I love Apple but how do they justify upgrade prices?

Gilbert89

Gilbert89

Gilbert89

Soldato
Joined
24 Jun 2011
Posts
4,978
Location
Sheffield
Really love the quality Apple products don't get me wrong but just looking through the upgrade options on a iMac 2011 to upgrade the system from 4GB of Ram to 8GB there is a price tag of £160 and for 16GB £480. Now on OverclockersUK you can pick up 6GB for £53 and thats rated at 2000mhz.

How do they justify this?

Now another laugh really fancying a SSD for both my MBP and iMac and now as much as I would love to play around with this and do it myself, I really don't fancy voiding the three year warranties I have on both machines. With a PC I would bung it in without a care but now least I am problem free! SSD 256GB £280 and adding that with a 1TB hard drive which is already in the specification costs a total of £360 for the same money the SSD apple supply is not up to scratch with the top of the range SSD's out there.
 
On the MBP both are considered user serviceable parts so you do not have to upgrade through Apple. I'm not sure if the same applies to the iMac.
 
Bare in mind - the imac uses so-dimm (laptop memory).... 6GB for £53 sounds like you're comparing the upgrade price to normal size ram.

They do add an evil premium to upgrades though...
 
Yes that was normal ram but I guess laptop memory will not be anywhere close to the price they charge. And I'm not sure about that one shine. Maybe someone could touch up on that.
 
One of the sticks of RAM in my MBP died recently. Replacing it with 2x4GB was only £45 from a well known RAM manufacturer.
 
The true answer is they really are just ripping you off. As schizo said, Apple know that Apple lovers will pay over-the-odds for the upgrades they need, and Apple exploit that.
 
shine said:
On the MBP both are considered user serviceable parts so you do not have to upgrade through Apple. I'm not sure if the same applies to the iMac.
Click to expand...

The hard disk in an iMac is not a user-replaceable part. On the new Mid 2011 ones it even uses a special type of hard drive due to thermal constraints.

RAM is easy to replace on the iMac and MBP models but a lot of people who buy Apple products aren't 'tech heads' like some of us and so will pay to have it done at build time.

Apple are providing this service, you don't need to take it. Problem? :D
 
They do it because they don't want you to buy upgrades. They want to sell you a standard configuration that they've defined as the best balance of performance/value/margin/availability (not in that order!). They don't want to get into the hassle of customising every computer to the exact specification you want as it automatically introduces additional cost and complexity to the manufacturing, distribution and support model and will erode Apple's margin.

But they do accept a small minority of customers (most likely business or those with high disposable income) will still want to change things and price accordingly.

Given how much money they are making and the margins they have it would seem to be working.....
 
Apple aren't the only vendor to do this. If you've ever priced up high-end Dell hardware, they charge some ludicrous prices like £400 for a 1TB hard drive.
 
they dont want you to upgrade your machine, they want you to buy their pre-manufactured ones that they dont have to individually build and then when it starts to get slow after less time than an upgraded one, they want you to buy the newer model
 
Yes I love Apple goods, but I don't like the Apple ram in particularly, Any ram wouldn't keep me away at night. They know how much people can fetch Ram for and they just charge over the odds, its unjustifiable. I can imagine all people I envy with X amount of money, doing an online order Tick, Tick, Tick, Tick, oh top of the range products the full shebang! and accersories.
 
Ok, I was going to make a proper post announcing I had bought my first Mac (a MacBook Pro 13") however if I may jump in here... I'm guessing from this thread that I can just fire in 'standard' laptop RAM to take it up to 8GB? :D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom