New MacBook Pro Price Shock!

[apolloa]

Why is it a shock, and why do i feel the need to make a separate thread?

Simple, go and price up a new thin retina MB Pro, then go and do the same with the current non retina MB Pro and include non Apple memory and 512GB or what ever SSD...

You will be in for a shock, I did this and the new retina MB Pro even with an Apple ethernet adapter AND external DVD Apple drive is actually a few pounds CHEAPER!!!!! Then a current MB Pro with a Vertex 4 512GB SSD and 16GB or 1600mhz SODIMM!!

Now this is a shock.. but a pleasant one. We are going to desperately need these reviews and benchmarks of the new models...

So what are your thoughts on that one, if the new machines do indeed use SATA3 interface speeds, then they are better value. If I used a Samsung 830 512gb SSD then the Retina machine is even BETTER value!!

 

[apolloa]

Jesus, Apple give what a majority of the people wanted and you still bitch about 'premium pricing' etc.

Well some facts for you:

Samsung 830 512GB SSD priced at £491.41

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/512g...basic-kit-sata-iii-read-520mb-s-write-400mb-s

The only 1600mhz SODIMMM memory I could fine in 16GB size, priced at £103.39:

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/16gb-(2x8gb)-vengeance-performance-memory-kit-ddr3-1600mhz-cl10

New UK non Retina MacBook Pro with core i7 2.7ghz CPU and the standard is £2039:

http://store.apple.com/uk/configure/MD104B/A?

Add £80 for the higher res screens.

Total without the higher res screen option is: £2633.80.


Now if I configure the brand new Retina MacBook Pro with the same spec from Apple it is £2648.99

Add on the Apple external DVD drive and ethernet adapter and it's £2738.99.

But if you add that higher res anti glare screen onto the older style MB Pro it comes to £2713.80.


So IMO the Retina Mac is better value, and if like me you can get a discount from Apple then it actually costs less then going down the older style machine with third party SSD and memory router, and that's still with the external DVD drive and ethernet adapter.

 

[TheMacBookPro]

Crucial have a 512GB SSD for US$450 and the 16GB RAM kit for US$150.

 

[aaronw1986]

Jesus, Apple give what a majority of the people wanted and you still bitch about 'premium pricing' etc.

Well some facts for you:

Samsung 830 512GB SSD priced at £491.41

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/512g...basic-kit-sata-iii-read-520mb-s-write-400mb-s

The only 1600mhz SODIMMM memory I could fine in 16GB size, priced at £103.39:

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/16gb-(2x8gb)-vengeance-performance-memory-kit-ddr3-1600mhz-cl10

New UK non Retina MacBook Pro with core i7 2.7ghz CPU and the standard is £2039:

http://store.apple.com/uk/configure/MD104B/A?

Add £80 for the higher res screens.

Total without the higher res screen option is: £2633.80.


Now if I configure the brand new Retina MacBook Pro with the same spec from Apple it is £2648.99

Add on the Apple external DVD drive and ethernet adapter and it's £2738.99.

But if you add that higher res anti glare screen onto the older style MB Pro it comes to £2713.80.


So IMO the Retina Mac is better value, and if like me you can get a discount from Apple then it actually costs less then going down the older style machine with third party SSD and memory router, and that's still with the external DVD drive and ethernet adapter.

Uhhh, the OP was saying what you did. They were not complaining.

 

[TheMacBookPro]

Uhhh, the OP was saying what you did. They were not complaining.

OP was replying to himself lol.

 

[djtopcat]

You Apple sheeple are ridiculous

cost to make new MBPRO in China-roughly $350 US

new MBPROs start at $2,200?? Lol
way overpriced, I'll buy a 2011 model

 

[thundersteele]

Uhhh, the OP was saying what you did. They were not complaining.

Think a post got deleted in between... this is the OP talking to him/her-self now

 

[Stetrain]

Uhhh, the OP was saying what you did. They were not complaining.

