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Mac OS X is freaking Expensive actually.

E

EricChunky

macrumors regular
Original poster
Feb 12, 2006
202
0
London
I was a big believer in the famous cheap OS X theory - look at how much they charge for Vista...

But then I think, we are actually buying "upgrades" from Apple, aren't we. Every Mac is pre-loaded with Mac OS X, so any new OSes purchased can ONLY be UPGRADES. Then I went on to Google about Windows Upgrade pricing, Woooo! Even the Vista Ultimate ain't that expensive, and the basic and business version even cost less.

Let's not talk about the "quality" issues here, that's not what I'm after. Just to prove that Mac OS X is cheaper than Windows is a fake argument. It is better, that's all why we love it, but it's certainly not cheaper.

Btw... looks like Apple is to make iLife for free when they are selling Retail version of Leopard. Shall we thank Microsoft for this? At least now we don't need to pay twice @ retail price for a single upgrade.

*rant after the news of delayed leopard.;)
 
Let's be fair here though...Vista is really an "upgrade" to XP. The interface has changed but if you dig deeper, it is still NTFS.
 
Doesn't Vista Ultimate Upgrade still cost more than twice (~$260) what Leopard is likely to cost ($130 for non-students), when it comes out? Is the situation vastly different in the UK?

Gah, I'm mildly annoyed that it's delayed also. :D
 
EricChunky said:
I was a big believer in the famous cheap OS X theory - look at how much they charge for Vista...

But then I think, we are actually buying "upgrades" from Apple, aren't we. Every Mac is pre-loaded with Mac OS X, so any new OSes purchased can ONLY be UPGRADES. Then I went on to Google about Windows Upgrade pricing, Woooo! Even the Vista Ultimate ain't that expensive, and the basic and business version even cost less.

Let's not talk about the "quality" issues here, that's not what I'm after. Just to prove that Mac OS X is cheaper than Windows is a fake argument. It is better, that's all why we love it, but it's certainly not cheaper.

Btw... looks like Apple is to make iLife for free when they are selling Retail version of Leopard. Shall we thank Microsoft for this? At least now we don't need to pay twice @ retail price for a single upgrade.

*rant after the news of delayed leopard.;)
Click to expand...

Huh?

These aren't Service Releases, they are major updates to the OS, including several significant features not found on the previous version. Certainly not patch rollups.

OS X: $129
Vista: $399

That's the ONLY comparison that can be made, because the other variants of Vista are crippled versions. MacOS is always shipped one way, and one way only, full version, full feature set.

You CAN buy OS X Family Pack for $199 (5 licenses). Or OS X Server, but then we'd have to compare it to Win2K3 Server.

And when you but a Mac, the OS is included, but not for free - you are paying for it, believe me, it's just not shown as a separate line item.

So let's not compare apples to oranges here, license to license, heads up.
 
OK lets get this straight you think that its too expensive now. Something at $199 for the most basic version of vista Compared to $129 for the one version of X which is NOT feature stripped like that version of vista is. To get the full blown version of vista it costs you $399. Apples prices haven't changed in awhile and they are still a good deal. And which the upgrade comment....last time i checked almost all pre-build PCs would be an upgrade too just like macs as they come with windows. Even with MS upgrade prices for a version that really adds some features its at $159. Still cheaper and thats still a cut down version......
 
iPhil said:
To: EricChunky, I'll give that your post is a rant ..


Umm.. Microsoft's windows OS "comparable" to Tiger from :apple:


Price: $259.00 Win. OS (Vista premium) v. Tiger (X.4) from :apple: -- $129



I use "comparable" very loose term
Click to expand...

LOL.. looks like i was wrong. OS X is selling £89 now in UK , while vista upgrades are ranged between £100 - £200. Did Apple lowered the Tiger price?

Should learn to do more research be4 i rant next time :D
 
EricChunky said:
LOL.. looks like i was wrong. OS X is selling £89 now in UK , while vista upgrades are ranged between £100 - £200. Did Apple lowered the Tiger price?

Should learn to do more research be4 i rant next time :D
Click to expand...

If you are a student Tiger is like £58.75 which is dirt cheap. I haven't been able to find a student deal on XP or Vista at least in the UK.
 
EricChunky said:
LOL.. looks like i was wrong. OS X is selling £89 now in UK , while vista upgrades are ranged between £100 - £200. Did Apple lowered the Tiger price?

Should learn to do more research be4 i rant next time :D
Click to expand...

OS X has always been $129 retail. You can get it cheaper, but it has never been more expensive.

Wow.
 
And, um, why is the $129 copy of OSX just an upgrade? Where does it say you need Tiger to upgrade to Leopard? You think that you can't install Leopard straight over the top of OS9, if a computer (such as mine) is that old, but can still run it?

And how the hell do you get a copy of Vista that doesn't require a copy of XP? You buy a pack of 3, for an arm and a leg. With OSX, you can legally put OSX on 5 machines for only like AU$100 more, and illegally on as many as you want (but we won't talk about that). Microsoft is seriously screwing with Mac and PC owners alike, but especially Mac owners, with their marketing and pricing decisions with Vista.

As it was said before, to get a version of Vista with everything that Tiger has to offer, such as data encryption, you really have to go all out on Ultimate. That's scandalous. So, you can come close to putting Tiger on ten computers to the cost of upgrading XP to Vista Ultimate on 1. That doesn't sound very cheap to me.
 
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