Apple Tax and increasing costs question - a theory on its limits

Soldato
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another issue with costs is the pound being so weak at the moment, no idea how it would work but i assume the phones are imported.

This has been said multiple times but it doesn't matter how strong or weak the £ is as we are comparing like for like products using the current exchange rate. There is a massive anti-USA Apple tax and it doesn't just effect the UK.
 
Soldato
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I think you're looking at the situation solely within the UK, which probably isnt the target customer for the iPhone X anyways.

However, in the Asian countries, particularly China, people will drop the cash for the iPhone X in a heartbeat.
 
Caporegime
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I'm not really sure - I don't think I'm particularly price sensitive with this stuff, I like to seek value generally but not at the expense of my own experience as a user. For example I bought at Dell XPS at the beginning of the year, I wanted a slim/lightweight laptop and that seemed like good value and the model I used in the show was decent - ended up sending it back within a day of using it, just couldn't stand windows 10 (on a laptop at least) and the track pad wasn't all that great either compared to a Mac. Got the laters MacBook Pro instead, which cost significantly more but was worth it given how much time I spend using the thing.
 
Soldato
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I'm not really sure - I don't think I'm particularly price sensitive with this stuff, I like to seek value generally but not at the expense of my own experience as a user. For example I bought at Dell XPS at the beginning of the year, I wanted a slim/lightweight laptop and that seemed like good value and the model I used in the show was decent - ended up sending it back within a day of using it, just couldn't stand windows 10 (on a laptop at least) and the track pad wasn't all that great either compared to a Mac. Got the laters MacBook Pro instead, which cost significantly more but was worth it given how much time I spend using the thing.

My sentiments exactly. I've been looking at the XPS15 and Asus Zenbook Pro as a replacement to my 2014 MBP but I just know I would end up being disappointed with both. Using Windows 10 on my MBP highlights just how good MacOS is in comparison. The new MBP might cost considerably more than either of the above two options but would definitely offer a lot better value.
 
Soldato
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I'm not really sure - I don't think I'm particularly price sensitive with this stuff, I like to seek value generally but not at the expense of my own experience as a user. For example I bought at Dell XPS at the beginning of the year, I wanted a slim/lightweight laptop and that seemed like good value and the model I used in the show was decent - ended up sending it back within a day of using it, just couldn't stand windows 10 (on a laptop at least) and the track pad wasn't all that great either compared to a Mac. Got the laters MacBook Pro instead, which cost significantly more but was worth it given how much time I spend using the thing.

Pretty much how I feel. I’m invested into the Apple ecosystem, and I’m prepared to pay a premium for that as well as for the products. That aside though, I’ll still only pay what I think the product is worth. Sitting on an iPhone 7+ for the current price difference, and I don’t like the concept of the iPhone X enough to buy - I think is is an unfinished product without Touch ID.

Same with the new MacBook Pro. The touchbar is silly, as are the lack of ports. I’d upgrade for the little additional performance it gives and weight saving, but not at a cost.

The current Apple range is good, but as an existing owner it isn’t good enough to upgrade at the current price points for me at least.
 
Soldato
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I’ve never understood why so many companies are so rubbish at business. What’s with the business model of aiming to make no money?

I don't think it's ever the aim but most manufacturers get into a race to the bottom. Unless you're one of a small group of manufacturers, what's your unique selling point? You're using the same OS and same silicon as all of your competitors. One of the few things left to compete on is price.

And that's why I'm happy to pay a premium for Apple products. I'm paying for stability. I know I'll get years of software updates, I know I'll be able to take my phone to be serviced if needs be and I know that the store I bought a film from isn't going to shut down.
 
Soldato
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I'm not really sure - I don't think I'm particularly price sensitive with this stuff, I like to seek value generally but not at the expense of my own experience as a user. For example I bought at Dell XPS at the beginning of the year, I wanted a slim/lightweight laptop and that seemed like good value and the model I used in the show was decent - ended up sending it back within a day of using it, just couldn't stand windows 10 (on a laptop at least) and the track pad wasn't all that great either compared to a Mac. Got the laters MacBook Pro instead, which cost significantly more but was worth it given how much time I spend using the thing.

Strange you and the other guy see OSX as worth £1000, what do you guys do on your laptops? I'm a photographer and videographer so apple is underpowered regardless of os, Adobe is the same on OSX or Windows.
 
Caporegime
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Strange you and the other guy see OSX as worth £1000, what do you guys do on your laptops? I'm a photographer and videographer so apple is underpowered regardless of os, Adobe is the same on OSX or Windows.

I didn't say OSX is worth 1000, I do prefer OSX, I also prefer the MacBook Pro itself to the XPS
 
Soldato
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I didn't say OSX is worth 1000, I do prefer OSX, I also prefer the MacBook Pro itself to the XPS

Yeah I meant your really paying £1000 more for Apple these days for same or worse specs.

But what do you do on your machine? If it's jus general use ok pay for looks, build etc, but if u need horsepower you gotta look else where really.
 
Caporegime
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Yeah I meant your really paying £1000 more for Apple these days for same or worse specs.