That is the OP.

 

[Hidendra]

cost to make new MBPRO in China-roughly $350 US

feel free to cite your source

 

[Marrakas]

But how fast is the macbook flash storage compared to a top of the line SSD?

 

[skywalkerr69]

You Apple sheeple are ridiculous

cost to make new MBPRO in China-roughly $350 US

new MBPROs start at $2,200?? Lol
way overpriced, I'll buy a 2011 model

you are sort of right, they average around 40-60% margins. They can easily make it cheaper.

 

[William7]

im very surprised to see this. it is interesting. although it makes sense to me that the bulk of the price is due to the flash only. had there been an option for the new mbp with a standard hdd it would be almost identical to the old models. the difference is basically the ssd as shown by pricing an old one next to it.

 

[KieranDotW]

You Apple sheeple are ridiculous

cost to make new MBPRO in China-roughly $350 US

new MBPROs start at $2,200?? Lol
way overpriced, I'll buy a 2011 model

Where'd you get those numbers from? Rumors from before the announcement stated it would cost Apple at least an additional $100 to make the retina screen alone. And EVERY company makes a huge profit off of their products, not just Apple.

 

[apolloa]

Crucial have a 512GB SSD for US$450 and the 16GB RAM kit for US$150.

Yeah, but that memory will NOT be 1600mhz for the new MacBook Pro's will it and does the Crucial M4 run as stable or as fast as the Samsung drives?

And in UK pricing the M4 512gb is £424.93 which in American money is $657.59

Uhhh, the OP was saying what you did. They were not complaining.

OP was replying to himself lol.

Think a post got deleted in between... this is the OP talking to him/her-self now

That is the OP.

I didn't see the point in replying to EVERY single thread on here where people are moaning about the apparent 'premium' pricing so thought I would prove how wrong they are all being in the thread I already started. Is that OK?

 

[TheMacBookPro]

Yeah, but that memory will NOT be 1600mhz for the new MacBook Pro's will it and does the Crucial M4 run as stable or as fast as the Samsung drives?

And in UK pricing the M4 512gb is £424.93 which in American money is $657.59

Correct, the pricing I quoted is for 1333 RAM. I doubt 1600 RAM would cost a lot more though. (and indeed, the 103 quid price you quoted in your second post is only $10 more than the 1333 Crucial RAM)

I used to have a Crucial M4 drive (only a 256 though) in my old MacBook Pro and it was plenty fast. Did not have any issues with stability and it's still going nicely according to the friend to whom I sold the laptop to.

 

[iPhone Addict]

Is there only one RAM slot in the new 15" retina mb pro?

 

[thesheep]

You are right, add a 512GB SSD to the old-style MBP and it costs quite a bit more than a retina display MBP with the same spec. Weird.

There are extra bits and pieces in the old-style MBP (e.g. optical drive) but it seems unlikely these would contribute much.

I can only conclude that Apple is effectively deliberately penalising people who want to put an SSD in the old-style MBP. Or maybe they are just reducing the markup on the 512GB SSD in the retina MBP, in order to keep the overall cost down a bit.

 

[Eddyisgreat]

Is there only one RAM slot in the new 15" retina mb pro?

there ain't no ram slots in the new 15" retina MBP it's soldered into the motherboard.

 

[apolloa]

Correct, the pricing I quoted is for 1333 RAM. I doubt 1600 RAM would cost a lot more though. (and indeed, the 103 quid price you quoted in your second post is only $10 more than the 1333 Crucial RAM)

I used to have a Crucial M4 drive (only a 256 though) in my old MacBook Pro and it was plenty fast. Did not have any issues with stability and it's still going nicely according to the friend to whom I sold the laptop to.

But still, you cannot say the new machine has premium pricing when it clearly doesn't. It's expensive but in no way more then the standard machine that makes it premium. You would have to say the tankard machine has premium pricing too? And if you add Apple's 512gb SSD to the standard MB Pro then that is expensive, way more then the Retina machine.

