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Why so expensive?
- Thread starter Demarrer
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Macs are cheaper than a PC notebook with the same hardware. Or at least, that was the case when I configured Dell and HP notebooks to match my MBP.
they seem pretty reasonable to me, with the change of pricing and specs i think theyre pretty good deals now.
everything has its price and apple is no exception.
theyve always been a luxury brand, from my understandings and look at apple, its more about an all inclusive package deal.
They design the harware to work with the software, vice versa, creating a unique end user experience.
most PC manufactures assemble machines without really any sort of artistic inhibition, its just trying to store a bunch of stuff together under one enclosure etc etc.
The pricing can be allotted to an assortment of things i see it as.
they have a streamlined product line up as opposed to too many options, its nice ot have options but too many confuse the consumer and dont always really make much sense; in my opinion.
I like how they put everything together and they do it well, it make sense.
besides everyone i know with similar spec machines (17" core 2duos) or variants dont get nearly anywhere near the good battery life i have nor is their display all that much to run home about.
everything has its price and apple is no exception.
theyve always been a luxury brand, from my understandings and look at apple, its more about an all inclusive package deal.
They design the harware to work with the software, vice versa, creating a unique end user experience.
most PC manufactures assemble machines without really any sort of artistic inhibition, its just trying to store a bunch of stuff together under one enclosure etc etc.
The pricing can be allotted to an assortment of things i see it as.
they have a streamlined product line up as opposed to too many options, its nice ot have options but too many confuse the consumer and dont always really make much sense; in my opinion.
I like how they put everything together and they do it well, it make sense.
besides everyone i know with similar spec machines (17" core 2duos) or variants dont get nearly anywhere near the good battery life i have nor is their display all that much to run home about.
Now that Apple uses the same hardware as everyone else, the only thing I can think of is the computers use real aluminum and you get an Apple logo on it.
Pretty much this. Apple charges these prices because people still buy at these prices.
Abuse your education discount while you can and buy refurbished. I'm still running on my Late 2007 MacBook and don't see a need to replace it.
You can't use the education discount on refurbs. I checked the education store and then the regular store, and the prices were the same for refurbs.
Apple employees can't use their discount on refurbs, however.
There are a lot of answers to this question, and searching the forum will bring up almost all of them.
The short one is this: You get what you pay for. No, really, Apple isn't completely ripping you off, the combination of hardware, software and support represents acceptable value for money.
Yes, even compared to generic PCs.
The short one is this: You get what you pay for. No, really, Apple isn't completely ripping you off, the combination of hardware, software and support represents acceptable value for money.
Yes, even compared to generic PCs.
You also get things like a good display, excellent touchpad, well thought out design etc. I looked at lots of PC laptops today and they haven't changed one bit from the 5 year old HP my boss uses. Same ******, awkward touchpads, ugly looks, cramped keyboards etc.
While Apple's desktop machines aren't anything special IMO, the laptops are miles better than the competition's. If you spec a similar Dell or HP you won't be that far off from Macbook Pro prices.
Oh really?
A Vostro 1520 with 2.53 GHz processor, 4 GB RAM, 250 GB HDD, WXGA+ display, GeForce 9300M GS, and Vista HP costs $1105. That's $600 less than a comparable MBP.
An HP HDX16t with 2.66 GHz processor, 4 GB RAM, 320 GB HDD, 1080p display, GeForce 9600M GT, and Vista HP costs $1250. That's $700 less than a comparable MBP.
If you keep piling on the options, a Windows laptop will be much less expensive.
The only price Apple beats Dell (haven't checked HP) in is for workstations. The Mac Pro is the obvious choice, although a comparable Dell Precision will take far more RAM.
IMO, the HP looks great, although I prefer the simplicity of the MBP.
Good thing a SMART buyer looks at more than just obvious specs. I could care less about the obvious like a hard drive or processor or graphics card. See, the HP nor the Dell offer me a fiber optic backlit keyboard or ambient light sensor for the screen. Speaking of the screen, I prefer high contrast on the MBP to those washed out so-called HD screens on most PC laptops. The screen is very important to me, having washed out blacks ruins the experience and unless you spend $$$ you will get that on a PC notebook. Also, I like getting multi-touch trackpad functions and full size Firewire to power and/or operate my FW devices. For me it's the little things, it's naive of a customer to look at only the obvious specs.
