My new Macbook Air has ruined my other computers

[Young Spade]

I didn't give enough information. The Apple Tax on the Air line of computers isn't too bad on a whole. Getting Sandy Bridge processors, Thunderbolt etc., in this ultra light, ultra-portable package.

Now looking at the Pro line--I feel like the Apple Tax is a lot higher, going back to my previous post as an example.

Pro line? Noo... lol; well honestly, lets look at why the machines cost so much.

They had to pay for the plant, the machines to make the laptops out of an aluminum block (aluminum isn't as cheap as plastic mind you), innovations like the mag-safe, the chip in the battery for proper charging, the battery technology to stuff all of that juice int he small package, the trackpad which is glass, the whole "feel" of the machine is just "right".

There is absolutely nothing I do not like about it. At all.

I love everytihng; and that says a lot.

And you're paying for that; but you do get the SNB processors (which cost around 200 each at Intel (although Apple gets them cheaper), and, to be honest, when you call customer support, you don't get transferred to India, which means Apple is paying more money for a large support team that's stationed here.

All of these things add up and it's easy to say it's a "tax" and, at some point it is (looking at the MBA in this sense), but overall, I think you are getting an amazing machine for the price you pay... but to be honest, I wouldn't pay so much if it didn't run OS X.

I seriously thought about getting the 11.6 inch Alienware computer as the specs are much better and you also get the 7 hour battery life.

I ended up getting the Pro simply because it ran OS X.

Just a couple of things I thought up.

 

[MarkNY]

Its one of the best laptops around but Apple does charge a premium for that. $999 by no means is worth for a laptop with 2GB RAM and 64GB SSD. It still sells because of quality(both hardware and software) that competitors aren't able to offer.

PC makers were begging an Intel for a subsidy for the SB ULV processors because supposedly they couldn't even MATCH Apple on price for a similar form factor as the Air. I still contend there is no Apple Tax for the Air.

 

[andrewlgm]

PC makers were begging an Intel for a subsidy for the SB ULV processors because supposedly they couldn't even MATCH Apple on price for a similar form factor as the Air. I still contend there is no Apple Tax for the Air.

I think the "apple tax" is always present no matter the product. Competitors may not be able to match apple's pricing, but it doesn't mean the product couldn't be cheaper. Apple is not HP making $50 out of every PC. at the end of the day one's still paying $999 for 2GB ram and 64GB SSD.

I wanted to upgrade my white MacBook which I've modified over the past year, to an air, but I couldn't justify the price just yet. I really want the top of the line, 256 GB SSD, 1.8 i7, 4GB ram, but the pricing goes up considerably - $1700. I might as well buy a pro and replace the insides with my current 8GB ram and 256 SSD.

 

[Mr. Retrofire]

Yeah, where they get you is in the peripherals. Have you seen what a Thunderbolt cable costs?

Devices which use the thunderbolt port efficiently cost at least 25x more than the thunderbolt cable. 100 percent (device costs) / 25 = 4 percent (cable costs). Good FW800 cables cost 2.5x more (10 percent cable costs). A good FW800 3 meter cable costs 10 US$. A good external FW800 3.5" enclosure costs 100 US$. So: 100 percent (device costs) / 10 = 10 percent (cable costs). 10 percent for the FW800 cable is 2.5x more expensive than a thunderbolt cable (4 percent cable costs). So the assumption that a thunderbolt cable is more expensive than a good FW800 cable is wrong.

Btw:
http://store.apple.com/us/product/MC913ZM/A
and
http://www.ifixit.com/blog/blog/2011/06/29/what-makes-the-thunderbolt-cable-lightning-fast/

 

[ZBoater]

A Thunderbolt cable is expensive, period. Making matters worse is no one else makes them. Reminds me of the Monster HDMI cables Best Buy sells for a zillion bucks. THAT's where they make their money. That and the $30 cat5e patch cables that sell at Amazon for $2.

 

[Mr. Retrofire]

I think the "apple tax" is always present no matter the product. Competitors may not be able to match apple's pricing, but it doesn't mean the product couldn't be cheaper.

I do not try to buy things for which i do not have the money. Why can you not do the same thing? Does someone force you to buy Apple products?

 

[ZBoater]

I do not try to buy things for which i do not have the money. Why can you not do the same thing? Does someone force you to buy Apple products?

