Apple dropping prices...

seadee

Lawbag wrote: »

it would seem owning a MAC you are paying an extra £500 just for the Apple badge.

If that is the case can you tell me where I can get a PC of similar spec to my ibook for less than £150?

Percy1983

Marty_J wrote: »

As for the hardware being over-priced, it is certainly on the pricey side; but with their computers having LED screens, 802.11n wifi, back-lit keyboards, laser-cut metal bodies etc, it can pretty hard to compare them to other brands. There's more to a computer than the size of the HDD.

You pay for quality, whether it's computers or anything else.

I really need a laser cut case and backlit keyboard, makes my computer much more useful, LED screen are nice but not exactly needed as is wireless-n.

I don't quite agree that its a £500 premium, but essentially there is a Mac premium because is 'looks cool' not because its faster/better.

isofa

Lawbag wrote: »

it would seem owning a MAC you are paying an extra £500 just for the Apple badge.

MAC = Media Address Control (i.e. address). Mac = Macintosh. :rolleyes:

£500 extra really? Well I have 2 Levono laptops and a Sony in one of my offices, both which cost the same (or more in one case) than a MacBook Pro. Quite happy to pay the extra for quality, they are superb machines.

If you compare quality brand PCs with Apple's there is often a small premium I agree certainly in the present climate, but if you compare cheap PCs to Macs, and you are after value alone, then obviously a box shifter PC will win. It's like comparing a Ford or Vauxhall with a Merc or BMW, both do the same job, so why pay more?

On that theme I guess it's a bit like buying a quality car - some might scoff you are paying for the badge - personally I'm happy to spend a lot on a good car, not only are they fantastically well made, and I like my quality and can appreciate it, but many models depreciate a lot less, and when I sell in 3 to 4 years time, I'll get thousands back, where if I brought a cheaper car, although it'd be cheaper in the first place, it'll be virtually worthless at trade in. It's all relative.

How is the OS X limited? It may be a personal opinion, but it's not objective. From someone who uses both personally and professionally, I find it far more functional, stable, fast and more secure than Vista, and I spend my day using XP, Vista, OS X and a few others. Currently XP Pro and OS X offer exactly what I need, Vista is a time waste in my opinion, Windows 7 will be better (I've convinced myself!), I'm just about to start development testing with the RC.

I don't really care that much what OS I'm using as long as I can use all the apps I need, it's fast, stable, secure and I don't have to spent more than a couple of seconds thinking about anything I need to do in the OS. I don't buy or use computers for their OSes I buy them to create, design and work with a very wide range of applications.

To the conspicuous consumption comment, I run businesses as well as having home computers...: my home Mac is a G4 MDD 1.25Ghz PPC, which I bought in 2003, so that's a pretty good investment so far, no plans to replace it at the moment, runs fine with Adobe CS2/3 my main use of the Mac plus a bit of Office 2004. Whereas my home Dell laptop and desktop both aren't really powerful enough to run Vista at full pelt (both P4s from a similar time) so both need to be replaced before Windows 7 is officially released (however they are powerful enough under XP Pro to run a multitude of development tools as have been upgraded over the years with RAM, HDs, all sorts).

i8change

I was recently looking at the Mac Mini's, but ended up buying a PC (built out of high quality components) in case the 7 year old Dell died as it was a priority for the wifes business. Still interested for myself, in the future, but with the new prices I do think the £649 one is well overpriced for an entry level Mac and not going to sell well. I would only go for the cheapest £499 one now.

timbim_2

My, admittedly small, complaint against the macbook pro is the lack of a full size keyboard. For a 17in laptop to have the same keyboard as a 13in model is to me a failing. I do admit though that they're brilliant machines.

Percy1983

The limitation is I like to play Crysis (as well as many others), yes I know I could run bootcamp etc but why pay a premium for a Mac to run windows?

I can't agrue that macs are very good quality, going with cars its liek comparing a top-end mondeo to a bottom end bmw. You get a lot more car for your money with the mondeo but if you like pretty things the bmw will have better cup holders etc.

Personally I take function over form so I will quite happily take the mondeo and advent computer (to pick a cheap brand) than the pretty bmw and mac.

asininity

Damn it went wrong again.

Anyway I'd say I have spent a lot less of cheap PCs in the last ten years than I would have if I'd bought apples products.

I would consider buying a mac of some sort if the prices dropped. I'd only get one cos they look good, though thats a waste cos I wouldn't be able to do certain things I can on my PC.

Anyhoo its by the by really if they dont drop the prices.

isofa

asininity wrote: »

Damn it went wrong again.

Anyway I'd say I have spent a lot less of cheap PCs in the last ten years than I would have if I'd bought apples products.

I would consider buying a mac of some sort if the prices dropped. I'd only get one cos they look good, though thats a waste cos I wouldn't be able to do certain things I can on my PC.

Anyhoo its by the by really if they dont drop the prices.

Just out of curiosity what couldn't you do that you can do on your PC, especially seeing as you can run Windows in virutalisation, or even Windows apps appearing natively with Parallels Desktop virtualisation software today - ideal for those odd Windows only apps.

isofa

Percy1983 wrote: »

The limitation is I like to play Crysis (as well as many others), yes I know I could run bootcamp etc but why pay a premium for a Mac to run windows?

I can't agrue that macs are very good quality, going with cars its liek comparing a top-end mondeo to a bottom end bmw. You get a lot more car for your money with the mondeo but if you like pretty things the bmw will have better cup holders etc.

Personally I take function over form so I will quite happily take the mondeo and advent computer (to pick a cheap brand) than the pretty bmw and mac.

If you only want to play Windows games, then obviously choosing a Mac is a more costly affair once you factor in a copy of windows, so can't be recommended. But for other tasks the choice is less clear cut.

Interesting analogy, pick say the bottom end BMW 3 series 318d - it has a far more powerful and more efficient engine than anything comparable in the Mondeo range (economy vs power that is), it retains it's value over 3 years much better than any Mondeo... it's also far better made. The 2 litre diesel unit in say the 320d produces 170bhp yet amazingly efficient, compare that to a similar Mondeo engine. Sure you pay more for it, but when you come to sell, it's worth far more than the Mondeo... (I believe the 1 series diesels are even better economy vs power).

I think quality cars are sold on their build quality, superior engines and performance, rather than their cupholders, which in many models are additional extras

As with everything in life, you get what you pay for, and if you buy wisely and the time of trading/selling it can cost you less overall.

asininity

isofa wrote: »

Just out of curiosity what couldn't you do that you can do on your PC, especially seeing as you can run Windows in virutalisation, or even Windows apps appearing natively with Parallels Desktop virtualisation software today - ideal for those odd Windows only apps.

Games mate, virutalisation aint gonna cut it I'm afraid, and thats all I use windows for. The rest of the time is spent in linux. PCs are good for summit.

I also dont get the big thing about resale value. I buy a PC to use till its broke, or needs upgrading. The car analogy doesn't really fit, BMWs are probably more powerful, costly, and efficient than a mondeo, but Macs are more expensive for like for like hardware that does the same thing. The issue is software and PC dont mean windows.