Social media has more or less killed even the most basic critical thinking skills.
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MacBook Neo's AppleCare+ Repair Fees Are Lower Than All Other Macs
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Yeah. Colour me skeptical.
Amazing how a random web page somehow knows all of that information about Apple's deals with component suppliers, including what they pay TSMC for Apple Silicon processors...
Electronic component prices depend hugely on quantity (huge up-front design and tooling costs + relatively tiny per-unit marginal cost) and Apple are one of the bigger fish in the pond for some types of component and drive pretty hard bargains. The page you linked to gave no hint of how they managed to find those component prices.
Don’t know where you dreamt up these numbers, but if the chip/board assembly was 90.25USD (which is highly unlikely), no way the whole thing would be only 150.
Not that the BOM price is relevant to anyone anyway. But the way people throw around very specific numbers is hilarious. The difference in BOM between making five hundred thousand or five million units will be quite significant. I’ve seen quotes where the difference between making 10.000 and 100.000 of a part was more than a factor of five. The total cost was less than 50% more, to make ten times as many… scale matters.
Which is why the Neo uses an iPhone chip.
Whoa whoa whoa, hang on a minute, hold it right there. You’re telling me a device that costs less to both buy as a consumer and build as a manufacturer, using cheaper components… costs less to repair?!??!
I need to sit down, this is all too much to comprehend.
I need to sit down, this is all too much to comprehend.
JPack
macrumors P6
Not sure why you would call it random. The content comes from Tech Insights, one of the many semiconductor consultancy firms. If you want exact methodology, you need to pay for the info and you should know this.
I sure as heck would take that number over a random poster’s “400%.”
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MrGimper
macrumors G3
Ah, thank you for correcting me on the chip!
Yes, definetely cheap. It's around EUR 700 without TouchID in Europe, but tax included. Which is cheap for an Apple product, but I got my 80+ year old mother a Windows laptop for half that price. Speakers are so-so, 500 nits, 256/8 as well...it's just that, it runs Windows. Though I have to say that Windows is becoming more and more usable.
phenste
macrumors 6502a
thank you for reminding me that, for some reason or another, I wasn't on AppleCare One. I am the exact target demo for a plan like that as a habitually…messy person with my devices. $20/mo for 3-device protection is a steal! especially when I already have a (now-)$99 repair I need to get done on my MBP!
anyway, these prices are great. Apple showing that they actually give a damn about the budget market and want to see them keep their devices for a long time. really excited to see Neo out and about a few months out.
anyway, these prices are great. Apple showing that they actually give a damn about the budget market and want to see them keep their devices for a long time. really excited to see Neo out and about a few months out.
Basic75
macrumors 68030
maxoakland
macrumors 68000
OK, that’s actually really nice. It almost makes up for the pitifully low specs
maxoakland
macrumors 68000
Price point is key but I’m not convinced 8GB RAM is enough for even those light workloads. MacOS is bloated. Especially the latest release (Tahoe)
thistleknife
macrumors member
If you'd done any research, you'd know that's not true.
How long does the $139 up-front plan last for? IU always thought Apple Care was for 2 years, but $139 for two years doesn't make any sense, when it sells for $49/year. Clicking on the link only states that AppleCare extends your warranty, but doesn't say for how long.
Mac_tech
macrumors 6502
Apple_Robert
Contributor
1: Margin is calculated on sales price, not on cost price. Calculating “backwards” makes the numbers sound higher than they are.
2: Your 400% would be 80% actual margin. Apple is “known for” having the margin that is noted in their earnings reports, which is about 50% roughly speaking, but it is higher on services than hardware. So likely 40-45%, which is high, but not exorbitantly so.
However, margin is also not calculated from the difference between BOM and retail price - but between BOM and distributor price. And the BOM estimates that are floating around is also likely not very accurate. They are just that, estimates.
Online comments about not just Apple’s but most consumer companies’ margins are more often than not hilariously off.
You don’t have to be convinced, as long as the target audience is.
Just like a MacBook Pro attempts to get people to pay 2000 dollars for a Mac instead of 1000 for a PC, or in the case of the Air 1100 dollars instead of 600 for a PC, Neo is trying to make people pay 600 for a Mac instead of 300 for a PC that has 8GB on a much worse OS, and in some cases - believe it or not - 4GB.
It’s not fair to compare pure performance to a 600USD Windows PC, because you are getting a LOT of benefits on the Mac that doesn’t revolve around performance. If anything, you should debate the areas Windows has going for it, such as touchscreens (for those that want that…), or software support. RAM is not the main hurdle here.