Nearly All Apple Hardware Costs More Than the Average PC

[Eidorian]

if you do a PC comparisson, then once you add in things like MIMO wifi, bluetooth, backlit keyboard, windows 7 ultimate, the adobe pack with elements and premier and other features it's about the same price depending on when you buy in the cycle

I am still somewhat surprised how much value people place on iLife.

Otherwise the entry level Vostro 3xxx series brings plenty of hardware features to the table. A backlit keyboard standard on a ~US$500 notebook? I guess it must be premium!

The panels are still crummy though.

 

[R.Atwood]

I'm going to break this circlejerk and try to be objective and skeptic.
Where does Tim Cook base this quote on?

However, a materially larger number of people are electing to buy an iPad instead of a Windows-based PC.

I'm curious where he's getting the statistics from, or are these just his own speculations/guesses?

 

[Renzatic]

I'm going to break this circlejerk and try to be objective and skeptic.
Where does Tim Cook base this quote on?

I'm curious where he's getting the statistics from, or are these just his own speculations/guesses?

No idea. According this rather informative article over at Ars Technica, the iPad hasn't put much of a dent in the PC market. Well, besides Netbooks anyway.

We're not seeing the iPad grow in lieu of the PC, and we're not truly taking the first brave steps towards Post PC world just yet. Rather, the iPad is a new market growing alongside the PC. Complementing it, rather than replacing it outright.

 

[BaldiMac]

No idea. According this rather informative article over at Ars Technica, the iPad hasn't put much of a dent in the PC market. Well, besides Netbooks anyway.

We're not seeing the iPad grow in lieu of the PC, and we're not truly taking the first brave steps towards Post PC world just yet. Rather, the iPad is a new market growing alongside the PC. Complementing it, rather than replacing it outright.

Why do you discount netbooks? Netbook cannibalization is exactly the point.

 

[Renzatic]

Yup. It's the one area of the PC market everyone pretty much expected the iPad to trounce completely. Netbooks were a good idea badly implemented. A tiny computer you could use to check out your email, watch movies, read books, do some light work, and listen to music on. Sounds great, right? Thing is, they was nothing more than severely underpowered PC using a desktop OS. Too small and awkward to use comfortably, and too slow to really enjoy.

Then the iPad came out, focused on those specifics in a different form factor, and made the concept of a portable media computer truly viable. It's no wonder it's eaten the netbook segment for lunch. The iPad is what they should've been in the first place.

 

[vitzr]

An article of questionable relevance.

The great majority of companies who make our country run, that pickup & handle the distribution & sales of everything from food, to cars, clothes and the rest are businesses that rely on PC's.

The mythical unreliability substandard performance & early demise, are just that... A myth. Another testimony to the power of persuasion, the relentless programming of the unsuspecting consumer, and the marketing genius of Steve Jobs.

While the sales volume is very admirable, Apple computers will remain a niche product. Revered only by a select few. It's a mighty big world outside of the walled garden. Step beyond it's borders and smell the roses.

 

[Renzatic]

Vitzr, your post has changed me in some profound, undefinable way. Excuse me while I ponder the implications.

 

[andrewlgm]

Did everyone miss the title of this article?

"nearly all apple hardware costs more than the average PC"

A full PC laptop for $299 comes with a DVD/CD burner, 250GB of hard drive, a 3 to 4 hour battery and a full operating system. All of this is cheaper than an iPhone. A corresponding, better, apple laptop is $999.

We use apple products for the quality of the ecosystem: the integration, the support, the status... And we accept apple's "dirty" tricks of making us pay more by not adding a standard HDMI, or standard DLNA support, so if we want to stream our iPhone movies and photos to a TV we need to buy an apple TV and update to the latest iPad or iPhone because even though last year's "modern" technology is still capable, they deny the new feature to older devices, meanwhile my sister's $0 android phone does it automatically without the need to buy anything else. This is obvious, I'm an apple user and I can see this.

Windows is a universal platform - used by everyone on the planet! From the most unknowledgeable grandmother, to the largest corporation on the planet. Some with lots of problems, some without any. For a regular user - someone who doesn't have a lot of cash to waste on technology like we do - a windows PC is a life saver. To each his own.

 

[R.Atwood]

No idea. According this rather informative article over at Ars Technica, the iPad hasn't put much of a dent in the PC market. Well, besides Netbooks anyway.

