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Apple gone too far with new pricing?

redgaz26 said:
and what about the price of RAM:confused::confused::confused::confused:


£880:cool::eek:
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I noticed that as well when looking at the 24" iMac with 4GB. To upgrade to 8GB, it was ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS (US). I know Apple's RAM has usually been more expensive, but give me a break. Too bad you can't order a model without any RAM and just get some from Crucial.

I think the new pricing seems pretty fair, although I wish the Mac Mini had been reduced. I'd almost like to get one to hook up to my HDTV, but then I realize for $500 or $600 I could get a bitchin' audio system with about 18 HDMI inputs.
 
All about value rather than price to me. I'm in the UK, and wouldn't disagree we were spoiled for the past few months as Apple didn't do anything when exchange rates were going against the dollar.

However, given the economic climate, it's a helluva jump for us. I wanted to see the iMacs before I bought (was maybe even toying with a MacPro, price willing - but not today!).

On the MacPro, it's slightly different as Nehalem has to be taken into account too. But it's my judgement that I won't get sufficient value out of the increased price (entry level MacPro, 4 core - yesterday £1429, today £1899)

It's even more marginal in the iMacs. After seeing the launches today I've just bought a previous gen 3.06 with a 1TB hard drive for £1,509. 4GB of RAM on order from Crucial - £48, so total £1,557.

Equivalent in the new line up - £1,799 (albeit with DDR3 RAM and a slightly better graphics card). There's no way I could justify about £250 for that - where's the value?

And that's what worries me here - in the middle of a recession, adding an even bigger price premium doesn't seem smart.

And remember - it's Apple that decides to peg its pricing to the dollar. They could tie it closer to manufacturing countries, but they don't. I'd expect the margins to widen in the next quarter, as although you're paying the same in the US, Apple's dollars are buying more.

To be frank, seeing 20/30/40 per cent increases today (Airport Extreme card - was £30, now £40) seems dangerously counterproductive. The desktop Macs were exceptional value, but now they're not looking like good value at all.
 
I'm quite surprised at Apple's moves. Instead of making a cheaper iMac, which would appeal to most customers. They have instead increased the price of the base model. The only good move was having a 24-inch model for $1699. It's more affordable then before for most people.

For me personally it's not a big deal to save a few bucks if I'm not getting a premium machine.

I'm going to wait a few days and probably order a new 24-inch once we get some benchmarks. I would've loved to see a new 30-incher from Apple. :)

It's still surprising to see Apple bump up their prices on almost every product in this recession we're going through. e.g. AirPort Express was $99, now $109.
 
ClaphamChris said:
I should clarify - exceptional value for a Mac.

Now they're poor value, even for a Mac.
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They seem more "expensive" than they are in comparison. PC makers often cut corners inside where most people will never notice. Bluetooth is standard on Macs but optional on most PCs. I don't think all PCs come with FireWire (especially 800), yet it's on most (if not all) Macs now. The quality of logic boards in Macs is probably better than most budget PCs. When I built my own PCs, the average Joe the Plumber couldn't tell the difference between the $40 and the $150 one with the same processor. I also think all of the Macs use mostly aluminum, while budget PCs use a lot more plastic.

If you think these things don't matter much, do some research on Packard Bell ::shudders::. You get what you pay for.
 
I think that something to bear in mind is that a new mac comes with much better OS than the rival windows machines and includes iLife which is worth quite a bit of pennies on it's own.

The apple brand has always charged more than similar spec to rivals by quite a bit, justifying it because of quality, service and reliability. I think that you get what you pay for, and that Apple might be going for a little more exclusivity on the brand, just because they can.

They don't want every tom, dick and harry to have a mac just because they're the cheapest computer out there. They want people who value their time, their appearance and not only their wallet.

That's my 2 cents anyway.
 
Well its quite simple for me..

was going to buy an iMac.. had the money set aside.

Now no longer going to buy. I feel that the cost increase in the UK for the kind of computer on offer is so outrageous that Im having a problem thinking of words to describe it.

As others have also pointed out.. the kind of spec you could get from Dell for £1500 is 10x better than an iMac's spec. And Dell are reducing prices in the UK... not increasing them.. For this money I can get a top end PC with core i7 etc

Apple has now officially priced me out of the market :(

.. and I earn a very good wage in the UK.. but I can also recognise when Im being ripped off. A dark day indeed.
 
Michael CM1 said:
They seem more "expensive" than they are in comparison. PC makers often cut corners inside where most people will never notice. Bluetooth is standard on Macs but optional on most PCs. I don't think all PCs come with FireWire (especially 800), yet it's on most (if not all) Macs now. The quality of logic boards in Macs is probably better than most budget PCs. When I built my own PCs, the average Joe the Plumber couldn't tell the difference between the $40 and the $150 one with the same processor. I also think all of the Macs use mostly aluminum, while budget PCs use a lot more plastic.

