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Why does apple still sell combo drive !!
- Thread starter rpaloalto
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i understand why one would be aggrivated that a $1K computer won't burn a DVD... however, I feel that if it is $100 more to get the superdrive, I'd rather spend the $100 on an external burner and have the convenience of having two drives. It's nice for copying and also nice just to have 2 cd's in your comp at once.
I am with that OP. I think it rather sad and pathetic of apple to have a 1k computer not have a DVD burner. It is not like those drives would cost them what 5 MAYBE 10 bucks more to put in. And to top it off it will cost you 200 bucks to just get the upgrade to have a DVD drive in the computer. That makes it even worse. 1200 bucks so you can get a computer with a monitor and with a Burner. I sorry that is very pathetic of apple.
Yeah the dell site has some computers that do not have a DVD burner. but their most expensive base model computer that does comes with a Combo drive is only 800. But the are offering the DVD burner at the $700 price point on another starting set up.
There is no real excuse for apple to be set up like that. It does not matter OSX being oh so much better. When it comes down to it people look at the cost to what hardware they get and they see apple giving will **** for hardware.
This is why apple gets a lot of bad flack. they are going at the 1k price point and putting some crappy crappy hardware in their computer. Yeah some of it is great but other part of it is just complete and utter crap. My parents pad 700 for a HP computer and it as a DVD burner in it and a 19 LCD monitor. That should tell you something. 500 under apple entry point for a DVD burner and monitor.
I had to make this post to show that what the dell computers are 400 under their most expenisive Combo drive starting computer compared to apple
Yeah the dell site has some computers that do not have a DVD burner. but their most expensive base model computer that does comes with a Combo drive is only 800. But the are offering the DVD burner at the $700 price point on another starting set up.
There is no real excuse for apple to be set up like that. It does not matter OSX being oh so much better. When it comes down to it people look at the cost to what hardware they get and they see apple giving will **** for hardware.
This is why apple gets a lot of bad flack. they are going at the 1k price point and putting some crappy crappy hardware in their computer. Yeah some of it is great but other part of it is just complete and utter crap. My parents pad 700 for a HP computer and it as a DVD burner in it and a 19 LCD monitor. That should tell you something. 500 under apple entry point for a DVD burner and monitor.
I had to make this post to show that what the dell computers are 400 under their most expenisive Combo drive starting computer compared to apple
True, but that extra $200 also get you more RAM and a better graphics card. And I believe you mean "to just get the upgrade to have a DVD burner in the computer". The combo drive does read DVDs.
Maybe they should have payed better attention?
If they really can't live without burning movies, show how them how to burn a VCD and tell them to get over it.
If they really can't live without burning movies, show how them how to burn a VCD and tell them to get over it.
does not change the fact that you have to pay 1200 bucks for an entire point to have a DVD burner and a monitor. Yeah their are other upgrades but if all some one wants is a DVD burner that is a 200 buck upgraded. it would cost apple MAYBE 10 bucks per computer to put in the DVD burner in all the imacs. at the very least make it an option. The simple fact is there is no real excuse for apple here.
It a very clear example of why people say apple premium cost. it because apple put crappy hardware on 1k+computers. Weather or not it is really there it sure as hell looks like it when you have things like the combo drive on a 1k computer.
Apple obviously has 2 different 17" iMac models for a reason. The $999 model is simply for the basics, and a combo drive is adequate for a basic computer. The entire purpose of the entry level iMac is to keep the price as low as possible for those people out there that don't want or need any extras (like the ability to burn a DVD for example).
For those that need something more full-featured and powerful, that's why they have the $1,199 model. For $200 you get the DVD burner, a faster processor, double the RAM, much faster graphics, bluetooth, a remote, and more. If you know you're going to want or need any of those extra features, then you shouldn't buy the $999 iMac in the first place. It's not like this is any kind of a secret, that's why they clearly list the system specs on the box of every Mac.
For those that need something more full-featured and powerful, that's why they have the $1,199 model. For $200 you get the DVD burner, a faster processor, double the RAM, much faster graphics, bluetooth, a remote, and more. If you know you're going to want or need any of those extra features, then you shouldn't buy the $999 iMac in the first place. It's not like this is any kind of a secret, that's why they clearly list the system specs on the box of every Mac.
Well, the RAM is nice of course, but what you are paying for is ~$40 of RAM, $30 of GPU and $10 optical. And $120 more profit to Apple, when all you really wanted is a $10 upgrade in the drive. It's just marketing, pure and simple.
For what ?
That may be true fir the home and consumer market, however businesses still primarily buy CD-ROM equipped systems. Since the business market is still much larger than consumer, it sets the the standard.
Sure, that might make sense if Apple was in the business market. But it's not. The standard for home machines, at least anything above absolute lowest price budget/value computers is a DVD-RW. Apple sells premium consumer computers, and they need to equip them as such.
