Since when did the pros get crazy expensive?

[matt3526]

Sorry but this is a bit of a rant post.

I bought a MacBook Pro in 2014 for approx £2600 (I was a student so I got a generous 20% discount and apple care was something like £50). Now it's getting close to a time when I need to upgrade it. I recently checked the apple page for MacBooks and bloody hell, the price for an equivalent to what I bought back then is nearly £4000! What are apple thinking? Did I miss something? When did they get expensive and what justifies it?

Tough times...

 

[leman]

Did I miss something? When did they get expensive and what justifies it?

You mostly missed Brexit. In 2014, £2600 were about $3800. Today, $3800 USD are closer to £3100. And since Apple bases everything off the USA prices, UK has felt the price increase particularly bad.

Other than that, some MBP models did increase in price. For instance, the base 15" (without the dGPU) was essentially discontinued. A mid-tied MBP with dGPU and 512GB SSD was $2499 in 2012. Today, you can get a low-tier 15" 512GB (with 6-core CPU and weaker dGPU) for $2599 or you can get a model with faster CPU and GPU for $2799. And if you want really fast GPU, that would be even more.

So yeah, we are back to around 2010 pricing.

 

[maflynn]

When did they get expensive and what justifies it?

I think Apple jacked up the price for many people around 2016, While UK folks are probably feeling the price more severely, they're not alone. I can't answer for anyone else but Apple has by and large priced me out of the market. I bought a Thinkpad for 2,200 (or 2,300 I forget), and a similarly configured MBP would have been in the 4,000 dollar range. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[matt3526]

It's a sad situation really. I get the impression that everyone else follows apple so if they raise prices then so does everyone else (look at phone prices).

 

[maflynn]

It's a sad situation really. I get the impression that everyone else follows apple so if they raise prices then so does everyone else (look at phone prices).

In the phone business, they are trying to copy apple's business tactics, but I'm not seeing it for laptops. You can get very good machines that cost anywhere from 1,000 to 1,500 dollars cheaper then Apple. YMMV and you may not want to run windows, but the fact remains there's a healthy competition and that can only be good for the consumer.

 

[wolfboy]

MBPs have always been expensive. But to answer, they really jacked the prices up when they introduced the rMBP and it's stayed around that price ever since. A pre 2012 high end 15" MBP used to be a not so cheap $1800ish but still cheaper than the $2400+ now.

 

[davys]

Know where you‘re coming from mate. Jacking the prices up was bad enough, but the extra gouging went too far and was unnecessary. The 15-20% student via educational discount is obviously no more (now 10%?), and the cheap Apple Care at £50 disappeared as well, more like £300 now.

 

[The Mercurian]

We all know the answer to this -> with the introduction of the TouchBar.

 

[Moonjumper]

MBPs have always been expensive. But to answer, they really jacked the prices up when they introduced the rMBP and it's stayed around that price ever since. A pre 2012 high end 15" MBP used to be a not so cheap $1800ish but still cheaper than the $2400+ now.

The OP is coming from a 2014 model, he already has a retina MBP. There was an increase for the retina models, but the big jump was with the introduction of the touchbar. I don’t know how much the touchbar itself was responsible for the price increase, but even $1 would be too much.

 

[mmark77]

The OP is coming from a 2014 model, he already has a retina MBP. There was an increase for the retina models, but the big jump was with the introduction of the touchbar. I don’t know how much the touchbar itself was responsible for the price increase, but even $1 would be too much.

Actually, prices have stayed stagnate, or actually have gone done. Here's the pricing from 2014 (before Touch Bar)

MacBook Pro (Mid 2014) review: Update offers slightly better CPU performance

If you have an older laptop, the latest MacBook Pro could give you a nice little speed bump. But if your MacBook Pro is more recent, that bump won't warrant an upgrade.

www.macworld.com

The 13in MacBook pricing is the exact same. For the 15in, prices are actually lower considering the $1999 15inch did not have discrete graphics. I remember paying $2499 for my base 15" (with dGPU).

Also, keeping in mind the 13inch (with the advent of quad-core) is more than sufficient for most everyone (non-creative folks), one could argue replacement prices have gone done.

