I'm curious what "dock" you can buy for a PC that isn't also like $300 because I remember all the real docks for PCs usually ran on a proprietary interface to work (not Thunderbolt) and only gave me two USB ports, maybe a VGA port, and sometimes an optical drive for another $300 on top of the price of the dock.
You just don't get it do you? I'm saying MOST PCs (including notebooks)
already come with those ports so you don't need a breakout dock, just a USB3 dock! At the very least, you have the option of choosing a model that does come with useful ports instead of only Thunderbolt3/USB-C ports with NO OTHER CONNECTIONS. With Apple, you have NO CHOICES. You have to buy the FECES they're selling you whether you like it or not if you want to run OS X (macOS). I've railed against this for years because I like the operating system and protection against malware, etc. that it provides by being UNIX and being less used (less of a target). I do
not like my hardware choices from Apple! I wish the courts would have ruled against Apple for cloned hardware because Apple
refuses to make a quality computer anymore. "THIN" and "PRETTY" don't make up for slow GPUs, lack of internal storage and expansion and one-dimensional thinking when it comes to a transition period new style ports.
There is nothing stopping you from buying that $25 USB hub for your PC for the Mac.
Sure there is. It won't do any damn good because it's USB-C only at the notebook! See above.
And since you prefer to complain about the Mac pricing which is quite irrelevant to this particular product,
The hell it is. Apple's been screwing its users for years with profit margins that make everyone else in the industry look like amateurs. The problem is that's because they're thieves not because they have a better hardware product. They hold the operating system hostage by having a virtual monopoly on Macintosh hardware. When someone else tries to come in and offer alternative hardware, they sue the living crap out of them and the CORRUPT court system sides with the big guy (Apple).
The fact is that our courts have REFUSED TO ENFORCE ANTITRUST LAW NOW FOR DECADES and the corporations damn well know it. Look how the airlines just merge and merge and merge and how customer service has gone to hell, the seats keep getting smaller and the hostile attitude towards passengers keeps getting worse and worse. How would you like to lose two teeth and get a concussion for simply refusing to give up a seat you paid for and have already been seated in because management is TOO DAMN STUPID AND THOUGHTLESS to simply hire a private jet and/or bus to get its employees to the next hub instead of fracking over their customers and thinking that crap will fly? It WILL fly too because people have short memories and don't even show up to vote let alone do anything about The Corporate States of America becoming an absolute reality.
I don't mind paying a bit more for Apple because I want OS X, but I don't want to pay more AND not get the features I want as well and while you can at least work around the port issue on the Macbook Pro, the fact you have to pay $3000 to get 1TB hard drive on a 15" model means the damn computer costs almost 2x what it used to in 2008 for features that were considered "good" for the price (and that computer was simple to upgrade the hard drive and other features if you wanted to improve it; today Apple makes that damn near impossible so you HAVE to pay the $3000 or not have a 1TB internal hard drive.) Apple has changed and they've only gotten more expensive/ridiculous, not less while features have gotten worse and worse in trade for only LOOKS.
lets have a real takeaway to this: the real life lesson is if you want leather seats, heated and cooled seats, a V6 for $35k then you gotta buy that Nissan or Toyota, but you're leaning towards that shiny BMW or Mercedes for the same things, be prepared to be pay $50k for the 6-cylinder model plus that $3k option for leather seats and another $2k that gets you heated and cooled seats.
In other words, you ENJOY paying for a NAME that means NOTHING in terms of actual product. You're drinking way too much Apple kool-aid. BMW and Mercedes USED to mean something for product quality and luxury. Nowadays? Not so much. We aren't dealing with GM and Ford of the 1960s anymore. You are paying to say "I'm richer than you and therefore somehow
better than you" except that anyone but an uninformed/ignorant person these days knows that isn't true. You get what you pay for and in the case of BMW, you get a car that has service that costs more than everyone else due to them taking active steps to make sure no one else can work on their cars (custom tools/bolts so standard stuff doesn't fit/work).
Come to think of it, you're right; they're EXACTLY like Apple. They used to be better. They used to not suck. They used to mean something. Now they're just overpriced and only the brainwashed believe they are truly better with one exception and that is again, the operating system. In fact, if Windows 10 weren't spyware combined with forced updates, I'd seriously consider giving them a close hard look at this point.
While we're on the topic of ridiculous pricing, $50k can get you a whole house in the middle of the midwest with no Internet access. Yes I would consider myself in the crowd that would buy anything Apple at this point, but as long as I'm happy that's all that matters right? While I may aspire to buy that $100M house, if that $50k house makes you happy, why attack the ones of us that aspire for more?
Why don't you think a house in the Midwest has Internet access??? I live in the Midwest (technically) and while my house doesn't cost $50k (although there are some in that range not far from here), I've got 110Mbps down and 11Mbps up for under $50 a month.
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Umm, the Dell TB16 Thunderbolt 3 dock costs $265.99 (which is a sale price off of the $299 price):
http://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/dell-thunderbolt-dock-tb16-240w/apd/452-bcnu/pc-accessories
This pricing is pretty normal for a TB3 dock. Even the non-TB3 Surface Dock costs $199:
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/surface/accessories/surface-dock
Not sure why you're comparing to a $25 hub.
Even when I had an XPS 15, I still wanted a dock (I went with a WD15 USB C dock, which also costs close to $200), because I wanted the convenience of a single item I could plug and charge my laptop from without having to plug/unplug a bunch of cables every time. Even with those extra ports on your laptop, that's the main logic behind a dock and why people have been willing to pay a premium for them.
Because most PCs don't
need a damn $300 dock to connect an Ethernet cable! THAT is my point (i.e. you don't need a $300 dock for most PCs since they already come with them; all you need is a USB3 hub). Apple Mabooks USED to come with the very ports you now have to pay $300 extra to get back ON TOP OF the $400 minimum price higher for the base model 15" Macbook Pro and that comes with a useless 250GB hard drive! So all told, you have to spend $3300 (1TB hard drive plus Thunderbolt 3 dock) to get a USABLE Macbook "Pro" and still has weak graphics. And I'm going to want to carry a $3300 notebook around with me to hotels and Starbucks? That sends a message there alright. It's, "Hey! I'm rich! Come rob me!"