What REALLY kills me is the fact that WiFi and BT2 are standard on all the machines, but a DVD-RW isn't. Sure, I can see WiFi, it's handy for most people. But the BT2 is only used by handful of people, and generally it's just for a wireless mouse, which is overkill and adds an expense to the machine that YOU have to pay for, primarily so that Apple can increase sales of their overpriced BT mouse and keyboard.
Look, I love Apple's stuff as much as most anyone here, but if you are telling yourself that they aren't intentionally screwing their customers with their extremely rigid tiered system structure you're deluding yourself.
I guess the problem isn't the market or what Apple is offering, it is what I want, and what I will pay for. So the following may only be true for me.
I would hope I knew that, being that I said I worked in IT
As you quoted me saying before, I don't want or need to burn DVD's. and DVD's are not what is in flux at the point in time. I am talking about BluRay and the likes, I would prefer to spend my money on that direction, as opposed to DVD's I dont use or burn currently.
Exactly, and why would I want to pay Apple $200 what should only cost $15 - $30 ?
For my needs and system (off topic)
The Macbook even at the highest price point had too small of an HDD, the graphics are the same on all models, and the ~200 MHz speed difference wasn't enough for me to justify paying extra for.
I am glad Apple has a cheeper system that does not jack the price up for the functionality of DVD burning (that I don't use), or a minor speed bump and a measly 20gb of extra storage space.
Choice is good, and I am glad Apple gives us some (albeit little when compared to the likes of Dell and HP)
He or she said De-Facto, which by definition would mean the entire market (home and business).
However, locking it down to home market I don't know for sure what sells more, but I would guess DVD/RW would be in high demand.
I would hope I knew that, being that I said I worked in IT
As you quoted me saying before, I don't want or need to burn DVD's. and DVD's are not what is in flux at the point in time. I am talking about BluRay and the likes, I would prefer to spend my money on that direction, as opposed to DVD's I dont use or burn currently.
Exactly, and why would I want to pay Apple $200 what should only cost $15 - $30 ?
For my needs and system (off topic)
The Macbook even at the highest price point had too small of an HDD, the graphics are the same on all models, and the ~200 MHz speed difference wasn't enough for me to justify paying extra for.
I am glad Apple has a cheeper system that does not jack the price up for the functionality of DVD burning (that I don't use), or a minor speed bump and a measly 20gb of extra storage space.
Choice is good, and I am glad Apple gives us some (albeit little when compared to the likes of Dell and HP)
He or she said De-Facto, which by definition would mean the entire market (home and business).
However, locking it down to home market I don't know for sure what sells more, but I would guess DVD/RW would be in high demand.
Sure, it's just marketing (and also bluetooth, apple remote, and a faster CPU). But it's also true that wholesale costs are *always* just a fraction of the cost of everything you buy. A $30 book costs $3 to print. A $15 CD costs <$1 to make. The company has to cover fixed costs such as R&D (and yes, marketing) by increasing their margin on everything they sell.
I truely cannot understand why anyone would get angry at a company for selling something they don't want.
Can you imagine shopping at the grocery store and getting more and more incensed at the incredible number of items you don't currently want to buy? I mean, I might buy 25-30 items at the grocery store each week so I would go insane faced with the thousands of items I didn't want to buy. [ Arrrg those pig's feet make me so mad. Ah! What's that? Flour in a 1lb bag? That's almost as bad as flour in a 20lb bag CHEESE STICKS!?! ARRRRGGGG!! ]
I mean, really, just don't buy it if you don't want it.
Can you imagine shopping at the grocery store and getting more and more incensed at the incredible number of items you don't currently want to buy? I mean, I might buy 25-30 items at the grocery store each week so I would go insane faced with the thousands of items I didn't want to buy. [ Arrrg
those pig's feet make me so mad. Ah! What's that? Flour in a 1lb bag? That's almost as bad as flour in a 20lb bag CHEESE STICKS!?! ARRRRGGGG!! ]I mean, really, just don't buy it if you don't want it.
There is a general rule of thumb in audio (high end and professional) that only about 10% of the retail cost of a product is accounted for by parts. The balance goes to R&D, assembly, shipping, packaging (which can easily represent the single largest cost), SG&A expenses, profit, etc. So any claim that a DVD burner should only add $15 to the cost of an iMac is unfounded.
I have to agree that anyone spending that much money without asking if the product involved will do the specific things they want it to has no grounds on which to complain.
And for the folks who rip Apple for not having a DVD burner in all their machines--if they did, you'd be ripping them for not having the option to put in a combo drive to reduce the ultimate purchase price. I have thought for a long time that the idea behind Apple and the Mac is to simplify things. Part of the way they do that is by having a limited number of models--if you want THIS, you buy THAT machine. As opposed to, for example, Dell, where you can configure different machines until your eyes glaze over and even someone at Dell can't tell you what the differences are. Both are valid business models, as a consumer you just pick the one that you prefer.