 

[The Mercurian]

Actually, prices have stayed stagnate, or actually have gone done. Here's the pricing from 2014 (before Touch Bar)

MacBook Pro (Mid 2014) review: Update offers slightly better CPU performance

If you have an older laptop, the latest MacBook Pro could give you a nice little speed bump. But if your MacBook Pro is more recent, that bump won't warrant an upgrade.

www.macworld.com

The 13in MacBook pricing is the exact same. For the 15in, prices are actually lower considering the $1999 15inch did not have discrete graphics. I remember paying $2499 for my base 15" (with dGPU).

Also, keeping in mind the 13inch (with the advent of quad-core) is more than sufficient for most everyone (non-creative folks), one could argue replacement prices have gone done.

Your talking US prices. In Europe and UK things MBPs have become disproportately more expensive in recent years.

 

[Thornblom]

The best thing you can do as a European is to buy your Apple computers overseas. Since 2011, I've bought my Macs while visiting New York (which I do quite often), the amount of money I've saved is insane. I've never even payed taxes when importing one (read: throw away the box). Warranty hasn't been an issue either.
I bought an iMac back in 2012, when I was a student. 10% discount, got away without the NYC state tax. Saved 500 dollar compared to what it would have been here in Europe.

 

[leman]

I bought an iMac back in 2012, when I was a student. 10% discount, got away without the NYC state tax. Saved 500 dollar compared to what it would have been here in Europe.

Well, sure, there are a lot of ways to save money if one is willing to be "flexible" with the law. I don't really think that this is the topic of the discussion though.
[automerge]1570538192[/automerge]

In Europe and UK things MBPs have become disproportately more expensive in recent years.

Not really. Its just the currency fluctuation. For example, in 2014 a $2499 MBP was EUR 2499 in Germany. In 2019, a $2399 MBP is EUR 2799 in Germany. Looks like a "disproportionate increase", sure, but then again, in 2014 an EUR was worth $1.35 while today its closer to $1.10. Basically, EUR has lost around 25% of its purchasing power relative to $ since then, and that is exactly what we see. UK is even worse since the Pound is basically worthless these days thanks to the Brexit drama. But the prices are the same.

A nice example is Switzerland, where the Swiss Frank prices have stayed more or less constant over the years.

 

[jerryk]

I guess I see prices pretty much the same since I buy 15" MPBs. The last 3 (2014, 2015, 2018) have all been near $2500 USD for 512GB SSD and 16 GB memory with dGPU.

As others have said, look to the loss in value of the pound vs USD. It has dropped over 35% since 2014.
1.70 USD per pound in 2014 to 1.22 today. A 1/3 value loss. It is not surprising MBP prices are up in the UK.

 

[lcseds]

I believe the touchbar added $150 USD.

 

[MrGunnyPT]

Folks over here on Europe ever since 2016... Got things really expensive.

 

[mmark77]

I believe the touchbar added $150 USD.

We all know the answer to this -> with the introduction of the TouchBar.

The Touch Bar did not increase prices at all. Here are two articles from 2015 and 2016 showing the same pricing.

By bringing up the Touch Bar, you're basically stating manufacturing costs have gone up. However, Apple has kept US prices consistent over the past years. What you're seeing is the effect of the global currency market.

MacBook Pro (Mid 2014) review: Update offers slightly better CPU performance

If you have an older laptop, the latest MacBook Pro could give you a nice little speed bump. But if your MacBook Pro is more recent, that bump won't warrant an upgrade.

www.macworld.com

MacBook Pro With Touch Bar Review (late-2016)

Anticipation is a dangerous thing, and expectations around the long-awaited redesign of the Apple MacBook Pro for late 2016 were almost preternaturally high. Beloved workhorse…

www.slashgear.com

 

[jerryk]

The Touch Bar did not increase prices at all. Here are two articles from 2015 and 2016 showing the same pricing.

Agreed. I paid same price for same configuration (16GB, 512 GB SSD) on 2015 15" MBP, no Touchbar, and 2018 15" MBP, with Touchbar.

 

[Jimmy James]

Same thing in Canada. Radical price increases. Especially if you want more storage than was standard 10 years ago.

 

[The Mercurian]

Guys everytime this topic comes up I get US based people telling me I'm wrong. I'm the one buying the things - on my recent upgrade from 2014 to 2018 machine I had to drop the spec jsut to keep the price the same (I went from 1 TB SSD to 512 SSD). You all seem to think that the US price being the same is somehow significant to the rest of us. I don't care about the US prices (unless I'm in the US) - especially since these things are coming from China. I don't care if its to do with currency fluctuations. The US price staying the same is nice for ye all - but utterly utterly irrelevant to those of us not in the US. Its an international membership on this website remember.