We're not seeing the iPad grow in lieu of the PC, and we're not truly taking the first brave steps towards Post PC world just yet. Rather, the iPad is a new market growing alongside the PC. Complementing it, rather than replacing it outright.

Interesting article, thanks for that. It's going to be interesting times coming with Windows 8 optimized for running on tablets. Those will have a high chance of taking a large part of the netbooks.

With OS X Lion also slightly hinting to transition to "tabletization" and unifying the platform with iOS. Various platforms (Desktop, Mobile and Tablets) will no longer "cannibalize" each other but complement and each serving their own purpose.

 

[Taz Mangus]

So....

Not everyone needs expensive computers

Windows is a good fit for many people, many people don't want to overpay for Macs or iPads that can't even do what a $400 windows computer would do.

Not everyone wants to buy cheap junky computers either. Anyone who buys an tablet computer will know that it will not do everything that a full fledged computer can do. Last I checked there were other manufactures, other than Apple, that also build tablets that are more expensive then $400. At times I take my iPad with me because it is light and convient to take with me for what I intend to use it for. If price is all you are concerned about then you won't buy a Apple product. A lot of people do spend more because they want the user experience that no PC can offer and customer service that Apple offers. Add to that resale value. In 2002, I bought a 17" iMac for $1200. I had that computer for 7 years. Even thought it only had a 800 MHz processor, it ran extremely well with OS X 10.2, 10.4 and 10.5 on it. And when I decided to sell it I got $350 for it. I also had at the time a 5 year old PC tower that I paid $1700 for when it was new. When It was time to get rid of it, the only way I could get rid of it was to donate it to charity as no one wanted to buy it. Morale of the story there are always hidden costs, it just that you can't always see them on the surface.

Finally, what exactly can't a Mac do that a $400 windows computer can do? Please enlighten me.

 

[Huntn]

Regarding laptops, the last time I compared a MacBookPro to it's PC competition (comparable hardware) it was very competitively priced.

 

[Taz Mangus]

Did everyone miss the title of this article?

"nearly all apple hardware costs more than the average PC"

A full PC laptop for $299 comes with a DVD/CD burner, 250GB of hard drive, a 3 to 4 hour battery and a full operating system. All of this is cheaper than an iPhone. A corresponding, better, apple laptop is $999.

We use apple products for the quality of the ecosystem: the integration, the support, the status... And we accept apple's "dirty" tricks of making us pay more by not adding a standard HDMI, or standard DLNA support, so if we want to stream our iPhone movies and photos to a TV we need to buy an apple TV and update to the latest iPad or iPhone because even though last year's "modern" technology is still capable, they deny the new feature to older devices, meanwhile my sister's $0 android phone does it automatically without the need to buy anything else. This is obvious, I'm an apple user and I can see this.

Windows is a universal platform - used by everyone on the planet! From the most unknowledgeable grandmother, to the largest corporation on the planet. Some with lots of problems, some without any. For a regular user - someone who doesn't have a lot of cash to waste on technology like we do - a windows PC is a life saver. To each his own.

The $7.99 Airserver program will do exactly what you want.

 

[blackhand1001]

KIAs and Hyundais do not run as well and fast as BMWs and MBs. PC do outperform Macs in all categories.

I am an american car guy but kia and hyundai have really stepped up their game especially with their new 2.0t engine that makes 274hp and gobs of torque. And bmw reliability has never been good (below average) and mercedes cars aren't what they use to be in that aspect. BMW's fuel economy for the amount of power is embarrassingly bad as well. The 414 hp 4.0 liter v8 gets 14 city/20 highway while the mustang gt 5.0 which weighs slightly more and has the same power with tons more torque gets 18 city/26 highway (it actually makes more than the beemer, ford underated the power output closer to 440hp). The mustang also runs on regular gas vs the bmws premium.

 

[ericinboston]

...but the clincher for me is the average mac user keeps their Mac between 50% and 80% longer than the average PC owner (never mind what happens to PC performance over time)!

Show me the stats on your comments above. I know dozens, if not a hundred people, that keep their home Wintel pcs for 5-7 years. Are you saying people keep their Macs 7-10 years? Even if this were true about Mac users, do you think that POSSIBLY the reason Mac users keep their machines longer is because they SPENT 2x the money to begin with...hence they want to keep it as long as possible. Just a thought.

You can't just throw broad statements out without any hard evidence.

 

[andrewlgm]

The $7.99 Airserver program will do exactly what you want.

