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Is anyone else alarmed at the constant increasing prices?

S

scaramoosh

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Nov 30, 2014
852
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Back a few years ago I'd buy an iPhone, I'd buy an iPad, and I'd even buy MacBook despite mostly using a Windows Laptop. However it seems like the base prices have doubled since then, you'd used to pay £500, but now £1000+ is the new norm, while MacBooks have increased in price by crazy amounts too! I mean I'm not going to pay £2000 for a MacBook which has such poor specs that I need to spend another grand to upgrade it... since everything is soldered to the board now.

All this has made me do is not upgrade, I'm not going to upgrade my 2015 iPad 12.9, I'm not going to pay £90+ a month for an iPhone on contract if I want a usable amount of data. I'm not going to ever buy a MacBook again, I mean not only are the new keyboards crap, if everything is soldered to the board.... I'm just not willing to shell out more upfront.

Meanwhile I bought a 1060 6GB, 16GB DDR4, Intel 8300 quad core (better than the 7700) and it has two removable drives, two removable ram slots and a removable PCIe slot for storage. I got that for £650, a Windows Laptop that I'm using my VR headset with and it has enough cooling that it doesn't throttle. I just find the MacBook gap ever increasing, not only are the specs underwhelming these days, but the prices have skyrocketed.

I went from upgrading every year, to upgrading every couple years, to not upgrading at all. I know I'm not alone as my work friends are all buying Android now because the new iPhones are too expensive. I think everyone has that new Mate 20 Pro thing now, frigging one of them got the Note 9 at half the price of the iPhone XS on contract.

I think this is where I depart with Apple, I just don't like the direction they're going in. Plus Face Id sucks and they seem intent on using that only, which sucks for me as an Apple Pay user. Any frigging Motorcyclist will know how annoying it is, I just end up never using my Phone now, before I could just take off a glove, taking off your helmet is so annoying and you have to work out where you can place it down.
 
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I'm not alarmed. Apple products have always been "overpriced" IMO compared to the competition. There was a point in time when even adding in the higher price there was value to those products. I've always took the time to evaluate what Apple products offer for the price. For me, there was never a time when it was a "no-brainer" to upgrade every year.

I've been making a phased approach to leaving Appleland. I keep using my current Apple products for as long as they are functional, and when it is time to replace them, if Apple doesn't offer a replacement that offers value, I'll replace the device with a non-Apple alternative.

That's worked out very well for me so far. I've always tried to maximize the bang-for-the-buck with my devices and now it is even better. When a bona fide deal like the 2018 iPad is released, I'll buy it. when Apple discontinued the iPhone SE, I switched back to Android.
 
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sracer said:
When a bona fide deal like the 2018 iPad is released, I'll buy it
Click to expand...

I'd argue that the 2018 iPad is the runaway best value Apple product being sold today.

That offering, at that price, is INSANELY good value compared to literally everything else Apple sells.

It's almost like Tim doesn't know about it and once he finds out they'll double the price "just because".
 
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scaramoosh said:
Any frigging Motorcyclist will know how annoying it is, I just end up never using my Phone now, before I could just take off a glove, taking off your helmet is so annoying and you have to work out where you can place it down.
Click to expand...

wait am i reading this correctly? you are trashing the company because they made it harder for you to use your iPhone while driving your motorcycle. a potentially dangerous piece of equipment thus you should keep your focus on driving it and not on distractions. and because you can't iPhone while driving you're going to diss the phone etc

pretty sure if tim cook saw this complaint his reply would be 'bye felicia'
 
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Apple is bracing for backlash in the trade war with China. They are working towards moving more manufacturing back to the west, and with that also comes increasing prices. They also keep making their devices leaps and bounds more powerful than the competition, and are spending money on things like the tiny apertures on the edges of the liquid retina displays to make the only rounded corner LCDs in existence and from what I've read that can add a lot of cost. Hopefully soon all of this power will pay off in iOS 13 and make the iPad more useful as a laptop replacement and help justify the cost.
 
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turbineseaplane said:
I'd argue that's a waste of their time and money mostly.
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I didn't say it wasn't. But it also makes the design more aesthetically pleasing, especially as you bring the display closer to the edges. But they are often pushing the design envelope, for better or worse, and over time those additions come down in price and they add stupid new ones that we take for granted years later. For instance the push to make ever thinner devices could mean we end up with an iPhone that can unfold into an iPad. Who knows.
 
turbineseaplane said:
I didn't mean to imply any assertions on your end.
I was just making a statement that I find it to be mostly a waste of resources (also a PITA for App developers).
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Yeah, I think they are wanting to move forward with this on all their devices. I wouldn't be surprised if the MacBook Pro gets it next. No other manufacturers have done this yet either, at least not with cheaper LCD, so I think they justify it as a way to distinguish their brand.
 
macduke said:
Yeah, I think they are wanting to move forward with this on all their devices. I wouldn't be surprised if the MacBook Pro gets it next. No other manufacturers have done this yet either, at least not with cheaper LCD, so I think they justify it as a way to distinguish their brand.
Click to expand...

