The high end model price went up. Will it come down?

[whitedragon101]

When the MBP went retina (and SSD) the prices jumped by a few hundred pounds. Understandable as the screen and SSD just cost more. But it was a huge price hike, enough so that Apple kept the existing 15" so it wouldn't completely spook consumers.

The last high spec Macbook Pro before the shift was £1799 or $2199usd . The new high spec rMBP is £2199 or $2599usd . That is £400 ($400) more. If you want the 750gb drive capacity you had on the pre rMBP (and I do) you need the 1TB upgrade for an extra £400 again. Thats +£800. £800 !!!

I always thought apple did this with the aim over time to bring prices back to the pre retina price point of £1799. I thought that economies of scale and better process technology would bring down the price of both the SSD and retina display.


So my question is when will we start seeing significant price drops?

Or do you think they never intend to drop the price back to previous levels?

 

[simon48]

Over time maybe, but by the time they feel good dropping the price inflation may have caught up with the price and it may stay there for a while. It all depends on how the prices of the components change.

The components are really that expensive. You can't really buy a comparable SSD and the closest ones are over $500.

 

[NukeIT]

The price has dropped over the early 2013 rMBP.

I bought mine in July for $2575 with a company discount which I believe was about $300 bucks off. (I don't remember what retail was exactly) And now the top of the line stock build sells for $2391 (with discount) or $2599 retail.

 

[Vanilla35]

So my question is when will we start seeing significant price drops?

No, I do not think we will see a significant drop in price. The only price adjustment that I see in the next 3-4 years would be by $100-200 for the sole reason of SSD drives getting even less expensive. Those have gotten cheaper over time, but instead of lowering the price a decent amount, Apple decided to increase the storage options.

 

[ElectronGuru]

Yeah, with larger established tiers, apple has more room to add features, always their preference when given the choice between more power/features and lower price. So the real question is, when will apple run out of things to add?

 

[simon48]

Yeah, with larger established tiers, apple has more room to add features, always their preference when given the choice between more power/features and lower price. So the real question is, when will apple run out of things to add?

What do you mean "run out of things to add"? Apple rarely adds new features to the MBPs, they just make upgrades to components.

 

[MCAsan]

A maxed our 2012 rMBP (2.7, 16GB, 750GB SSD) was $3700. A faster maxed out 2013 (2.6, 16GB 1TB SSD) is $3200. So that is around a $500 price drop for a faster, more powerful machine with more storage.

Who knows what changes, and hopefully lower prices, we will see with whatever is introduced/updated at WWDC in June.

 

[thundersteele]

The 2011 high end model with 512 GB SSD probably cost more than 3k. That was without retina etc. So prices are coming down.

It is hard to say what a good price for a MBP should be. Clearly the $1700 price tag on the 13'' retina didn't work, now it is back to $1300, close to the non-retina entry level price.
If we assume that there is some cost increase related to the retina screen, I don't see how the base 15'' model can get much cheaper - $1900 is not a good price point, and $1800 is not achievable probably.
The high end model could come down a bit if storage and RAM prices drop. Maybe $2400 is possible.

 

[simon48]

The 2011 high end model with 512 GB SSD probably cost more than 3k. That was without retina etc. So prices are coming down.

For sure, that SSD would have cost $800-$1000 by itself. SSD prices have dropped a lot in the past few years.