Actually it doesn't. Airserver is not a DLNA server - it uses airplay. DLNA is similar to apple's airplay, the difference being that DLNA is universal and it's available "everywhere." My 2 blu-ray DVD players, my ps3, my Xbox, all 3 TVS in my house are DLNA enabled. That means any piece of technology you buy which is not apple based will come with it and you immediately get to stream anything to these devices. My sister's free - with a two year contract - samsung android streams everything** even replicated the phone's screen on our Sony bravia TV without the need to purchase another piece of equipment.

I'm not here bashing apple for their choices as a business - profit is profit. But it would be disingenuous of me to say "thank you apple for all your innovation" when the innovation already exists and they choose not to use it.

 

[vitzr]

Regarding laptops, the last time I compared a MacBookPro to it's PC competition (comparable hardware) it was very competitively priced.

I choose the tech products I buy based on everything _except price_ .

My first computer as a young lad was a brand new PowerBook 170, running System 7. The experience I had with that laptop was so impressive, so enjoyable, so intuitive, it set a very positive tone that's carried forward to this day.

Despite my outspoken posts and opinions on the way Apple (the company) operates today, make no mistake I am a dyed in the wool Apple user.

As a professional technologist I use both Macs & PCs and always have.

Last year (2010) I did what I do each year, buy two top of the line, fully loaded, identically configured 15" Laptops. A MacBook Pro & ThinkPad T, the same two models I've bought for the last few years.

I willingly and without a moments hesitation paid over $1,000 more for the MBP. I knew long before I configured these two CTO / BTO laptops, that the Mac would cost more. I also will go on record as saying if I was to buy only one of them it would be the MBP.

I happen to be very picky about my laptops as they are mission critical, and computers I enjoy using to do the work I love. I don't care what the pundits, or others say, in addition I may tease about "Apple Tax", yet at the end of the day speaking only for myself, I buy what I want and nothing is as sweet as a new MacBook Pro.

Yet I must say, the 2010 & 2011 11" & 13" MBA's I've bought are mighty nice machines.

Cheers

 

[pr5owner]

Find me a Windows computer actually comparably spec'd as the iMac.

Make sure to include

• 21.5/27" LED/IPS display
• Bluetooth
• 802.11n WiFi
• Integrated camera
• Wireless keyboard/trackpad/mouse
• Thunderbolt (I'd settle for DisplayPort here)
• Windows Ultimate 64-bit
• Software comparable for iLife
• 20W speakers
• Firewire
• IR receiver

Most people doing comparisons tend to ignore these details.

HP has had S-IPS displays for a while and they are better than the displays apple uses, you can pick and choose your size 20-22-24-30" (IPS is garbage for response time), also IPS is good for color reproduction, but ANY LCD monitor can be calibrated for proper color rendition

bluetooth can be added, and also spec'd to your liking, i dont know what crap apple puts in their computers but its probably the cheapest broadcom from the bottom of the bin, personally i would rather have a good quality class 1 BT adapter

again, the wireless N on apple machines is total junk, it has worse range and throughput than even the intel 6205N. if your build your machine, you can spec a high quality dual band card.

the camera on macs isnt 1080p, nuff said

instead of a wireless KB i would rather have a Razer keyboard and mouse, the apple mouse is laughable at best

thunderbolt, damn near useless, still no accessories, but if you absolutely need it you can add it to any PC via PCIE 1x card, USB3 is far more useful since there are more accessories and nearly every PC laptop has it standard

software, wont even go into this, windows has far more software choices than OSX

20W speakers? LOL can you be any more low end? i thought Macs were a premium product? my "crappy PC" has a 600W onkyo reciever with polk audio speakers in a 5.2 config and 2x polk audio PSW110 subs all hooked up with HDMI, LFE digital coax connectors and 12ga cl2 rated speaker wire. im not settling for garbage speakers sorry.

firewire is worthless now since apple abandoned it, but most hp elitebooks still have it for some reason

ir recv, again, millions of addons for PCs but not everyone really wants this

with PCs you have a choice and if you build it, its far higher qualty than apple

Now....... spec a mac for $5K that has these numbers

Dual 1366 6x 3.33GHz core intel Xeon
eVGA SR2 classified motherboard
16GB of DDR3 2000MHz ram HEATSINKED (not the garbage bottom of the barrel ram that apple uses)
Tripple GTX 580s in SLI
Dual Bluray Burner
Lian Li all aluminum chassis
Razer backlit keyboard
Razer 3500DPI 7 button gaming mouse
1500 W Power supply 82 plus efficiency