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Why is Apple's RAM expensive?

It's for the uneducated who say well, I'm spending $1500 on a computer and I can get twice as much ram for 200 bucks more. Might as well!
 
Frankly, because they can charge a premium and people will pay for it. Apple is not a discount store. I don't think it's so much that people are suckers and don't know the value of things...I think it's compulsive behavior...the "I want it now" mentality vs. waiting/researching and getting it somewhere else cheaper.

Just today I bought a new shredder (wow...exciting!) and I was happy to pay $199 at my local Staples (+ tax) vs. $179 on Amazon w/free shipping. I could have saved a bit of coin but made a conscious decision to buy it now. That's not to say I would buy RAM at Apple...I wouldn't...but some people are willing to pay a premium for the NOW vs. later at a discount.
 
it is so expensive because Apple correctly realizes that the AVERAGE Apple consumer knows next to nothing about computers.
 
If you look at other oems, non standard ram configurations are generally expensive. There's a markup on configuration more than the part itself.
 
Convenience. If you buy it from Apple, it's already installed for you. No opening your computer, no worrying about it. That may not seem important to most people here, but there's a lot of people that have no desire to ever open up their computer.
 
iAppleseed said:
Apple Tax?
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Well...ignoring the fact this question has already been answered at least once before that I know of...:D

It's much like getting your car tuned up or repaired at the dealership, instead of at a regular mechanic.

There's the perception that they know more about the product in question and they use "genuine" parts which (in theory) are better and guaranteed to work with your product.

Of course, there's also the portion of the customer base that are either too lazy or don't know how to research for the best deal.

Last but not least, there's the customer who thinks money is no object and don't care about the price - they just want all the bells and whistles.
 
sweetbrat said:
Convenience. If you buy it from Apple, it's already installed for you. No opening your computer, no worrying about it. That may not seem important to most people here, but there's a lot of people that have no desire to ever open up their computer.
Click to expand...

So we're paying them an additional $100 to remove a few screws and push? I don't know about you, but for me that's expensive.
 
It's more convenient for for corporates to buy new Macs with RAM installed, as I have posted elsewhere, you wouldn't buy 10+ machines and then buy RAM for your IT dept. to install.

Most seasoned MAc users buy from Crucial / Newegg etc, and install the modules themselves....No warranty infringement and Apple detail the process on their site.
 
iAppleseed said:
So we're paying them an additional $100 to remove a few screws and push? I don't know about you, but for me that's expensive.
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Of course it's expensive. And for you, it probably makes much more sense to purchase the RAM separately and install it yourself. Like I said, for most people on this forum that's probably the case. For the public in general, not so much. There's tons of people out there that just aren't comfortable opening up their computer, even if the installation is supposedly easy. Paying extra for convenience and so someone doesn't have to do something they're uncomfortable with isn't exclusive to Apple. DIY is generally cheaper for pretty much everything. If you want to purchase something already assembled or have someone else install an appliance in your house, it costs more. There's lots of people that feel comfortable doing those things themselves, too...and a lot that don't.
 
iAppleseed said:
So we're paying them an additional $100 to remove a few screws and push? I don't know about you, but for me that's expensive.
Click to expand...

It's all a question of perspective. What may seem like a simple task for some may seem like an arduous task for others. I, for instance, get all my shirts dry cleaned. Costs a lot. To some, it's a waste since it's easy to wash and iron a shirt. To me it's a convenience to not have to deal with it, even if it means I'm paying a premium. Some people can fix their own electrical wiring or plumbing at home; others will hire a guy at 60-100 bucks an hour to do it for them. That's what a "service" is all about.

The same goes for many other things in life. We can't do everything ourselves, else market-based (or more specifically, service-based) economies would die. :D

Of course, I think buying RAM from Apple is a ripoff (or generally, most of their upgrades) but that's just me and the upgrade is super easy to do. To some, upgrading the hard drive on a Mini or iMac is also super easy, but I'd pay the Apple "stupid" tax to have them do it 'cause it's too much work and I'd be too worried to break something.
 
adnbek said:
It's all a question of perspective. What may seem like a simple task for some may seem like an arduous task for others.
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While this is perfectly true, lots of people have a friend who's happy to do something like installing RAM and if not, there are lots of computer stores that will happily sell you the RAM and install it for much less than the cost of buying it from Apple.
 
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