God I hope not.

I think rounded corners on laptop/desktop screens would be ridiculous and a waste of all the corner real estate, especially anything close to the corner radius size they've chosen on these latest iOS devices.
 
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turbineseaplane said:
I'd argue that the 2018 iPad is the runaway best value Apple product being sold today.

That offering, at that price, is INSANELY good value compared to literally everything else Apple sells.

It's almost like Tim doesn't know about it and once he finds out they'll double the price "just because".
Click to expand...
This is why the 2018 iPad must die. :p

I'm a bit embarrassed by just how much use and fun I'm having with the 2018 iPad + Pencil. Someone should start a "2018 iPad Appreciation Thread" and have people post pictures of their devices in action. :)
 
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sracer said:
I'm not alarmed. Apple products have always been "overpriced" IMO compared to the competition. There was a point in time when even adding in the higher price there was value to those products. I've always took the time to evaluate what Apple products offer for the price. For me, there was never a time when it was a "no-brainer" to upgrade every year.
Click to expand...
For me, it's more like I more or less know what upgrades/features I want and what price I'm willing to pay beforehand. If the product meets both, then I'd upgrade.

Mind, regardless of how long I use a device, max price is calculated based on a percentage of my annual discretionary income. The prices Apple has been charging of late have exceeded my comfort limits.
 
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Hicksmat1976 said:
This is very true. I paid around £650 for a 128gb iPad air in 2014. Now it's over £200 less.

Phones though have gone off the chart expensive.
Click to expand...

Yeah, but the phones are really good. We have more sizes, and price points to choose from today, than at any time in the past.
 
Its a shame. It used to be that computers and electronics got faster and cheaper all the time. While phones and iPads are getting faster, desktops and laptops aren't really getting much faster and they're definitely not getting cheaper.
 
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Yes, it's to a point where I was actually thinking about selling both my iPad and MacBook Pro, and getting a surface pro. I'll be starting school soon, and I was planing on upgrading both my iPad and MacBook, but the prices are so high now, that I could just get a surface pro and have the best of both words. Only thing that sucks is that I'm so invested in Apple's OS, that I don't know I could get used to using Windows again.
 
sracer said:
I'm not alarmed. Apple products have always been "overpriced" IMO compared to the competition. There was a point in time when even adding in the higher price there was value to those products. I've always took the time to evaluate what Apple products offer for the price. For me, there was never a time when it was a "no-brainer" to upgrade every year.
Click to expand...

It's called inflation. Back in the 60's, gas was around 30 cents a gallon. For the most part, the one's mainly hurt are retires on a fixed income.
 
Alarmed not so much, but the pricing has really taken most of the fun out of it for me at this point. I used to like being able to treat myself to a new Apple gadget each year and not even really thinking about it, now dropping a months salary on a MBP with a dodgy keyboard and having to shell out even more for a fistful of dongles and a charger cable kinda leaves a bit of a bitter taste.
 
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turbineseaplane said:
God I hope not.

I think rounded corners on laptop/desktop screens would be ridiculous and a waste of all the corner real estate, especially anything close to the corner radius size they've chosen on these latest iOS devices.
Click to expand...
Yeah, but they could potentially just make the display bigger. For instance, a 16" MBP where the rounded corners push out closer to the edge of the device by shrinking the bezels. More space overall while matching the new aesthetic.
 
macduke said:
Yeah, but they could potentially just make the display bigger. For instance, a 16" MBP where the rounded corners push out closer to the edge of the device by shrinking the bezels. More space overall while matching the new aesthetic.
Click to expand...

lol - yeah..True..
Or just not do rounded corners and use all that space efficiently for on screen elements as now.

Honestly, the rounded corner thing is an iOS push - I hope they leave it there.
 
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turbineseaplane said:
lol - yeah..True..
Or just not do rounded corners and use all that space efficiently for on screen elements as now.

Honestly, the rounded corner thing is an iOS push - I hope they leave it there.
Click to expand...
Hah, you already know what Jony has decided. He said as much in the interview the other day. Looking at the MBP display now with rounded corners and square display, it goes directly against what he was talking about with the way the display seems less like a distinct component when it's rounded and more like a part of a cohesive object or whatever. Probably when they switch to Apple designed chips in the Mac, so in the next year or two.
 
turbineseaplane said:
lol - yeah..True..
Or just not do rounded corners and use all that space efficiently for on screen elements as now.

Honestly, the rounded corner thing is an iOS push - I hope they leave it there.
Click to expand...
Much like the Touch Bar, it's not something that would be actively off-putting to me, but nor would it actually be an attractive feature. What would be annoying is the inevitable further price increase that's bound to come attached to it as it's going to have to be a fully custom panel that's had extra work put into rounding the corners.
 
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