Why are Macs so pricey?

[rjohnstone]

Simple answer...

Apple still doesn't have enough market share to dilute their costs per unit.

Since they produce units in smaller quantities, they have to charge more per unit to remain profitable.

The rest is aesthetics.

[jlee]

If people are willing to buy them expensive, Apple's going to sell them expensive.

They design a competitive OS, and sexy looking hardware, and then the rest is just marketing.

They make it 'feel' like a premium product. I'm not saying it's not a premium product, but the cost is often in respsect to the consumer's "want" factor.

Also, being the minority helps. Company that's battling "big bad microsoft"

In fact, being expensive in itself is a step to being a premium product. If it was a $600 notebook that anyone could get, it'll have much less of a "want" factor.

[Carvetia]

Simply put:

Because for the people that buy them, a Mac is worth more than the sum of its parts.

And Apple has huuuge profit margins.

[mntbikeracer1]

Simply put:

Because for the people that buy them, a Mac is worth more than the sum of its parts.

And Apple has huuuge profit margins.

Maybe for the few, but the majority of mac users I see especially here on campus purchased them as a fashion accessory to be seen.

[Carvetia]

Maybe for the few, but the majority of mac users I see especially here on campus purchased them as a fashion accessory to be seen.

Well, yeah! A fashion accesory is the perfect example of something being worth more than the sum of its parts. Designer sunglasses sure as hell don't cost £150 to make do they?

[rjohnstone]

Simply put:

Because for the people that buy them, a Mac is worth more than the sum of its parts.

And Apple has huuuge profit margins.

Really... you have an inside look at Apple's books.

According to their SEC filings, their profits are mainly from the iPod and iTunes sales.

They still do not have the market share to command significant volume discounts from their parts suppliers and manufacturers.

Even Steve has publicly stated that hardware sales outside of the iPod is still not extremely profitable.

He is unwilling to drop prices and risk potential losses to compete head to head with other PC makers.

If a Mac were the same cost as say your average PC out there, it might attract more buyers.

But if it doesn't, Apple would stand to lose millions.

The average buyer is looking for the most bang for their buck.

Most could care less if it's "pretty".

The business sector, by far the largest buyer of PC's doesn't care if it looks cool. they care if it works and can fit in a budget.

[NilColor]

OK. There is "100 bucks for laptop" PC around here... They are cheaper than Dell!

Guys, be quite. Yes, maybe Apple h/w is pricey but not that great!

Take Dell with same hardware that MacBook have and compare price. Yes there are cheap config Dell have. And Apple doesn't do this. They sell you a computer that works fine for a long time. I can buy 600$ Dell say "Yay! Look Ma, its cheap!" And start milky way of upgrades. More RAM... Bigger HDD. New video card (ups, can't change it... damn). Etc etc etc.

And about Apple Cinema - they are S-IPS. Best color and bla-bla. And very expensive. And slow. But they have good electronics which make them fast enough to watch action movie. And thats a price.

There are alot of 20" TN displays (I have one of them - 260$ for 19"). They are fast in g-to-g speed but so-so in color accuracy. And cheap.

So, try to find comparative display "in-techno" and compare prices. And don't do "Hey I find 222" display for 150 bucks! Apple sucks!"

[rjohnstone]

Take Dell with same hardware that MacBook have and compare price. Yes there are cheap config Dell have. And Apple doesn't do this. They sell you a computer that works fine for a long time. I can buy 600$ Dell say "Yay! Look Ma, its cheap!" And start milky way of upgrades. More RAM... Bigger HDD. New video card (ups, can't change it... damn). Etc etc etc.

You get stuck in the same upgrade hell with Apple's as well.

You pick a base model that is already pricey to begin with and then start adding options to it.

It can nearly double the base price of ANY PC (Apple or otherwise) once you start playing with options.

