Mac's - are they overpriced?

October 15, 2008

I could simply not agree any more with instant.human.

10,587 · October 15, 2008

Simple answer. Yes they are extremely overpriced for what you get.

/thread

lol

4,151 · October 15, 2008

Hey instant.human? why don't you "shut the heck up" and let people argue if they want?

It's simply their option to take part in discussion.

posts like your never lead anywhere. never. period.

afterall it's just opinions.

live and let live man.

If you don't like this topic, don't read it.

October 15, 2008

I don't think the machine itself is overpriced, I think its Leopard that is, when you buy the machine you have to pay for Leopard as well. Which adds on about $100 (or something like that) to the price tag.

3,404 · October 15, 2008

Hey instant.human? why don't you "shut the heck up" and let people argue if they want?
It's simply their option to take part in discussion.

posts like your never lead anywhere. never. period.

afterall it's just opinions.

live and let live man.

If you don't like this topic, don't read it.

whoah, peace, man. there is that little ":p"-guy... actually, i put it there for folks like you, to emphasize that that particular sentence is not to be taken too seriously.

but thanks for the constuctive critique. i will think about it... not.

its getting harder to post here. because even if youre trying to be nice and calm, somewhat neutral or just not taking sides, some member will yell at you anyways.

4,151 · October 15, 2008

Woah man, I wrote that part in all lowercase so that you wouldn't think I was yelling.

THIS IS YELLING. this is not yelling.

geez, don't take that too seriously.

8,461 · October 15, 2008

Yes they are.

6,777 · October 15, 2008

well I have to throw my $.02 on this one...

I want a Mac so bad.. I have wanted one for quite a while now. I even tried the OSx86 method, but on my AMD laptop it just wasn't very stable... The reason I haven't gotten a mac is price. I can not afford to pay that much money for a computer. Main thing is "I can not talk my wife into letting me pay that much". She knows how much a normal pc costs, and there is no way in hell she would let me spend that much money for a computer, just because its a MAC.

Overpriced? Yes

22,237 · October 15, 2008

Ridiculously overpriced.

"Mac Experience" my ass.

October 15, 2008

I think they are reasonable. Quality makes up for it honestly.

6,273 · October 15, 2008

The reason why these type of discussions get 8 pages in one day is because there are so many perspectives on the argument. So far this thread has been an interesting read because both sides of the argument are showing there reasons. No one has gone out of there way to bitch at a member specifically, so I don't understand why instant.human, your telling the "fanboys to shut up"? We're having a discussion and I frankly I think either you should add to it, or not bother.

No pun intended dude, just trying to make a random point clear :p

3,472 · October 15, 2008

Here are two simple & great looking laptops not from Apple:

Sony Vaio FW

Dell XPS m1530

It's good to see other companies besides Apple giving some attention to the looks.

I laughed when people were going "OMG Sony copied Apple's keyboard!" when it was the other way around!

Apple's design is nice as well :)

10,349 · October 15, 2008

Richard Hammond is banging on about quantifying the 'Mac' experience. I can quantify it through anecdotes and my general experience with the Mac (and accessories so far) but I suspect it won't be enough.

When I used the 'It just works' the other day someone shot me down in flames as if it wasn't a justifiable description to use when talking about the experience I've had with the Mac so far but frankly no other description works as well. I've had my iMac now for about 3 months, I had a Mac Mini before that for about 10 months, and I've had various iPods and now I have an iPhone. You know, I can't tell you how enjoyable it has been owning all of this kit because I think in all that time I've run into two small issues that a simple reboot has fixed.

The entire experience such as the way the Mac works, the way that the iPhone works, the way that the two devices work together, is so polished and seamless - with Windows stuff you can often see "the cracks" and even the most devout Microsoft fan cannot deny that the experience isn't occasionally painful. My boss this week just took delivery of his HTC Touch Pro.. he's a staunch MS Smartphone advocate and has more PDA's and smartphones than I care to mention. We often banter about iPhone vs The Competition but I just couldn't help but become that smug **** with the iPhone as he's already running into interesting software glitches and quirks. I'd cut him some slack but the phone he's replacing with the HTC Touch Pro is similarly troublesome and has issues rotating the display, and with the slideout keyboard, etc.. you know the iPhone has been a smooth ride since the day I took it out of the box.