Also, I just looked at Dell's webpage. Out of the 16 models listed under Home and Home Office, 6 included DVD burners. Of those, 3 out of 4 XPS models have DVD burners as standard--which is, amazingly enough, the same percentage as the number of iMacs that have DVD burners as standard. And all of those XPS systems, including the $1699 one, have analog LCD displays, slower CPU's, smaller hard drives, etc. And that is completely putting to one side the all in one form factor, OS-X, etc. I don't mean to pick on Dell--you can make the same kind of comparison with just about any other major PC manufacturer. As I said, Apple works on one business model, and other companies work on others. You make your choice and pay your money....
Best,
Bob
I have to agree that anyone spending that much money without asking if the product involved will do the specific things they want it to has no grounds on which to complain.
And for the folks who rip Apple for not having a DVD burner in all their machines--if they did, you'd be ripping them for not having the option to put in a combo drive to reduce the ultimate purchase price. I have thought for a long time that the idea behind Apple and the Mac is to simplify things. Part of the way they do that is by having a limited number of models--if you want THIS, you buy THAT machine. As opposed to, for example, Dell, where you can configure different machines until your eyes glaze over and even someone at Dell can't tell you what the differences are. Both are valid business models, as a consumer you just pick the one that you prefer.
Also, I just looked at Dell's webpage. Out of the 16 models listed under Home and Home Office, 6 included DVD burners. Of those, 3 out of 4 XPS models have DVD burners as standard--which is, amazingly enough, the same percentage as the number of iMacs that have DVD burners as standard. And all of those XPS systems, including the $1699 one, have analog LCD displays, slower CPU's, smaller hard drives, etc. And that is completely putting to one side the all in one form factor, OS-X, etc. I don't mean to pick on Dell--you can make the same kind of comparison with just about any other major PC manufacturer. As I said, Apple works on one business model, and other companies work on others. You make your choice and pay your money....
Best,
Bob
Maybe they do it so the people who don't care if they have an integrated system, can buy an external writer and save a buttload of cash?
Honestly, it sounds like this is just another case of someone bitching because the thinking wasn't done for them.
If your friends are upset they didn't get a DVD burner in their base system, then they really should have read the specs on what they were buying. This isn't apple's, or anyone else's fault.
Honestly, it sounds like this is just another case of someone bitching because the thinking wasn't done for them.
If your friends are upset they didn't get a DVD burner in their base system, then they really should have read the specs on what they were buying. This isn't apple's, or anyone else's fault.
There are two different arguments going on in this forum. Some people are talking about what *they* need in a system, others are comparing what apple sells to what it advertises. Here are some quotes from the Apple's 'Get A Mac' marketing:
It also has a prominent link to the iDVD page, which says things like:
NOWHERE ON ANY OF THESE PAGES does it say that, while "iDVD is ready", your brand new $1000 iMac may not be - or that, while "fun is not sold separately", not all of it is included either. Sure, they get out of it my careful use of the word "software" but that is the kind of subtlety that your average mom-&-pop computer buyer will not pick up on.
.
Apple's Marketing said:
It also has a prominent link to the iDVD page, which says things like:
Apple's iDVD Page said:
NOWHERE ON ANY OF THESE PAGES does it say that, while "iDVD is ready", your brand new $1000 iMac may not be - or that, while "fun is not sold separately", not all of it is included either. Sure, they get out of it my careful use of the word "software" but that is the kind of subtlety that your average mom-&-pop computer buyer will not pick up on.
.
Not only is it a premium product, it's also a product that includes DVD authoring software out the box. To offer any config without dvd writing ability is frankly, silly. People saying "get an external writer" - you can hardly say "where's the computer' with an external drive hanging off the back of it. The OP should have double checked the config - but I can quite imagine people going inncoently assuming that in would include dvd writing given the price. Apple make some amazing stuff but sometimes, they really make me wonder what the hell's they're trying to do.
Doug
Doug
Hmmm. That's a hard one....
For people who:
a.) Don't want/need one
or
b.) Can't afford a mac with one in
For people who:
a.) Don't want/need one
or
b.) Can't afford a mac with one in
Whats wrong with watching your iDVD movies on your computer...I do that quite often....
That said, you point is still valid, but its not a dealbreaker.
That pretty much sums it up. This thread was started because someone didn't pay enough attention or ask enough questions when they were buying their computer. To get upset about their Mac missing a feature Apple never claimed it had (and most lines of PCs don't include as standard on their entry model) is ridiculous.
Seriously...I don't need a dvd burner, and wouldn't want to pay extra to get something I don't need.
VCDs FTW!
VCDs FTW!
