Of course you have to remember this mostly applies to the portable line. It’s true though that basically when it comes to laptops, ALL brands are expensive to begin with (be it Apple or PC manufacturers). So the Apple products shine through in terms of value.
But in the desktop realm, they’re still behind in terms of giving pricing options to the common folk. Especially in the 3rd world countries, their idea of “expensive” starts at about 400USD. If that were the case, the ONLY “desktop” they could consider getting, with a bit more pencil pushing, would be a Mac Mini, which of course could easily be beaten by a PC desktop for the same (or even cheaper) price. And if you look hard enough, you can even get that WITH monitor, keyboard and mouse. But that comparison would be unfair to the mini since it’s really a high-end laptop (in terms of component potential) in a mini-desktop case :)
Take the REAL apple desktops and compare them to what you could build in the PC end, and you have no contest in terms of bang for buck. That is of course if you don’t mind having a considerably “uglier” looking machine ;)
Eh? I was just talking about the hardware potential at a given pricepoint in the DESKTOP realm, not the OS choices (or any software for that matter). We were talking about PRICE right? Not perceived/subjective gratification.
So at a given pricepoint of a DESKTOP configuration, PCs are still better in terms of “bang for buck” in component options.
Compare the Apple Desktops to name-brand desktops and not your bto/cto options. Apple takes pride in keeping their computers function like a blackbox – with the exception of the professional PowerMac/Mac Pro line. The reason is – there are not many folks who tinker with their computers in the first place.
And factor in the software that is bundled with the desktop and then compare.
Carlo 11:10 AM on May 30, 2006 Permalink
Of course you have to remember this mostly applies to the portable line. It’s true though that basically when it comes to laptops, ALL brands are expensive to begin with (be it Apple or PC manufacturers). So the Apple products shine through in terms of value.
But in the desktop realm, they’re still behind in terms of giving pricing options to the common folk. Especially in the 3rd world countries, their idea of “expensive” starts at about 400USD. If that were the case, the ONLY “desktop” they could consider getting, with a bit more pencil pushing, would be a Mac Mini, which of course could easily be beaten by a PC desktop for the same (or even cheaper) price. And if you look hard enough, you can even get that WITH monitor, keyboard and mouse. But that comparison would be unfair to the mini since it’s really a high-end laptop (in terms of component potential) in a mini-desktop case :)
Take the REAL apple desktops and compare them to what you could build in the PC end, and you have no contest in terms of bang for buck. That is of course if you don’t mind having a considerably “uglier” looking machine ;)
Joel 11:52 AM on May 30, 2006 Permalink
And you have to remember, that Intel Macs can now run Windows :)
Carlo 3:31 PM on May 31, 2006 Permalink
Eh? I was just talking about the hardware potential at a given pricepoint in the DESKTOP realm, not the OS choices (or any software for that matter). We were talking about PRICE right? Not perceived/subjective gratification.
So at a given pricepoint of a DESKTOP configuration, PCs are still better in terms of “bang for buck” in component options.
Rom 10:22 PM on May 31, 2006 Permalink
Compare the Apple Desktops to name-brand desktops and not your bto/cto options. Apple takes pride in keeping their computers function like a blackbox – with the exception of the professional PowerMac/Mac Pro line. The reason is – there are not many folks who tinker with their computers in the first place.
And factor in the software that is bundled with the desktop and then compare.