Macs being Overpriced myth debunked.

lol joelist,you seem to be made of money by looking at the specs of both computers your probably rich as hell.Hook me up brother lol.

 

Believe it or not I got one of them at a VERY reduced price b/c I have to manipulate VERY big databases as a part of my job and thus needed very fast I/O. Guess which one?

 

This is done in cdn$$. Ok here is a dell latitude d820 I configed to compare to the 15" mbp, since ppl seem to be argueing abut dell vs apple pricing. The latitude is around the same quality as the mbp so here it goes......

Description

Latitude D820
Date & Time: August 25,2006 9:57 PM CST

SYSTEM COMPONENTS
Latitude D820 Qty 1
Intel® Core™ Duo T2500 (2.00GHz) 667Mhz Dual Core, Genuine Windows® XP Professional, SP2, with media, English Unit Price $2,149.00
Catalog Number: 70703 OCLATD8202_RBP_D8202E
Module Description Show Details
Latitude D820 Intel® Core™ Duo T2500 (2.00GHz) 667Mhz Dual Core
Operating Systems Genuine Windows® XP Professional, SP2, with media, English
LCDs 15.4 inch Wide Screen WSXGA+ LCD Panel
Memory 512MB, DDR2-667 SDRAM, 1 DIMM
Internal Keyboard Internal English Keyboard
Graphics 256MB NVIDIA® Quadro NVS 110M TurboCache™
Hard Drives 80GB Hard Drive, 9.5MM, 5400RPM
Touchpad Options Touchpad with UPEK® Fingerprint Reader
Floppy Drive No Floppy Drive
Bluetooth Dell Wireless® 350 Bluetooth Module
AC Adapter 90W A/C Adapter
Module Bay Devices 8X DVD+/-RW w/Sonic Digital Media™ and Cyberlink Power DVD™
Wireless LAN (802.11) Intel PRO/Wireless 3945 802.11a/g Mini Card (54Mbps)
Resource CD Resource CD - Contains Diagnostics and Drivers
Batteries 6 Cell Primary Battery
Hardware Support Services 3 Years Next Business Day Onsite
Hardware Installation Services DECLINE INSTALL

TOTAL:$2,149.00

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

That seems to be 50 bucks less then the base mbp model. I think things like the software, webcam etc included with the mbp make up for this 50 dollars. Where is the 1000 dollars more people are saying? I don't see it, so please point it out (without apple discounts and dell coupons).

 

Okay, I'm not gonna beat this thing to death. I did see your sig, and judging by it, you do have plenty of money to throw around. And while Dell value may not have been the topic, it's hard to discuss the value of a product without comparing it to other similar products, which is in fact how this thread started. It just so happens that there a LOT of Dell users on this site.

And I will say for the last time, I agree with you that the MBP is not a bad or overpriced machine for its target audience. That was never my implication. But its target audience is not the typical computer buyer. And all I am saying is that that is why Apple has the reputation of being overpriced. Don't get me wrong, for the past year I thought that my next computer would be a Mac; but as I realized that I needed a strong 3D computer and that I could get a better performer for less money going with something else. The MBP is a fantastic machine, and well worth (most) every penny, but it's Apple's lack of options that is killing them, not the options that they have. As I said, value is in the eye of the beholder. So really, I've been agreeing with you the whole time, just playing Devil's Advocate and trying to show why so many people think Apple's are overpriced.

 

This is a fantastic comparison for this thread. As I said, it's not the computers that Apple offers that are bad, it's their lack of options that give them a bad name. But you also have to take into consideration that Dell doesn't do as much business outside the U.S. and their non-U.S. prices are quite high as has been alluded to earlier in this thread. When I was looking at the D820 before, I maxed one out with the 512MB GPU (based on the Go7400 which is not as good as the standard x1600, but similar to the 128MB version), 2GB of 667 RAM, and a DVD burner and 9-cell battery and it came out to ~$2300 shipped with no coupons. Dell is quite high outside of the U.S., and as I said, Apple's prices tend to stay pretty regular across the world.

 

Glad we are more or less agreeing, I may have jumped the gun (dealing with clients like I did today has me a little high strung). If so, I apologize.

Believe it or not, I was able to get reimbursement for most of the price of that Mach V. I needed the huge volume and the fastest I/O I could get, and my contract client was very understanding (and recommended FNW). However, I did eat the price for the dual 7800's.