[ShadyApple]

its all up to a persons preference, personally i think mac's are expensive and quite overrated. i'm a fan of apple and what they do or else i wouldn't be here but the fact of the matter is they make inferior systems (spec wise not quality) and charge you double for it, wheres the logic in that?

they could've atleast put in a graphics card thats valued at more then $100 on their imac's especially for what apples selling them for. i'm better off installing osx on a much faster setup like a 320mb 8800gts, E6750 1333fsb, nforce 6 sli mobo, 2gb ddr800, 20" monitor with 3ms response time etc and all this will actually cost about the same as the 2.4ghz 20" model.

[ShadyApple]

Simple answer...

Apple still doesn't have enough market share to dilute their costs per unit.

Since they produce units in smaller quantities, they have to charge more per unit to remain profitable.

The rest is aesthetics.

Makes sense but I don't think Apple will ever outsell PC, just being realistic here. Still their laptops and desktops are selling fairly well, their stocks is high, so whats with the hold up. If they dropped their price by a fair amount theres no question in my mind that sales would double. But knowing Apple they'll continue to sell their products at high prices because they know Apple fanatics and tech illiterate people will continue to buy em.

[NilColor]

You get stuck in the same upgrade hell with Apple's as well.

You pick a base model that is already pricey to begin with and then start adding options to it.

It can nearly double the base price of ANY PC (Apple or otherwise) once you start playing with options.

Apple base != Dell base. That is a point.

Anyway hardware have good price only within US. I agree that in other country there are better price for "others" hardware. I.e. here, in Russia price for MacBook starts with 1700$ And i can find alot of notebook with good hardware for 1200-1300. But they are... not so polished

Yes, i'm Apple fun. And what? I hate Apple because of they don't want to come here. I want iPhone and MacBook for 1099 but i can't. Still i believe that Apple's computers isn't extremely expensive vs other brands.

And i don't want to upgrade my MacBook Pro 15" Core2 Duo Its perfect

[mntbikeracer1]

Well, yeah! A fashion accesory is the perfect example of something being worth more than the sum of its parts. Designer sunglasses sure as hell don't cost £150 to make do they?

I think my point was, is it worth it?

[Plexform]

Mac vs. PC discussions are so BORING!!!...If you like Mac design - buy it...there is no question of tech quality, or should I sad superiority over PC whoops, there goes fight again!

[mntbikeracer1]

Mac vs. PC discussions are so BORING!!!...If you like Mac design - buy it...there is no question of tech quality, or should I sad superiority over PC whoops, there goes fight again!

I think that is sorta the point, other than the operating system which is opinion based and preferentially chosen by the end user, hardware wise mac's cannot compete with pc's and that is well..........proven fact.

[nickheer]

The operating system is better but it alone sells for what Vista sells for.

Where are you getting those figures from?

An upgrade from XP to Vista costs $159.99 for the Home Premium. OS X costs $129 period, and there's only one version of it which is used by professionals and basic users at the same time. I have no idea where you'e getting your figures from, but they seem to be a little misguided.

Also, there are a whole bunch of articles on this sort of thing all over the internet, from both sides of the spectrum.

EDIT: Sorry... one sentence was a tad harsh.

[nightcrawler1089]

Simple answer...

Apple still doesn't have enough market share to dilute their costs per unit.

Since they produce units in smaller quantities, they have to charge more per unit to remain profitable.

The rest is aesthetics.

Yes...it pretty much comes down to supply and demand, as it always does in economics!

-NC

[nickheer]

Yes...it pretty much comes down to supply and demand, as it always does in economics!

-NC

That doesn't quite fit, though. My understanding is that

High demand + low supply = Higher prices

Therefore, Low demand + high supplies = Low prices

It is of my impression that Macs aren't in huge demand. Sure, their notebook market share right now is excellent, but overall they don't have as much demand as Dell. So their prices should be lower, or so economics dictates.

[nightcrawler1089]

They also have supply issues, though, don't they? Also, I think they're comfortable in the niche position they're in right now...