No, but the whole concept of the Apple ecosystem cause the issue. They draw you in with the gateway drup (iPod), then you graduate to the more expensive drug (iPad), then you get sucked into iTunes and the appstore, and all of a sudden you are stuck because you have no choices. You either give up your MP3 player and your tablet or your pay the tax.

Hey, its a smart business model. They make tons of money. So no, no one "forces" anyone to buy Apple. It doesn't mean we have to be happy with proprietary connectors and cables that cost $80...

 

[Mr. Retrofire]

A Thunderbolt cable is expensive, period.

Not if you really need it.

Making matters worse is no one else makes them.

Does some other laptop/notebook manufacturer offer a 10 GBit/s I/O universal interface on semi pro or pro machines? If not, why should other manufacturers offer the appropriate cables?

Give the tech time. TB is neither very old nor wide-spread.

 

[Mr. Retrofire]

No, but the whole concept of the Apple ecosystem cause the issue. They draw you in with the gateway drup (iPod), then you graduate to the more expensive drug (iPad), then you get sucked into iTunes and the appstore, and all of a sudden you are stuck because you have no choices. You either give up your MP3 player and your tablet or your pay the tax.

Hey, its a smart business model.

The iDevices have a real openness problem, yes. However, if i buy an iPod tomorrow, i can play my own music (from my music CD collection-via iTunes) on this device, without any additional payments to Apple. If i have no music CDs or other music collections, then i have a little problem.

And yes, it is a smart business model (the upgrade path), but you can obtain the content (music and videos) also from other sources.

 

[andrewlgm]

I do not try to buy things for which i do not have the money. Why can you not do the same thing? Does someone force you to buy Apple products?

Apple sells great products with a great profit margin. And in my view, based on facts, they could possibly sell their great products at a lower price. I'm not blaming apple, or crying foul, it's just business. Their profit margin per product is from 42% to 52%, with iPhones usually bringing in 60%. This info is from a computerworld article: "Apple makes $208 on each $499 iPad."

Geez... Who cares for what you or I can afford? Thankfully, I can afford the macbook air I want, but cannot justify it as my current macbook has the 256GB SSD and 8GB ram (more than the air). I'd like the thinner profile, but the macbook is not thick to begin with. I will probably wait for next year's model, and see what they offer. Your response is usual garbage typical of people who take offense as if they were apple incarnate. I'm not attacking apple. I'm applauding them.

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Hey, its a smart business model. They make tons of money. So no, no one "forces" anyone to buy Apple. It doesn't mean we have to be happy with proprietary connectors and cables that cost $80...

I agree with you. There's no reason why the macbook line does not have an HDMI cable. I had to pay $50 for a cable to connect my macbook to the TV and another $50 for an HDMI adapter to be able to connect my iPad. If all these devices were HDMI ready, apple would be throwing out income. It's the price one pays for the quality and the ecosystem.

 

[jsolares]

Pro line? Noo... lol; well honestly, lets look at why the machines cost so much.

They had to pay for the plant, the machines to make the laptops out of an aluminum block (aluminum isn't as cheap as plastic mind you), innovations like the mag-safe, the chip in the battery for proper charging, the battery technology to stuff all of that juice int he small package, the trackpad which is glass, the whole "feel" of the machine is just "right".

Really? the battery? it's just like any other battery, just like everything else, the only thing i might agree is the glass trackpad but you're telling me that costs hundreds of dollars? i'd like to look at the R&D bill for it and the unibody, the main reason it's that expensive is because they can. they have the highest margins in every market they're in, and with computers you can't really argue volume like the iphone/ipod/ipad

But still we like them and so we buy them

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Apple sells great products with a great profit margin. And in my view, based on facts, they could possibly sell their great products at a lower price. I'm not blaming apple, or crying foul, it's just business. Their profit margin per product is from 42% to 52%, with iPhones usually bringing in 60%. This info is from a computerworld article: "Apple makes $208 on each $499 iPad."

Geez... Who cares for what you or I can afford? Thankfully, I can afford the macbook air I want, but cannot justify it as my current macbook has the 256GB SSD and 8GB ram (more than the air). I'd like the thinner profile, but the macbook is not thick to begin with. I will probably wait for next year's model, and see what they offer. Your response is usual garbage typical of people who take offense as if they were apple incarnate. I'm not attacking apple. I'm applauding them.

