Thursday
Apr302009
Cheaper Macs - Still Overpriced and Irrelevant
Thursday, April 30, 2009 at 07:30AM 
AppleInsider is reporting that Apple is going to be releasing some cheaper Macs, maybe. How many people think that this really matters? Here is the only question you need to answer: will Apple release a full computer (screen, keyboard, etc) for an equivalent price to that of a PC? The answer is no, and this is why [from DailyTech]:
“Macs have gone from an average price of $1,432 and $1,574, for desktops and laptops respectively in June '06 to $1,543 and $1,515 respectively in June '08. While much lower to start, PCs are now even lower in average sale price. The average PC notebook went from $877 to $700."
Be realistic. The chance of Apple releasing a laptop that has even one gigabyte of ram for less than $800 is lunacy. They won't do it. Now, people will of course say that the difference in the OS makes it worth the switch, and that may be true. But try telling that to your average Joe, that this different OS that still types and connects to his inter-tubes is worth the price margin. He will laugh in your face.
Finally, this will affect one market: college kids. This demographic has the biggest Mac fetish since Woz, and selling them cheaper computers means more will be sold. Simple economics, but to the mass market, I doubt we will see any real price changes that will bring Macs into the real mass market fold.
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Reader Comments (1)
I maxed out all the specs on a MacBook Pro 3 years ago. I spent less and got more computer than I would have if I had done the same thing with Dell. I justified the higher price tag because I am essentially getting 2 computers for the price of 1.
Even with the purchase of legitimate copies of XP Pro and Parallels Desktop, I still spent less and got 2 computers for the price of 1.
With Parallels or Virtual Box, the number of "computers" I can have is only limited by hard drive space. I'm running OS X, WinXP and Ubuntu all without buying any additional hardware.
Further, my 3 year old Mac doesn't feel nearly as dated as a 3 year old PC would.