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Making the PC jump Apple

T

Tech198

Cancelled
Original poster
Mar 21, 2011
15,915
2,152
These days people are switching to Macs, but the majority use PC's..

Apple dropped its price in the "sales" they usually have on Black Friday, and $100 cheaper is good for us Mac users and they have the Refurb. Store.

But what about Apple reducing its prices to those equal to PC's, in the Apple Store and their Retail?

Yes, I know theres not much difference already compared to the $1000 equivalent PC, but $200 or so is a big difference..

WHy can't Apple say .... "ok... the Macbook Pro 15' will be $1,400, or the Macbook Air (being a slower cpu), knock this down to $600"

This will gain more interest, and more incentive to switch to... Since the average laptop i5 now-a-days is about $500.

I guess what i'm saying, is why can't Apple make it more affordable for the average PC user ? As people don't all have $2000 to throw away at a MBP.

WHat i'm saying is the people who do have around $1000 though, these people will be able to decide, rather than just say "oh shoot.... I can only get a PC"
 
Why on earth would Apple want to join in the Race to the bottom?
There's more than enough Walmarts, K Marts, Warehouses etc. Want cheap stuff then buy cheap stuff, want a Mac then buy a Mac.

Saving up for what you really want might be old fashioned but it still works as well as it always has.
 
Ashka said:
Why on earth would Apple want to join in the Race to the bottom?
There's more than enough Walmarts, K Marts, Warehouses etc. Want cheap stuff then buy cheap stuff, want a Mac then buy a Mac.

Saving up for what you really want might be old fashioned but it still works as well as it always has.
Click to expand...


I'm all for that, but its not about Apple taking a race... Its about making it more affordable to buy...

That may work in k-mart, etc.... but not for Apple... which are promoting "Switch to Mac"

This is hardly anything to go by, when one must spend allot to get it in the first place.

I'm not saying people won't buy Macs... I'm just pointing out Apple could have much more market share (equal to that of PC's), if they would be price equal.

Not like now were you have 90% of the world on PC's and only %10 or less, use Macs.

It will always be "one-sided" but at least Apple can gain more market share by doing this...... so now the market would be probably 35% instead of the lessor.
 
The problem is that Apple doesn't charge a premium just because, they actually have a premium product. If you want a laptop worth $1800 you should expect to pay $1800. Comparable PC products don't even exist for most of Apple's line, and the truly comparable products are usually more than Apple. Look around at the ultrabooks and the only ones that can really compete with a MBA cost more.

It sounds like the OP just wants a Mac but can't afford one. That's what credit cards are for! :rolleyes:
 
I don't have a penny to my name, yet I managed to save up money for my MacBook Pro on my own. $100 every month that went straight into a gift card.

Anyone could buy an Apple computer at this point. It's not that you HAVE to buy the $600 machine, it's that you can't be bothered to save up a little more to purchase a Mac. And that's the truth. People would rather waste their money buying fast food every week, on $25-40 Xbox games they'll only play once, and a bunch of other junk, than spend their money on buying a new computer.

Apple's mission is to please their current customers, and the people who are willing to buy their products at the current set price. It is not worth their time, or the revenue loss to go after cheapskates who won't even see the value in the product or even embrace the ecosystem and will only look for loopholes around it.
 
Ah, the PC Wars of the 90's and 00's. This was that "Race to the Bottom" Ashka, MasterHowl, and others are referring to. Companies started offering phone/internet sales, customization, and fast delivery at rock bottom prices. There was little innovation in most of the products (from a manufacturer standpoint, anyway) and the major selling factor was price point. From first hand experience, customer service and quality suffered greatly.

The era is littered with names like Compaq, Zeos, eMachines, and Gateway 2000. After the war even mighty IBM moved out of personal computing and focused on servers and corporate systems and Acer totally restructured as well.

I won't say that Apple has always been on the high ground, but they have a tendency to compete with innovation and develop products that fill niches we didn't even know were there.