And it just flows the whole way through to the Mac. It's just excellent. It works, it never misses a beat, and it never makes me sit back in my chair and say "What the hell is it doing?" or "Why is my computer playing up?" or "Why have I got this unexplained error?!". I'm not just saying this without some decent experience to back me up - I am a Windows System Administrator and am part of a team responsible for hundreds of Windows Servers.. I do LIKE Windows and from an administration point of view I don't think I'd want to change to anything else, but I also believe in giving credit where credit is due. The Apple experience (be it iPhone, Mac, iPod) is just bloody well done and fun to be part of.

I already love my iPhone and my iMac is the best computer i've ever owned. I'm actually looking FORWARD to something breaking on them so I can see just how good Apple's customer service is.

Hope that helps explain what the 'experience' means to me.

4,171 · October 15, 2008

Seems to be all a matter of perspective, really. Neither is right or wrong. I can concede that.

But if price will be such a significant factor in your decision, you'll need to be careful you don't short change yourself.

5,245 · October 15, 2008

I don't think the machine itself is overpriced, I think its Leopard that is, when you buy the machine you have to pay for Leopard as well. Which adds on about $100 (or something like that) to the price tag.

You forgot to add that you pay also for iLife, is bundled in any new Mac machine.

4,110 · October 15, 2008

I'd say yes. But you do get quality for your money... its just a shame you dont get more for your money in terms of performance.

October 15, 2008

Dell = Ford
Apple = Ferrari

That is a plain stupid analogy.

More like Apple is a Ford, but comes in a Ferrari body kit...under the shell, it's the same as that Ford.

That being said, my next laptop purchase will be a Macbook.

October 15, 2008

That is a plain stupid analogy.
More like Apple is a Ford, but comes in a Ferrari body kit...under the shell, it's the same as that Ford.

That being said, my next laptop purchase will be a Macbook.

Agreed.

I find it funny when people think Apple components are somehow better and more powerful than off-the-shelf equivalents. An Intel Core 2 Duo is the same, whether it's in a Dell or a Mac.

11,347 · October 15, 2008

I do think that Mac computers as a whole are far more expensive than the average PC, but I don't necessarily think they're overpriced. While I'm no fanboy of Apple, I do admit that Apple computers just seemingly have better build quality than other computers. I use and enjoy Vista and Mac OS X equally, but I do appreciate the way that Mac OS X works in comparison to Vista.

I just recently bought a Dell XPS notebook and sold my (polycarbonate) MacBook, and now I again want to get the new MacBook, because of its build quality simply being the best out of any notebook I've ever owned. No, I don't need it and yes I'm probably suffering from impulse buying, but that's just the thing about Apple. Everything they make, you want it. Likewise, I don't want everything made by Dell and Sony.

October 15, 2008

dont buy one yet wait for new intel cpus and install mac os x on your xps i have a 1530 xps dual boot with osx 10.5.5 and vista works just as good as a macbook pro

October 15, 2008

It still amazes me the often gross generalizations there are in this ongoing battle/argument over whether Mac's are worth the price or even if they are overpriced to begin with. Let me first start off by saying that my views are based purely on desktop computers and not laptops. Laptops are a horse of a total other color and have a lot of other consideration to deal with involving fabrication process of the shell and other proprietary parts as well as third part companies that make chips for them that laptop manufacturers might use. Apple laptops subjectively are nice and worth the price for me but I don't know enough about some of the tech they use to make the products sturdy and other tech under the hood such as multi-touch track pads to make an informed opinion about them based on a pricing standpoint. Using that same logic I don't think most of the people here in this forum are qualified for that either; but I could be wrong. ANYHOW, I've commented on many of these threads and unlike what my sig might suggest I'm not a fanboy in the least; I'm a realist. I've been a windows engineer for 10+ years now and have worked in all manner of windows environments and some Linux environments as well. I've been in charge of purchasing for large organizations as well as government agencies... I think I have an equal grasp of all sides of this argument and the fact of the matter is that the argument is derived from the wrong line of thinking. The question isn't whether Apple is overpriced. Rather, the question is whether or not RETAIL computers are 'overpriced' vs. DIY. Everyone makes these claims like 'I can build a computer for half the price that's just as fast or faster' while that MAY be true, it isn't a truism for Apple alone but rather for ALL or at least MOST retail PC manufacturers. Fact of the matter is you can build a cheaper and faster PC than MOST if not ALL retail PC companies. End of discussion... it's not an Apple vs the world type of argument. It's a Retail vs DIY type of argument. Anyone who wants to make it otherwise is either severely ignorant or purposefully trying to carry out an agenda based on pure bias and Anti Apple/MS vs. Apple culture which has no place in an objective conversation. Now are there exceptions? Yes of course no matter how you slice it there will always be some exceptions to EVERY rule of thumb but for the most part I have found even when purchasing my own machine seen below in my sig that other retailers were moderately and in some cases grossly more expensive than what I payed for this machine.

