Any mac diehards starting to become a bit concerned with the prices?

Age old argument isn't it - it's difficult to compare Apples to apples. Personally I think the prices are becoming a little ridiculous - I mean look at the new Mini :eek: For the technology it's pricey.

Consumer laptops are pricey too - but it's a perception of price that's perfectly acceptable to a lot of consumers. Price/Value are a weird combination to try and value as a whole.

If I look at the laptop I use for work for example:

MBP i7 2.66Ghz/8Gb RAM/128Gb SSD/640GB SATA

How much is that? Probably getting on for 3k. I'm sure I could find a traditional Windows laptop for far less with a similar spec - that's the price bit. The value bit to me is that I know what I can do with the kit, it's reliable, consistent and just works. The value for me comes in lessening risk if that makes sense.

There's a simple argument for people who say Apple stuff is too expensive - don't buy it. People value the price of things as a whole combination of factors - if your value means the units aren't worth your money, then buy something else :confused:
 
bigredshark said:
When I buy a laptop I'm mindful of the fact that I will use it almost every day for the next two to three years? Is it worth paying extra money for a machine that when I use it two years later I still think 'god, this is a lovely piece of kit'? Easily in my view.
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I agree completely. Absolute value for money of the hardware is pretty far down the list of considerations for something I'm going to spent countless hours using over a period of years.

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On topic, I don't care about any of Apple's computers except the MacBook Pro, and I already have one.
 
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I think the way the industry has progressed has made us all forget what really matters on an computer.

The software. And that is how i justify the cost of /most/ Apple computers. Their operating system is far beyond Windows, and while i love my linux - i do need a solid, supported and well designed desktop operating system too.

The software is the most important part of a computer. I have a great PC (sig), great hardware, two great monitors, great mouse and keyboard.. yet i'm on my Macbook pro (sig) which is less powerful and more restrictive in hardware, but is much nicer to use.
 
MacRS4 said:
Age old argument isn't it - it's difficult to compare Apples to apples. Personally I think the prices are becoming a little ridiculous - I mean look at the new Mini :eek: For the technology it's pricey.
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It is exactly the problem, it's pricey compared to, say, a Dell Zino, but positively cheap compared to a Hush media center box. All have very similar specs but range in price from £300 to £1200

What's good value? Depends what you're looking for, the mini is expensive for me at the moment, for £450-500 I'd have grabbed one as extra machine for my office so I could leave it running itunes and skype on another screen. £650 is a bit much for that...
 
Niir said:
p.s. windows actually changed/added options in the BIOS which were removed when id reformated with ubuntu, some boot boosters which stopped it checking for other boot devices i.e. usb stick. Ive never seen an OS add/affect the bios before lol
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i smell bs lies there mate, the bios is more for hardware control, not software
 
with windows the option was there, without windows the option wasnt.

why would i make something so silly up lol?

if anything all it does is strengthen the mac vs pc debate, since windows is so bloated compared to the os x it needs tupid bios mods to run acceptably.

however it may have been an asus mod to the bios which was removed when i formated...however it was still related to software put on the netbook. Also still a mod put there because windows runs so badly!

edit: im fully aware of what a bios is for thanks lol
 
I remember a couple of years ago (I think 2008) I was going to buy a 2.8GHz Octo Core Mac Pro and with upgraded graphics, the Wireless Keyboard, Wireless Mighty Mouse and Airport Extreme it was going to cost £1650 (with HE discount). Now, the base Mac Pro without upgraded graphics is £1750 with HE discount. It's ridiculous and while it continues, I will be buying second hand so Apple won't be getting my money.
 
I fully agree with the sentiment in this thread, being someone who has to buy macs more frequently than the average since I run a design company, the hike in prices is a bit of a smack in the balls...

I suppose on the other hand I have less to moan about since I get the VAT off but still, value for money they certainly aren't... I think the recent mac mini pricing especially takes the mick.

But the alternative sends a nasty feeling up my spine :(:D
 
I do agree with most that the Mac Mini price is OTT but the OP compared it to the base iMac.

2.4GHz Mac Mini with Magic Mouse and Wireless Keyboard is £761 while the 3GHz 21.5" iMac is £969 so £208 difference, however, you do have the freedom to choose which display you want and which size.

The reason I wouldn't go for the iMac (personally) is the 21.5" is too small and I worry that the 27" may be too big. As a web developer, I have a 24" Dell monitor and it's sufficient. I also have a 17" IBM to monitor my emails but rarely use it. As such, I think the Mac Mini is a great machine (but I do agree the price is ridiculous).
 
the prices really haven't changed. A top end Powerbook in 2001 cost me £3000. A top end MBP now would cost me the same. At least unlike most laptop brands, the powerbook is still going strong!
 
nah not botherd tbh, I just bought my Second Imac , this time I went for the I7 with 8 gigs ram and 2 TB Hard disk, I gave the vanilla I5 to my GF.
 
The new mac mini is overpriced considering its 3 year old cpu! increasing the price would have been fine if it had an i3 in it lol
 
regarding the mac mini the design & development of this product most of took hundreds and hundreds of man hours to design & get right, which all needs to be payed for.

yes the mac mini is expensive for its hardware, but because its new you got pay for its design & time to create it more.

when the speed bump arrives in 6 months time it will be more reasonably priced because the staff hours will be paid for.

same happened with the Mac pro 2009 model had to be redesigned, for the new xeons which takes lot of money. soon we will see more reasonable prices.

if you look at all the reasonable products from apple - Imac - ipod touch

they havent been updated in regards to design for a while so now there more reasonable
 
smogsy said:
same happened with the Mac pro 2009 model had to be redesigned, for the new xeons which takes lot of money. soon we will see more reasonable prices.
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You mean they managed to go from a dual CPU Xeon machine to a single CPU Nahalem Xeon machine, adding what, £150 in the process? Sorry, I don't buy recouping design costs. Not only have they been using the same chassis for eons (long time, not a typoed cpu :p), the motherboard uses the same mountings, airflow would have been nion identical. They're swapping out the CPU, it's not a whole new computer. They're not paying for the development of the components anymore.

They're charging it because they have entire industries over a barrel with no other option. The only time we'll see more reasonable prices with Mac Pro's is when people stop buying them.

Edit: Regarding iMacs, the new ones would have required more of a redesign than the Mac Pro's. They're new screens in a completely new chassis! More work than putting a Nahalem Xeon in the Mac Pro I'm guessing.
 
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the mini has gone up twice in price since its market debut. usually 100 pounds a time. I can not see how a move to years old technoloy in the core 2 chip etc justifys 150 hike from the model before.
 
smogsy said:
regarding the mac mini the design & development of this product most of took hundreds and hundreds of man hours to design & get right, which all needs to be payed for.

yes the mac mini is expensive for its hardware, but because its new you got pay for its design & time to create it more.

when the speed bump arrives in 6 months time it will be more reasonably priced because the staff hours will be paid for.
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Steady on, it's a simple low end computer, not a spacecraft. The margins will still be huge from day 1.
 
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