a very good way to measure computer sales. Obviously, a lot of sales are going over the internet. E.g., does Dell have any retail sales?
As a matter of fact, yes they do. Just as HP sells a fair portion of their hardware through retail outlets in Staples, Best Buy, even Walmart* and other outlets, Dell is there, too. At least where I live, they are.
But the most interesting thing is, despite the much lower prices of the other PC brands, only Apple seems to be making any kind of real profit. Why? Oh, I know, they have 'oh so much markup,' but if that were really so true, why are people paying it? Have they decided that Apple really is the better choice?
Maybe you need to do a little research, since Apple's prices are lower than they were 5 years ago, not higher. They're just not as low as the PC prices.Well I think it's clear that Apple is pretty much all about the money. They don't want more people using their products, they just want to make higher margins. This shows in the actual quality of their products, which is dropping quite a bit in recent years, while the price skyrockets.
Competition--and yet, Apple is competing with every one of them by offering not only better hardware, but a better OS as well. If your statements were true, would Apple even be close to the sales they're making? After all, Apple still holds an 80% Customer Satisfaction rating, despite the much higher price you say they're bilking from their customers.The reason PC's are so cheap is because of competition. PC prices are the REAL value of the hardware you are buying, yet these companies are still making profits. Apple makes an obscene profit on the same (or worse) hardware that PC makers use.
Ah yes, I knew that one was going to come up. Please explain to me exactly what 'monopoly' Apple is supposed to be holding? With only about 10% of the desktop computer market (supposedly) they certainly don't hold any monopoly over the desktop computers. The users are very satisfied with their hardware in general, and Macs have been proven to even run Windows better than any 'equivalent' PC. So being a monopoly is a patent impossibility at the moment. As for your "... like 2 days wait just to get an appointment ...," obviously, you simply don't know how to use the Genius Bar--assuming you've even tried.Apple is able to make such absurd profit levels because it's basically it's own monopoly. Great business, but hardly benefits users. In fact it's pretty detrimental to them. If Apple was making such good stuff, why is it like 2 days wait just to get an appointment to get your broken gear looked at?
Overall hardware prices have dropped as well. The single socket Mac Pro stands out badly this time around like the Power Mac G5 1.8 GHz did. It took long enough to get a $999 base notebook again.Maybe you need to do a little research, since Apple's prices are lower than they were 5 years ago, not higher. They're just not as low as the PC prices.
Well I think it's clear that Apple is pretty much all about the money. They don't want more people using their products, they just want to make higher margins.
Only ignorance keeps the idea that Windows is horrible alive.
Competition--and yet, Apple is competing with every one of them by offering not only better hardware, but a better OS as well. If your statements were true, would Apple even be close to the sales they're making? After all, Apple still holds an 80% Customer Satisfaction rating, despite the much higher price you say they're bilking from their customers.
How many retail Windows units does Microsoft sell?What's the margin on a $320 Window 7 Ultimate disc-in-a-box? Hmm, you would think that with 90% market share their products would be more...reasonably priced?
Where's your outrage?
Only ignorance keeps the idea that Windows is horrible alive.
How many retail Windows units does Microsoft sell?
It gets old seeing $29 Snow Leopard get faced off against $320 Windows 7 Ultimate retail without any consideration beyond that.
I hear that and I think ********, because judging by many of the comments that I hear from Mac users ever since I got my Macbook, their Macs can come filled with dog **** and they will still give Apple a high rating simply because it's Apple.
My MacBook that I treat like gold is of such crap build quality.
My sister got an Acer -- cute little thing that... that I found almost impossible to navigate with the "trackpad" and click button. Terribly frustrating.More than anything else, this article demonstrates how the price of PC desktops and laptops has gone down dramatically over the last few years. To the point where new laptops are almost becoming impulse buys.