On 2007-04-20, nessuno@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx <nessuno@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> As for the mac costing twice as much, this is obviously an
> exaggeration. I wonder what an honest price comparison is. I've
> heard people claim that there's no price difference, compared to
> Windows. I got an educational discount on a Macbook Pro, but it was
> still pretty expensive.
The typical Mac costs a lot more than the typical PC from, say, Dell or
HP. However, the main reason for this is that Apple doesn't have a low
end. For desktops, they have:
* Mac Pro line. High end workstations.
* iMac line. These are all Core 2 Duo machines with very nice LCD
displays.
* Mac Mini line. Core Duo processors, small form factor.
Note what they do not have: a line with low end processors in cheap
cases.
The situation is similar with their laptops. The have the MacBook Pro,
which matches up with the high end PC laptops, and the MacBook, which
matches with the mid range PC laptops. Note that all of the Mac laptops
are pretty light and then compared to PC laptops of similar power. PC
laptops are available in several niches that Apple does not try to fill:
the budget laptop, the subnotebook, and others.
Another thing to watch out for in price configuration is that sometimes
the exact combination of features you select can make a big difference.
I've seen situations where if you took a Dell and Mac that were similar,
and configured them to match, which one was cheaper depended on which
configuration you matched. That is, if you started with the Mac, and
tried to configure the Dell to match, only changing the Mac
configuration when it was necessary to allow something to be matched by
the Dell, the Mac was cheaper. But if you started with the Dell, and
configured the Mac to match, then the Dell was cheaper.
Some things you can't easily configure to match from Dell or HP.
Apple's tower models have very nice cases, for example. There are
high-end PC cases (which are often in the $400+ range), and those are
what the Apple cases are closest to.
Also, you need to consider what you do with a computer when you get a
new computer. Used Macs actually sell fairly well. I have a 17"
G4 PowerBook. It cost something like $3000 in late 2004. Checking eBay,
those are getting bids in the $1000 neighborhood. That's a heck of a
lot for a 2.5 year old laptop using such an old processor.
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