Sure price is important, but I'm not sure it's as important as some think it is. Look at a Porsche or Ferrari versus a GM, Toyota, or Ford. If price was the only thing that mattered, the high end car makers would have folded a long time ago. Why are high end cars so sought after? Answer that and you'll have part of the answer to Apple's success.
 
Apple make proper products with exceptional designs to suit. Why should they lower their prices when they are a premium brand.
 
MonkeySee.... said:
Apple make proper products with exceptional designs to suit. Why should they lower their prices when they are a premium brand.
Click to expand...

I'll be the first to admit Apple products can look amazing. But it's not all about looks.

Premium prices for not so premium hardware; Mac Pro anyone? The last real update to the Mac Pro was in July of 2010 yet Apple charges a premium for technology that is over two years old. There's no excuse for that...well I guess there is as Apple is now a phone/tablet company. The money is the iPhone and iPads now. Heck the iPod is now taking backstage. In particular the classic iPod which hasn't seen an update in September 2009. That's worse than the Mac Pro.

I'm still on Snow Leopard, so I can't comment on the latest version of OS X.
 
MonkeySee.... said:
Apple make proper products with exceptional designs to suit. Why should they lower their prices when they are a premium brand.
Click to expand...

The hardware and length of software support is very lacking imo. That is why I'm not inclined to buy any new Macs. Because I know that beyond its great design and looks, I could have got hardware over twice as good for the price and I won't be under Apple's two year software support cycle. And I'm not that keen on OS X anymore since the push of iOS features to it.

But you're right. People buy Macs at the price they are at and Apple are making a tidy profit from it. Apple have no reason to change their prices, although it would be nice if they did lower them. As it would be nice if Apple supported a new release of OS X for more than two years.
 
wordoflife said:
Actually, I don't find Macs to be all that expensive for what you get.
Click to expand...

This. I've been looking for a new notebook for school.Most machines that I found with similar specs to MacBooks aren't that far off in price and the difference is a small premium to pay for good design and support.

Arguably Mac desktops are another matter altogether.
 
We all know that PC's are better in term of hardware for things like gaming... although you can game equally as well on a Mac, most titles are available or Pc's (at the very least), although Bootcamp can be used for this too.

But frame-rate aside, PC's would probably be better...

However, paying a premium price for hardware that (eg GPU most) is always lacking, including on-board memory available in some cases.

This does increase, but so does the price in some when new line of Macs come out from Apple.

Paying a premium for Mac's, as you are, you should be getting the best of the best... with the top graphics on the market......

Apple says "Its not a gaming machine" and its used mostly for photography which wouldn't need that much horse power compared to gaming, but how does that justify the premium price you pay for the "best" ?

Apple do make the money on hardware, and it gets worse as we pay $400 for Apple care (based on Mac model).. where as for extended warranties, other companies will shine through, there-by further making the composition much more affordable. More than just $100 in such cases.. Although you do get ilife stuff on the Mac which is good anyway.

So, its not just a "premium", as you need to also factor in Apple Care too to see the real advantage.

In regards to the above post, paying for support is all well and good, but you should have a choice....

I can't say the last time I gave Apple a call for support as I solve myself anyway.

So really, 90-days of phone support for me with Apple, with extension with AppleCare, is a waste of money.

The only "real deal" i do get would be IF my Mac fails. But that haven't happened often
 
The Macbook Air lineup is actually comparable in price to windows ultrabooks that are currently on the market. I was shopping for a portable computer last month and couldn't really find a comparable ultrabook for a lower price so I got the MBA, put Win7 on it (just in case) and have the best of both worlds now.

Apple doesn't have to lower prices because, as the 2nd most valuable brand in the world, Apple is selling not only computers but the brand name as well, and thus are able to charge a higher price for them. So if you can charge a higher price to maintain high profit margins and still make good sales, it would be a bad business decision not to.
 
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