I purchased a $1500AU macbook back in 2009 which has 4gb of ram, 320gb HDD and a 2.4GHz CPU. Now for around $200 more I can get a Macbook with similar specs but slightly faster. Anyone else find that depressing???
No the reason your prices are so high is due to your currency, it's as simple as that.
That said, tech costs more than it did in 2009. And if you do pay a bit more, you will see a colossal performance increase from your current Mac.
I agree that the MacBook Pro you're referring to - the one they sell for $1699AU - should NOT be available to consumers. It is an outright rip off. In the UK it's the £899 model - non-retina, non-SSD, last updated over 3 years ago (ie. 2012 model).
That said, tech costs more than it did in 2009. And if you do pay a bit more, you will see a colossal performance increase from your current Mac.
Even the new MacBook (not Pro) will outperform your current MacBook - especially at general tasks - and it doesn't have a single fan, it's a fraction of the size and weight and it offers a wildly better 'retina' screen.
I believe that is still today, the best selling MacBook. That is why Apple is still selling it today. Look at the BestBuy website for that MBP, they get about 10+ review on that thing per day by people buying it. I read that I think on Cult of Mac how it is still a top seller.I can't believe people still buy that thing. If you've already got one then sure, throw in a SSD and max out the RAM to get a semi-decent performer...but to buy one new?