If you think these things don't matter much, do some research on Packard Bell ::shudders::. You get what you pay for.
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Good points - agree with them all. I've worked on Macs for 20 years, owned them for 12 and everything you say rings true. Never bought a PC - and would really rather not.

I haven't blinked an eyelid at Mac pricing in the past decade - always managed to find something that gives me what I want at a price I'm prepared to pay. But today - not so much.

I suppose the perceived value is now a little less than the price. I've bought the previous gen 3.06 today as mentioned upthread - I think that's the perfect blend of price and value for me. What the new models are going for makes me feel I'm overpaying, quite significantly too.

It's kind of like I'll buy a BMW because of the build quality, but all of a sudden BMW pricing has gone up to Porsche levels and leaving me behind. (Maybe not the greatest analogy - don't know that much about cars!)

I'm sitting here on my soon-to-be-retired 20" CoreDuo iMac (early 2006). It was top of the iMac matrix at the time and cost me £1,199. Top of the iMac matrix in the UK is now £1,799 - that's a 30 per cent increase, and a £250 increase overnight, as it were. Just stretching my price/value calculation a little too far. And I suspect I won't be alone.

ETA - just looked at Low End Mac, and the 20" CoreDuo was $1699, the top iMac today is $2,199. So a $500 dollar increase in the top of the line iMac over three years as against a £600 increase in the UK - about $840 at today's exchange rate. It's that extra $340 that bugs me really, and is turning me off.
 
ClaphamChris said:
Good points - agree with them all. I've worked on Macs for 20 years, owned them for 12 and everything you say rings true. Never bought a PC - and would really rather not.

I haven't blinked an eyelid at Mac pricing in the past decade - always managed to find something that gives me what I want at a price I'm prepared to pay. But today - not so much.

I suppose the perceived value is now a little less than the price. I've bought the previous gen 3.06 today as mentioned upthread - I think that's the perfect blend of price and value for me. What the new models are going for makes me feel I'm overpaying, quite significantly too.

It's kind of like I'll buy a BMW because of the build quality, but all of a sudden BMW pricing has gone up to Porsche levels and leaving me behind. (Maybe not the greatest analogy - don't know that much about cars!)

I'm sitting here on my soon-to-be-retired 20" CoreDuo iMac (early 2006). It was top of the iMac matrix at the time and cost me £1,199. Top of the iMac matrix in the UK is now £1,799 - that's a 30 per cent increase, and a £250 increase overnight, as it were. Just stretching my price/value calculation a little too far. And I suspect I won't be alone.
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I understand your concerns from a consumer point of view, and I agree with them.

I'm trying to wrap my head around the situation from Apple's point of view. They are actually selling the top end iMac for about the same price as they did when the last model was released. However, you are purchasing the new iMac for 30% more than the last one. The difference is in the exchange rate.

Obviously, Apple can't eat a 30% decrease in the revenue that it receives from the sale of an iMac just because the pound is losing value. That's more than their average profit margin. I guess they could try and split the difference to some extent, but Apple's stock value is very much tied to its margins.

But others are saying that Dell is managing to decrease consumer prices in the UK for the same relative model when they have much lower profit margins. I must be missing something, because I don't see how this situation is possible.

Can anyone explain?
 
redgaz26 said:
and what about the price of RAM:confused::confused::confused::confused:


£880:cool::eek:
Click to expand...

how is that possible??? can someone explain this to me? 880 pounds for 4 gig of ram. i thought that was a typo but the US site has $1000 for the same thing. i am totally lost, i can buy ram for 50 dollars, what's the difference here?
 
I know it's nothing new that hasn't been said about the people that populate these forums, but god you all are an entitled acting bunch of whiners.

As was said earlier in this thread, the price has not gone up. At all. The exchange rate has changed. The price for those of us in the US is the same as it was yesterday. For those of you in the UK, yesterday's pricing was simply Apple not yet adjusting to the change in exchange rates. So while you all were receiving an excellent deal because of that, did you hear those of us in the US whining and complaining?