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I agree with you. There's no reason why the macbook line does not have an HDMI cable. I had to pay $50 for a cable to connect my macbook to the TV and another $50 for an HDMI adapter to be able to connect my iPad. If all these devices were HDMI ready, apple would be throwing out income. It's the price one pays for the quality and the ecosystem.

Unlike you i had a vostro v13 for a mobile companion, an ipad is useless to me, the v13 had celeron 1.3ghz single core cpu, i upgraded the ram to 4GB but there's just so much you can do, so i got the Air , probably should've waited for ivy bridge tho...

 

[misterbig]

Those people who say there's an Apple tax on the MacBook Air have no idea what they're talking about. When even the competition are saying that it's impossible for them to make a comparable notebook at the same price, you know that the MBA is very good value.

 

[andrewlgm]

Those people who say there's an Apple tax on the MacBook Air have no idea what they're talking about. When even the competition are saying that it's impossible for them to make a comparable notebook at the same price, you know that the MBA is very good value.

I doubt apple would be willing to make a 7% profit margin like HP or Dell. The competition not being able to match the price is not the same as apple not adding a "surcharge" for being apple, or being able to manufacture it for less money than the competition - after all they've got an exceptionally strong hold on the supply chain.

Consider what we know with certainty: that apple does not make a product with a profit margin of less than 30%. Currently they make from 40% to 60% back on every single product they make and sell. It would be a significant departure for apple to manufacture a product with less of a profit margin. If you know the manufacturing price, please let me know. I've been trying to find it, but it's nowhere on the web.

 

[AdrianK]

Where are the high resolution monitors? You simply can't find any, although the DPI on the new Thunderbolt monitor looks pretty good.

Interesting, because the ATD is the second lowest DPI monitor apple currently produce, at 109 DPI (21.5" iMac is 107).

 

[Young Spade]

Really? the battery? it's just like any other battery, just like everything else, the only thing i might agree is the glass trackpad but you're telling me that costs hundreds of dollars? i'd like to look at the R&D bill for it and the unibody, the main reason it's that expensive is because they can. they have the highest margins in every market they're in, and with computers you can't really argue volume like the iphone/ipod/ipad

I didn't say the prices were not outrageous, I also did not say I agree with the pricing. I just provided opinions/suggestions/reasons on why it is so high.

Yea they make great returns, but who paid for those technologies to be developed? To be created? Tested?

Yea I read news day in and day out, I know their profit margins are at least 30 percent. However, that doesn't deny the fact that you are getting an amazing machine for that price.

There are reasons that machine is great and well distinct from any other machine out there (aside from that clone Dell put out recently).

Plus Apple is a "premium" brand. They care about overcharging as much as the next guy. Making the money is what they want to do. If the product wasn't great though, they wouldn't sell many of them.

 

[MarkNY]

I doubt apple would be willing to make a 7% profit margin like HP or Dell. The competition not being able to match the price is not the same as apple not adding a "surcharge" for being apple, or being able to manufacture it for less money than the competition - after all they've got an exceptionally strong hold on the supply chain.

Consider what we know with certainty: that apple does not make a product with a profit margin of less than 30%. Currently they make from 40% to 60% back on every single product they make and sell. It would be a significant departure for apple to manufacture a product with less of a profit margin. If you know the manufacturing price, please let me know. I've been trying to find it, but it's nowhere on the web.

Apple evidently enjoys some economies of scale in the Macbook Air production. I don't know their profit margin on it, don't really care. What I do know is that because of these economies of scale, you simply cannot buy a PC copy of the Air at a discount, so from the consumers' point of view there is no "tax" from choosing Lion over Windows 7 for that particular form factor. We have seen from the tablet market what happens when competitors are unable to significantly price below Apple -- Apple will own this form factor.

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Interesting, because the ATD is the second lowest DPI monitor apple currently produce, at 109 DPI (21.5" iMac is 107).

It's hard to find a PPI over 100 for a large monitor. For a non-laptop monitor, what are our choices? Any LCD panel over 109 from any manufacturer?

There was a rumor a few days ago of a revamped Mac lineup for next year. I wouldn't be surprised if it is SSDs for all Macs and higher resolution screens.

 

[Invisible Elf]

My MBA just replaced my old laptop so it didn't really ruin any computers for me. However the excellent portability and battery has made me start bringing my computer out of the house and now I spend more time in the cantine or campus instead. It's awesome