 

[WA2SI]

New MacBook Pro Sticker Shock!

Wow, I really have to thank Apple. I felt kind of bad when I bought my Mid-2010 13" 2.4GHz MB Pro and the upgraded 2011 model was released shortly thereafter... Until I had the opportunity to use my coworker's i5-powered 2011 13" 2.4GHz MB Pro on an extended basis and found it no faster nor powerful than my trusty old machine. (I do, of course, understand that various benchmarking programs will likely reveal an uptick in the numbers, however, real world experience with similar tasks revealed no humanly perceptible difference to this user.)

Now, after checking the exorbitant price for the new 2.5GHz 13" MB Pro and, particularly, the cost of additional RAM &/or an SSD, my little baby (& my wife's white Mid-2010 MB) feels like more of a bargain than when I first bought it. I received a gov't employee discount to begin with, then waited for a sale-priced SSD and installed it myself, and finished up with an 8GB RAM DIY upgrade. The result is a well running machine that I'd put up against the newer 2.5GHz offering in a heartbeat.

I also concede that these are not our gaming/power machines. They are our traveling notebooks as well as my wife's business laptop. My power laptop? It's presently a Lenovo... However, with the introduction of the chicklet-style six row keyboard, that may change.

 

[Krazy Bill]

...and does the Crucial M4 run as stable or as fast as the Samsung drives?

Yes. I was somewhat mystified when "what's his name" was bragging on the new flash memory being able to read 500 MB/s. My M4 has been doing that for almost a year now.

 

[iPhone Addict]

You Apple sheeple are ridiculous

cost to make new MBPRO in China-roughly $350 US

new MBPROs start at $2,200?? Lol
way overpriced, I'll buy a 2011 model

Thats not how a business works. The cost to manufacture a single item is not the cost to bring that item to the market. Last time I checked, Apple doesn't bill you separately for their marketing campaigns, electricity bill, mall store rent, employee benefits and retirement packages, and the thousand other things that are costs included in running a business. Even if the laptop costs $350 to make after the entire multi-million dollar robotic assembly line is in place, that doesn't mean Apple can just sell it for 10% more and make money.

 

[mark28]

Hard to do math?

15" 2.6 ghz 8 gb Ram i7 MBP ( non-retina ) = $2199
15" 2.6 ghz 8 gb Ram i7 MBP ( retina ) = $2799

Crucial M4 512 gb SSD = $450

15" 2.6 ghz i7 MBP ( non-retina ) + 512 GB SSD = $2199 + $450 = $2649

How do you people come with numbers that say that the Retina MBP is cheaper?

( btw, with the non-retina you get a free 750 gb HDD which you can put in an external exclosure and use it as external storage )

 

[skywalkerr69]

Thats not how a business works. The cost to manufacture a single item is not the cost to bring that item to the market. Last time I checked, Apple doesn't bill you separately for their marketing campaigns, electricity bill, mall store rent, employee benefits and retirement packages, and the thousand other things that are costs included in running a business. Even if the laptop costs $350 to make after the entire multi-million dollar robotic assembly line is in place, that doesn't mean Apple can just sell it for 10% more and make money.

They sell it for 40-50% more lol

 

[apolloa]

Hard to do math?

15" 2.6 ghz 8 gb Ram i7 MBP ( non-retina ) = $2199
15" 2.6 ghz 8 gb Ram i7 MBP ( retina ) = $2799

Crucial M4 512 gb SSD = $450

15" 2.6 ghz i7 MBP ( non-retina ) + 512 GB SSD = $2199 + $450 = $2649

How do you people come with numbers that say that the Retina MBP is cheaper is beyond me.

That's nice, now do it in UK pounds, then use the Samsung 830 SSD as that seems to be the most reliable. Plus I get a discount on Apple stuff, so for me it IS cheaper to buy the new Retina machine maxed out.