If you want to purchase a computer from any retailer including Apple, the best rule of thumb would be to order a base and then add DIY parts... this is what I call the "Best of Both Worlds Scenario". Order the computer you want minus the Hard Drives, RAM, Video Card, and Optical drives that you want, then get all those aforementioned parts on after market websites such as pricewatch etc... or NewEgg.

In any case, through my many years of being in both environments it's very evident that they are not overpriced when compared to similar or the same specs as other competitors they are always within a couple hundred of each other in either direction and some times within 50 of each other in either direction. Anyhow I digress...

13,696 · October 15, 2008

I'm not a mac hater, but something seems strange to me...
I can buy a laptop with better battery capacity,cpu, more ram, better gpu, higher res. display than the basic config macbook , and still get a lower price. I can even get all those things, and then buy a license of macosx, and STILL get a better price (not that i can use it out of the box).

Of course, the mac design is sleek and nice, but I am looking from a point of view where that does not matter.

AND, i bet that apple does not pay more for their components than other OEM's.

I beginning to wonder if either the computer it self is way overpriced, or the OS is highly expensive to create.

Please, these are my observations, and i just want to hears some of your opinions, mac users, and non-mac users.

Especially mac users.

Not intending this for flamebate, so DO NOT FLAME.

edit; Please people, I wrote; "Of course, the mac design is sleek and nice, but I am looking from a point of view where that does not matter. ". And please look away from the OS. Lets talk hardware technology, not OS (because then we could argue forever).

I have had two laptops, so that's where my perspective comes from (so desktops might be a different kettle of fish).

If you are looking at it as an Intel CPU in Mac vs an Intel CPU in a Dell then clearly one shouldn't cost more than the other.

However looking at most of the rest of the components and overall build quality I think you pay for more quality when you buy a Mac.

My first laptop cost me ?450 without an OS. The screen developed a fault after a year and the battery life was **** poor. Overall, it's quality was on the cheap side, but not awful. It was OS X that really made me want to change.

My Macbook really impressed me with the quality of the hardware as compared to my cheaper old one, but I don't think it's necessarily better than a pricey Sony or HP. I want to point out that Apples aren't the only hardware that is expensive but those who want to bitch always compare prices with the cheapest (PC) options available rather than a true like for like comparison.

Something I've seen in this thread: people scoffing with "it's not worth $100,000 extra for feature x" or "$100,000 extra for feature y" ... but you are paying extra for all those features together not just one of those. And it's the whole package that makes the experience, not this feature alone or that feature alone.

Yes they are,
I call it the Apple Syndrome where by uneducated Computer users see apple products on

......

Well, some users are like that. I know of someone who bought all Macs for their new estate agency office (real estate). And then worried about software compatibility, a big mistake. But then you get the same with PC users, but because they get infected with spamware galore, it's much more dangerous...

Personally, I am in the third year of a computer science degree. I am not "uneducated" about computers. Neither are the dozen or so lecturers and professors in my department who also use Macs. To assume all Mac users are ignorant is ignorant.:pp

3,462 · October 15, 2008

Build quality and lots of the hardware and concepts that they use aren't even out yet... you're always going to pay more for the newest and greatest thing.

Same thing with why buy a PS3 when the 360 is cheaper..... Blu-ray is expensive and people want that and games.

These topics keep coming up from windows guys, it seems like a jealousy thing otherwise they wouldn't comment on it at all.

4,171 · October 15, 2008

Yes they are,
I call it the Apple Syndrome where by uneducated Computer users see apple products on films and tv being used by their favourite characters which happens an awful lot.

Fair play to Apple for it's product placement.

And all they want a computer for is emails :(

Interesting. Since most Mac users are/were Windows users (at work, mostly) and have made an informed choice.

Switchers.

I chose to dump Windows after over 4 years of home use. Not because it was inherently a bad system. Did the job. But trying out a Mac on display at the time simply blew me away. Never looked back. And frankly, my experiences with Apple have prejudiced me in a way against other manufacturers. I haven't regretted it yet, however.

It's usually the clueless Wal-Mart shopper type that goes in for the PC, that is. the average retail PC, since that is what's on display and looks and works the same as the one at work.

Then again, you find newbs in both camps. One is just a newb with more money to spend, it seems.