Anyway, you're lucky because I originally meant to close this thread as it was coming down (inevitably) to fanboyism!

-NC

[Wuzzie]

Basicly macs are like ferraris. [Or insert really good car here]

They look much better than the rest.

They work better than all the rest.

They are great quality.

It's also like designer clothes. You pay more for something that's much much better. You also pay lots just to have the apple logo on it if you get what I mean.

They are the more expensive but butter product choice, imho.

Hope that helps.

~Wuzzie

[Slewed]

Actually I'd think they'd be more like Jaguar. They used to have exclusivity about them, but now they are powered more and more by outside (Ford/Intel) components. It seems nowadays that everybody has one; soon the brand power will become too diluted for them to solely sell a device with an apple logo $100 more then the competition.

I agree a lot with the closed thread here because they do seem to have a monopoly on things, and they did reduce the iPhone by 1/3 of its price within 6 months. I just hope that they don't keep this up until they get Microsoft's reputation, i tend to steer clear of Microsoft products because they used to be clunky and tend to be now, my parents steer clear of Ford because they used to break down a lot too...

I watched my favourite games consoles slowly come down in price, but I've seen the iPod prices remain static, throughout the year...what's up with that?

[Celticsun]

What a load of bollocks, it has degraded once again to a Mac Vs. PC.

That whole arguement is redundant now as Spec. is comparable as architectures merge.

I was under the impression that Apple was generally more expensive because they were 1 company (Small in the scheme of things) making their own software and designing their own style of machine. Hence the cost was mainly Reasearch and Development.

End of...

Having used Apples and PCs for Yeaaaaaaaaaars now since Apple Started and PCs were known commercially as IBMs the price has never been more competative in the Apple Field (Laptops especially) as it is now.

All this crap about a superior OS and Quality of Hardware... thats all opinion to some extent, at the end of the day an Acer laptop is built at a cost for a specific throw away market... A Macbook/Pro is built to last a little longer Like a Sony, HP....etc etc you get my point.

Generallyyou get what you pay for...

[alchemist612]

Current Apple hardware is "re branded and re packaged" off the shelf hardware.

Back before the switch to Intel chips, most of the components were made to order.

Today, that's just not the case.

Apple monitors have always been a re packaged tube or flat screen placed into a pretty case.

The current LCD's are either Samsung or Phillips/LG panels wrapped in a pretty case.

You can buy the EXACT spec LCD for less than half of Apple's price if you could live without the Apple logo.

In Apple's case, you don't get what you pay for.. you pay for the hype.

Saying th OS is superior is a complete load of crap. That is pure OPINION, not fact.

Fancy exterior packaging does not equal quality.

I've had more than my share of the much spooged over Apple hardware, fail on me.

It is what it is... Made in Taiwan, China or(insert Asian country with a cheap labor pool) mass produced crap just like Dell, Sony, Gateway, HP, etc.

Well said! I couldn't have said better myself!

[iGo]

I'm sorry, but Not all apple hardware is made with off the shelf parts.

True the chip is Intel, but the mobos used in iMac, mini or Pro as well as notebooks are not something you can get off the shelf. As for HDD, Rams.. they have always been standard components so are graphic cards used in Pro (mac specific cards only though).

It is true that, number of made-to-order components are reduced from PPC days, but Apple still uses many custom parts. So saying that "Current Apple hardware is "re branded and re packaged" off the shelf hardware." isn't right. And even though, Apple is still tad expensive than other branded systms... Current offering is better bang for buck than PPC days.

As for DIY systems, they always turn out to be best deals compared to even other brands like Dell or HP. You pay certain amount of premium when in comes to branded stuff. The look and finishing of the product is subject to one's likings no matter which brand.

[SbuxBlaze]

Macs are higher quality and have Mac OS X which is superior to Windows.

Not so superior yet. The last thing they need to do is make a mac version of a directx thing so that there would be more games for mac

[Guest swimhguy]

^well i love mac sooo much!