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Apple to Introduce Cheaper Macs?
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I live in the Washington DC Metro Area, you don't think a loaded 2004 BMW 530i with 70k is worth $20,000 today? Of 254 530i's listed in the USA on autotrader.com:
Range of prices within this search:
Highest Price: $34,800
Lowest Price: $14,900
Average Price: $21,705
I am serious and nothing is fake. I bought my 12 inch Powerbook for $950 and sold it for $750 3 years later. (I know the 12'' PB niche at the time.).. and bought my Blackbook for $900! I'm going to sell it to you in 2 years for $700.
(I'm only kidding.)Let's see someone do that with a windoze computer.
My argument is premium pricing gets premium resale. So to me... prices can go up and down... I'm still making out!
There are many UI aspects, included software, and all around convenience that Mac OS X comes with that Windows 7 still doesn't come with.
Kinda like iTunes audio isn't nearly as good as a CD and didn't have the case notes, etc., but it was convenient and "good enough" for the average user. I think Windows 7 is a solid step over XP and Vista and more importantly it is "good enough" for the average user. MS did right by this version. I wouldn't trade it for my Mac but it's worth telling people to not stay with XP anymore.
Uh-oh.
When Apple has tried this in the past, they've always done it without compromising their ultra high margins... if they were to make a $500 machine, it would be made from recycled dog poo in order to keep the margin untouched. Given how they cut corners on the high-end machines, I dread to think what a cheap Mac would feature. Celeron? Atom? Refurbished screens from 5 year old Dells? Whatever it is, there will be a major catch.
When Apple has tried this in the past, they've always done it without compromising their ultra high margins... if they were to make a $500 machine, it would be made from recycled dog poo in order to keep the margin untouched. Given how they cut corners on the high-end machines, I dread to think what a cheap Mac would feature. Celeron? Atom? Refurbished screens from 5 year old Dells? Whatever it is, there will be a major catch.
Even if they lower their prices, they will never dominate the computer market.
I agree. If apple skimps anymore when it comes to processor or video card power we might just see pentium 4's being used again!
BS. Next to nobody make a notebook purchasing decision based on a FireWire port.
Exactly
That hits the nail on the head! Especially considering that the new Mini should be cheaper to produce.
What may be coming is an XMAC which is about time.
Dave
That hits the nail on the head! Especially considering that the new Mini should be cheaper to produce.
What may be coming is an XMAC which is about time.
Dave
I don't suppose that either MS or PC vendors offer Education Discounts either.
Well PC sales are down faster than Macs and they are dropping their prices like crazy, what gives?
Yeah, because it's faster than USB 2.0. But USB 3.0 is coming out next year, with 5 gbit (4 gbit after protocol overhead), so the next firewire (3200) is dead on arrival. This is probably why Apple has started to phase out firewire on the MacBooks - they want to discourage users from buying more FW peripherals that won't work with Macs in 5 years time...
Then again the entire Mac line has been refreshed over the last few months. The unibodies, new Minis, new iMacs, Nehalem Mac Pros. If this had happened in 2007 it would probably have resulted in a huge boost in sales, but now all that happened is that it cushioned the fall a little.
This is most likely the result of stronger dollar. Expect discount between $100 and $150, which is not new since Apples educational discount are between $100 and $200.
I've known some people who ordered their Macs from Apple.com and claimed to be student while they're not. They still got the educational discount without anyone asking.
I've known some people who ordered their Macs from Apple.com and claimed to be student while they're not. They still got the educational discount without anyone asking.
Well none of those companies have to develop and support an OS like OSX, let me see how much the likes of Dell and HP would be charging if they made their own OS on their computers.
Yeah, I think so. Apple like to keep things simple and they would love to be able to have one single type of port instead of two. If the next generation FW is slower than USB right from the start, why bother?
I've seen better hobo builds Pika.
If you don't care about hardware spend all you want on the case.
If you don't care about hardware spend all you want on the case.
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Yup, that's the new entry level iMac right there. They were a bit too generous with the tape though, Apple would use shorter pieces of tape to save a few nickels.
You do realize that Apple's gross margins are lower than RiM and MS, and I would suspect lower than Dell and HP's comparable machines where they try to make a solid buck. It's only the cheap machines that the vendors have razor thin margins that require pre-installed crapware to be added so they can make a buck. I don't see or want Apple getting into that game as both a stockholder and as a customer.