But what do you do on your machine? If it's jus general use ok pay for looks, build etc, but if u need horsepower you gotta look else where really.

well AFAIK it was slightly better specs, better graphics/processor etc.. than the XPS (though smaller HD I had a 1TB SSD with the dell I sent back and just went for half that with the MacBook Pro, though I believe the Mac's SSD may be better - not that that matters too much)

the actual laptop itself, the trackpad etc.. are superior, not really fussed about a touch screen (or the apple touch pad for that matter even though I selected a model with it)

windows 10 was/is horrible compared to OSX

also for some coding stuff windows just isn't usable (like when you want to install TensorFlow - that may have improved now but it was a no go back in Jan), would need to dual boot with linux (or use an VM) whereas it is pain free with the Mac... I did go through the faff of installing linux though there was then additional faff with the screen resolution - fortunately Mac has had that solved for a while, linux distros are still a bit hit and miss with hi def displays (or at least seemed to be back in Jan)

if I need extra horsepower I've got amazon, I just wanted a high end laptop that would be nice to use (because I use it a lot) easy to carry around and not much hassle, I wasn't going to be a fan boy about it and gave a windows laptop shot (I'd always had dell business laptops at work and they've generally been solid) but it just wasn't worth it for me, it was extra hassle and faffing around from day one at a time when I didn't have time to waste faffing around... the Mac on the other hand worked seamlessly - that alone is worth more than £1000
 
Soldato
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Yeah I meant your really paying £1000 more for Apple these days for same or worse specs.

But what do you do on your machine? If it's jus general use ok pay for looks, build etc, but if u need horsepower you gotta look else where really.

Apple product was never about horsepower, if you want pure price:horsepower ratio, look elsewhere
 
Soldato
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well AFAIK it was slightly better specs, better graphics/processor etc.. than the XPS (though smaller HD I had a 1TB SSD with the dell I sent back and just went for half that with the MacBook Pro, though I believe the Mac's SSD may be better - not that that matters too much)

the actual laptop itself, the trackpad etc.. are superior, not really fussed about a touch screen (or the apple touch pad for that matter even though I selected a model with it)

windows 10 was/is horrible compared to OSX

also for some coding stuff windows just isn't usable (like when you want to install TensorFlow - that may have improved now but it was a no go back in Jan), would need to dual boot with linux (or use an VM) whereas it is pain free with the Mac... I did go through the faff of installing linux though there was then additional faff with the screen resolution - fortunately Mac has had that solved for a while, linux distros are still a bit hit and miss with hi def displays (or at least seemed to be back in Jan)

if I need extra horsepower I've got amazon, I just wanted a high end laptop that would be nice to use (because I use it a lot) easy to carry around and not much hassle, I wasn't going to be a fan boy about it and gave a windows laptop shot (I'd always had dell business laptops at work and they've generally been solid) but it just wasn't worth it for me, it was extra hassle and faffing around from day one at a time when I didn't have time to waste faffing around... the Mac on the other hand worked seamlessly - that alone is worth more than £1000

Fair enough,id have considered them for similar reasons I suppose pre 2016, but the latest price hike is just beyond insane, even for the build quality, its got out of hand now, they simple are not worth the asking price, but, they will still sell due to the eco system for millions of people. OSX is indeed great, but id look at self build OSX machines now, simply an i7 quad core, with 16gb ram and a 580 graphics chip, for £2500-3000 - utterly absurd, my Ryzen 7 runs rings around it for £800 total system build and 32gb ram.

i7 quad these days is now a mid range chip at best, especially for creation tasks.

YESSSSSS mine's a desktop system, but, still, for the money now, these days, since content creation is a massive booming industry, Apple would need to squeeze an 8 core chip into its laptop, 32gb ram, and charge the same price.

Ryzen 8 core laptops are now available, so it can be done, ryzens power draw is amazing compared to intels quads.
 
Soldato
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my Ryzen 7 runs rings around it for £800 total system build and 32gb ram.

i7 quad these days is now a mid range chip at best, especially for creation tasks.

YESSSSSS mine's a desktop system, but, still, for the money now, these days, since content creation is a massive booming industry, Apple would need to squeeze an 8 core chip into its laptop, 32gb ram, and charge the same price.

Comparing a desktop to a laptop is absurd. Does that £800 include a high resolution monitor, keyboard, webcam, trackpad, etc. for a start?

The limiting factor for me these days is SSD performance and MacBooks Pros always have incredible write/read speeds.
 
Soldato
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Comparing a desktop to a laptop is absurd. Does that £800 include a high resolution monitor, keyboard, webcam, trackpad, etc. for a start?

The limiting factor for me these days is SSD performance and MacBooks Pros always have incredible write/read speeds.

If I threw the price of said monitor etc in, it would still be half the price of the mac.

The ryzen laptops coming out match the spec of my desktop machine and still come in well under 2k, I'd imagine a 4k colour accurate ryzen laptop being 1.75k or less, still not 2.5-3+k

Yeah macs use nvme drives, as do pcs now, you can easily get 3+ gb a sec drives now on anything
 
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