Have you ever tried using one of the HDX16t's? You'll be lucky to get 1.5hrs off the standard 6-cell battery if you're using it unplugged. (My coworker has a similar model...slower CPU, P-series at that...and those are his words) Any larger of a battery and it sticks out of the computer, making cases/sleeves harder to find.
As said above, there's a lot more than raw specs when comparing. A lot of Windows PCs come with ridiculously small track pads now and beyond that, a lot are pretty high friction too IMO (HP being really bad here). The lack of multi-touch can suck pretty good too. Many of the PC choices with the 9600GT graphics don't have the 9400M along side, so battery life is TERRIBLE on the go. You then also have the weight of the machines, cheaper feel due to purely plastic casing (some metal chassis choices though), CCFL backlights, lower quality panels, etc etc etc...
Neither does the MBP. They went to LED.
I agree.
I only like the two-finger scroll and three-finger swipe, but that's just my preference.
A full-size FW is nice, but not totally necessary.
Exactly. I remember when a good buddy of mine bought a XPS laptop couple years back for about 1k less than my late 06 MBP, but that thing was terrible all round. From the fake (plastic) warping brushed aluminium-look case, horrible speakers, bad slot loading optical drive, I could go on.
Lets not forget that the current line of MBPs apparently has the most colour correct screens in the laptop market (I keep losing that damn link).
It always comes down to how you value your computing experience. Just like you value your driving experience, if it's just to get to work and back and nothing fancy why get something great?
As previously mentioned, the lure of Apple products comes from their superb software and customer experience. In this day and age, usability is key! The GUI is fantastic, and when the hardware fails, you most likely have an Apple store within 30 minutes distance.
And where does it prove that Apple's keyboard is LED and no longer Fiber optic?
Forgot where I read it, but I read it said the keyboard is now LED. Maybe it was for the uMB.
Personally, I think something a lot of people overlook is all the features you can't really appreciate until you go back to a pc form a mac. I think we take tons of little built in mac features (HW and SW) for granted, as if our computing experience has always been this way. Ever go back to a pc laptop touch pad from a mac?? Its ridiculous to even use imo. Even going from the 1 button trackpad to a laptop is horrible in this respect. To name a few others Expose/Spaces, application integration, installations/uninstallations being so much more simple, the ability to officially be able to run mac os + windows on seperate partitions,etc.
There really are a lot more things than the few I listed above, but I'll end this post with what I find to be the most important thing and it relates to the software and hardware working together.
I think a lot of us have very fast brains (lol), and nothing can touch Macs/Mac OS when it comes to multitasking!!!
There really are a lot more things than the few I listed above, but I'll end this post with what I find to be the most important thing and it relates to the software and hardware working together.
I think a lot of us have very fast brains (lol), and nothing can touch Macs/Mac OS when it comes to multitasking!!!
I don't care what the specs of the monitor say, they are terrible displays. And maybe some people buy on computing specs alone, but do any of the PCs have magsafe, backlit keyboards, LED displays, multitouch/gesture trackpads, or the robust build of the MacBook Pro? I'm typing on a 13" uMBP right now and I can tell you that the build quality of this machine is the best I've ever seen, period. To some people that matters.
I'd really like to know the manufacturing cost of the MBP. Apple sure loves to make money, they have more than $25 billion in the bank, and sure they make more by making these MBPs really expensive, but they could benefit if more and more people bought them at a cheaper price, as in hold a bigger market share of people that will then update to future Macbooks.
If Apple is giving a student discount on a $1200 MBP to make it $1100, then you can probably guess they're still making plenty of money on students. And we all know that RAM and HD from Apple are also overpriced. Just imagine if Apple went bare minimum and tried selling the MBP for about $950. People would see this simple, sexy, powerful laptop for so cheap and they would instantly buy it. Microsoft has the advantage of how many different companies try and use their OS. So there's the alienware high end line and then the dell and hp low end lines that appeal to the mainstream audience. If Apple had actually reduced their prices, they would have gotten a huge market share before Windows 7 comes out.
If Apple is giving a student discount on a $1200 MBP to make it $1100, then you can probably guess they're still making plenty of money on students. And we all know that RAM and HD from Apple are also overpriced. Just imagine if Apple went bare minimum and tried selling the MBP for about $950. People would see this simple, sexy, powerful laptop for so cheap and they would instantly buy it. Microsoft has the advantage of how many different companies try and use their OS. So there's the alienware high end line and then the dell and hp low end lines that appeal to the mainstream audience. If Apple had actually reduced their prices, they would have gotten a huge market share before Windows 7 comes out.