 

You can get a
Acer 5652 with Yonah 1.66ghz, X1600, 1gb, 100gb - £800
Asus A6JA with " " " " - £900
Asus F3JA with " " " " - £900
HP NC8430 with Yonah 1.83ghz, X1600, 1gb, 80gb - £1000
Zepto 2425/6615/6214 config with same as above but 2gb, 100gb - £1000

So other companies give you a decent mid-level GPU, more of everything and for the same price point. And this is in rip-off Britain! As nice as OS X and software is, if your wallet could talk we know what it'd be saying

I am not forgettting customs charges. I'm not comparing to US prices, which across all brands Britain is more expensive. I'm comparing UK-UK. Which leads me to my last comment that Apple is making a killing

 

Well whats Apples price in your currency? You only posted how much the others cost.

 

He posted it a couple posts back:

 

I feel bad when people blame Asus and say Apple has better build quality than Asus. Please keep in mind that Asus (along with Quanta) build MOST of the apple MBs and MBPs.

Also, if you think only Apple build nice looking notebooks, check this out.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=69521

 

I never seen anyone here that has said Asus was bad quality, I've always heard nothing but good things from them.

I looked at comparison that LFC did, and found it (in USD) cost 312 dollars more, and that would seem to fall perfectly within the UK's cost for importing products from other countries. Anyways, I do know that UK residents pay a bit more than the other european countries for Apple hardware ( I remember reading an article about how UK residents were complaining they had to pay more per song in iTunes) I don't know Apples justification for doing that either.

 

To the Original Poster your comparison is wrong with the Sony vs, Mac

For the SZ240 for $1500 is 1gb of ram, has 2 video cards including GeForce 7400, and weighs 1 pound lighter vs. MAC

Plus the Sony actually reads and writes audio cds without any problems unlike the many Macbooks.

 

Macbooks can read any format and play them, even open source ones unlike the windows counterpart can unless it gets the codecs to play them.

http://img241.imageshack.us/img241/668/picture2hi7.png

Thats the screenshot of the configuration I made the night I did the comparison, I also had to bump up a few things in sonys configurater just to get the specs comparible.

The video cards are also optional, and cost even more to have them put in. Although your right it is a bit lighter. Anyways the comparison is far from wrong, and is a fair comparison. Like I said in the original posting its hard to find comparible notebooks with the same dimensions and weight.

 

Ok. what about the fingerprint option and an actual video card that can play games. And it all weighs 1 pound less.

I want to see you play wma and wmv without an additional codecs or programs for the mac.

The cards are not optional... Sony has 7400 standard with Intel 950 together. Try putting a video card in a notebook that already has one onboard like the Mac.

So on Sony's site 1399 is the cheapest price for 1.83ghz Dual Core... So the difference would be $200 more for Sony vs Mac.

So for that $200 you get a much superior video card and it weights 1 pound less. But 20gigs of hd less vs. Mac

And if we compare on weight alone you can get a 14.1 widescreen HP or Compaq that will blow the Mac away for under $1000 with much better specs.

 

They weight it by the less amount of hardware in it, meaning all the nessaceries just to RUN. Thats not the weight with all the top hardware in it. It follows the same idea if you had a coupon that give $10 off your meals, but it would only affect the lowest priced meal that you ordered.

The windows codec can be obtained through microsofts website flip4mac, and it is THE ONLY thing you need to download to play windows media files, any other file works fine.

The finger part isnt on a Macbook, read carefully I said only notebooks with comparible specs.

Ah I misread the graphics portion of the specs so you are right on that part.

Taking in the new information I would say the two are balanced now.

You also are forgetting that the memory on that sony is 533Mhz and the Mac is being 667Mhz. You can't compare that 14" inch because its not 13.3"

 

The Sony weight is actually 4.2 pounds. WIth all the stuff in it... The hd, 2 sticks of ram, cpu, 2video cards, battery, keyboard, screen, etc.

So its still a pound difference.

Apple is usually known for their light weight and small products but on this one why on earth its 5+ pounds for 13.3 ?

 

I'm just taking a wild guess on this.

But I'm assuming because its a dual core they had to add some extra stuff inside like maybe more aluminum to act as a heatsink throughout the internals, and thats causing an increase in weight, but its done so they can keep it a passive form of heat release.

I have only heard my fans turn on once since I owned it, and that was when I put both cores to the max for 10 minutes to see how high the tempertures got, and thats when they turned on.

Anyways thats what I think the extra weight comes in from, I don't exactly see it as a bad thing because I'm one of those people who think that 'weight = durability/quality' and the weight personally doesn't affect me because I've done weightlifting for some time and 5.2lbs really isn't that much to me.

Yeah some people put great emphasis over how light they want their notebooks, others don't mind to much, and for some they don't really care.

 

is that true?..i thought the MBP was 5.x..on the lower side..and with a MUCH larger screen

 

jterp7,

What are you asking about? I'm assuming your talking about the weight of the MBP, in that case the 15" is 5.6lbs and the 17" is 6.8lbs