@mmark77 - in Europe the MBP price jumped €400 on the introduction of the TouchBar - other specs being roughly equal. The cost of spec upgrades in Europe are also much higher than in the US.

 

[Howard2k]

Guys everytime this topic comes up I get US based people telling me I'm wrong. I'm the one buying the things - on my recent upgrade from 2014 to 2018 machine I had to drop the spec jsut to keep the price the same (I went from 1 TB SSD to 512 SSD). You all seem to think that the US price being the same is somehow significant to the rest of us. I don't care about the US prices (unless I'm in the US) - especially since these things are coming from China. I don't care if its to do with currency fluctuations. The US price staying the same is nice for ye all - but utterly utterly irrelevant to those of us not in the US. Its an international membership on this website remember.

@mmark77 - in Europe the MBP price jumped €400 on the introduction of the TouchBar - other specs being roughly equal. The cost of spec upgrades in Europe are also much higher than in the US.

Wait, they have the Internet outside the US now?

 

[mmark77]

Guys everytime this topic comes up I get US based people telling me I'm wrong. I'm the one buying the things - on my recent upgrade from 2014 to 2018 machine I had to drop the spec jsut to keep the price the same (I went from 1 TB SSD to 512 SSD). You all seem to think that the US price being the same is somehow significant to the rest of us. I don't care about the US prices (unless I'm in the US) - especially since these things are coming from China. I don't care if its to do with currency fluctuations. The US price staying the same is nice for ye all - but utterly utterly irrelevant to those of us not in the US. Its an international membership on this website remember.

@mmark77 - in Europe the MBP price jumped €400 on the introduction of the TouchBar - other specs being roughly equal. The cost of spec upgrades in Europe are also much higher than in the US.

iMac does not have a Touch Bar. All Mac prices were increased in 2015.

Apple Raises Prices in Europe and Canada as U.S. Dollar Remains Strong

While the high-end 27-inch iMac with Retina 5K Display was discounted from $2,499 to $2,299 today, Apple has raised the prices on several...

www.macrumors.com

 

[BeamWalker]

Pricing outside the US has been a tough situation for a while. The difference is even more drastic nowadays because other manufactures are taking some of the currency exchange and tax hits themselves or trying to increase the value of their products by speccing up their machines. Apple doesn't do that. Its almost 2020 and your 1300€ Macbook Pro still comes equipped with 128G of storage. Given that this amount of flash storage is cheaper today than your bog standard 250G HDD was in 2010 - welcome to Tim's Apple.

 

[mcpix]

This is a little OT, but can you get points on your credit card purchases overseas? The reason I ask is that there are so many amazing ways to earn points that anymore I just collect enough points to pay for at least 1/2 of any new technology purchase. I just recently signed up for one card that is going to give me the equivalent of $500 worth of spending money towards anything I want. I already have enough points saved for 1/2 of a new MacBook Pro 15" (although I'm waiting to see what the 16" is like). Two years ago I payed for 70% of a new 65" OLED TV with points. To be fair, I have my own business so I collect points on both personal and business purchases. Still, there are some really good offers out there, and you don't have to do anything but buy the same stuff you're already buying.

 

[jerryk]

Guys everytime this topic comes up I get US based people telling me I'm wrong. I'm the one buying the things - on my recent upgrade from 2014 to 2018 machine I had to drop the spec jsut to keep the price the same (I went from 1 TB SSD to 512 SSD). You all seem to think that the US price being the same is somehow significant to the rest of us. I don't care about the US prices (unless I'm in the US) - especially since these things are coming from China. I don't care if its to do with currency fluctuations. The US price staying the same is nice for ye all - but utterly utterly irrelevant to those of us not in the US. Its an international membership on this website remember.

While the US price may not be significant to you, it is to Apple, a US based corporation.

They report all sales and earning figures in USD, not Euro, pounds, SGD, etc. So when it comes to how well the company is doing financially, that is based on USD.

So Apple is going to use USD as it's base currency and set prices based on conversion to USD plus any additional costs for longer warranties, country expenses, markup rates, etc. And as a result when exchange rate of a country falls against the USD, that country's prices are going up.