Forgive me if I'm not exactly crying a river for your "plight." Your prices are the exact same, if not slightly better still then they are in the US. You are simply paying more because of the decreasing strength of your currency. You except Apple to eat those costs because your currency is no longer worth as much as it was previously?
 
shadax said:
Long time lurker. I signed up because I don't understand how you find this unfair. In the US, the price of the entry-level iMac is $1,199. I live in California where sales tax is 7.75%. That means that if I went to my local Apple store I would drop $1291.92 total. You say that it is now 949 pounds for the same system. Well from what I have heard that includes VAT...Correct me if I'm wrong, but according to Wikipedia, it is currently 15% (UK). That means without VAT it would be 806.65 pounds. NOW- According to x-rates.com, the current exchange rate is $1.41/pound. Using that rate to convert to dollars it would be $1137 without VAT and $1338 with VAT. As you can see, that is almost identical in dollar value to what I would pay. I don't understand your argument. I was in the UK last year when withdrawing 250 pounds cost me $500. Of course, that sucked for me. Now you cry foul when the shoe is on the other foot?

Kris

P.S. Like I said, I grabbed VAT and exchange rate information from good sources, but feel free to correct me.
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Welcome. We're happy to have you. Great post.
 
I was waiting for the mac mini update to get one to put under the tv - that's not happening now. The extra hundred euros has put me off.

The old mini was overpriced - many of you seem to forget that the price has been maintained for a long time on outdated specs. The update only brought it up to being worth what it used to cost, not the extra that has been tagged on.
 
ValientHimself said:
Your prices are the exact same...
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UK users do understand the exchange rate, but the prices are not the same relative to the purchasers income in the local market. Increasing the base level pricing of models when many salaries are not just being frozen but reduced in the UK moves a Mac out of reach of many people who might have been thinking about leaving Windows behind eg instead of 4 weeks pay an entry model is now 5 weeks pay.

Maybe we just need to be thankful for the 'good' value that we had for a while! For myself, I'll probably set my MacBook up with an external monitor for photo editing and hang on in there to see what happens with the next iMac revision.
 
lewchenko said:
Well its quite simple for me..

was going to buy an iMac.. had the money set aside.

Now no longer going to buy. I feel that the cost increase in the UK for the kind of computer on offer is so outrageous that Im having a problem thinking of words to describe it.

As others have also pointed out.. the kind of spec you could get from Dell for £1500 is 10x better than an iMac's spec. And Dell are reducing prices in the UK... not increasing them.. For this money I can get a top end PC with core i7 etc

Apple has now officially priced me out of the market :(

.. and I earn a very good wage in the UK.. but I can also recognise when Im being ripped off. A dark day indeed.
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You don't NEED to buy the latest and best, why not go for a refurbished or a used one?

The only reason Dell are reducing prices is because they aren't getting enough sales and operate on a totally different business model i.e. low cost - or most of the time. Apple, are a premium brand and can charge pretty much what they like as they have no legal competition (in terms of OS).
 
Jaunty said:
UK users do understand the exchange rate, but the prices are not the same relative to the purchasers income in the local market. Increasing the base level pricing of models when many salaries are not just being frozen but reduced in the UK moves a Mac out of reach of many people who might have been thinking about leaving Windows behind eg instead of 4 weeks pay an entry model is now 5 weeks pay.
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That's the point I was trying to make in a nutshell. I'm not 'whining' about it - and indeed acknowledge the good deal we had in the UK when the exchange rate was the other way on.

But at a time when belts are tightening, jobs are being lost, it doesn't seem wise to raise prices in real terms for little added value.

Just think the iMacs are too expensive in the UK now - not enough bang for the buck, if you'll excuse the mixed metaphors.
 
On another note:

I think the Mac Mini is a pretty solid update. I have a 500GB 2.5" WD Passport that I just got for $75.

Here's my plan when Snow Leopard comes out:

Buy a couple 2 gig ram sticks for cheap ($30-$40)

Use Microsoft Live search cashback thingy when it becomes 25% or more to "buy it now" a low-end Mini. If I can find one that is full price ($600), it'll end up being $450 after rebate. So in the end it'll be about $560 for a kickass computer. Good plan?
 
ClaphamChris said:
It's kind of like I'll buy a BMW because of the build quality, but all of a sudden BMW pricing has gone up to Porsche levels and leaving me behind. (Maybe not the greatest analogy - don't know that much about cars!)
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BMW's are quality on the interior only, not under the hood, not as bad as Range Rover or Land Rover, but close

:)

back to the discussion, you made some great points, i went school originally for computer science, and spent many years working on/building pc's and even though for years i trashed macs its because i just had no idea

then i bought a powerbook g4, and i've never gone back, about to buy my 4th mac, my mac mini

my white coreduo is still going strong, and that's after about 2.5-3 years worth of heavy use now, with no errors, blue screens, or *%)#* fits

could never say that about pcs

you get what you pay for, the experience to me is worth the premium prices

that being said, there are some people that will not be able to afford macs, and for that reason they have the mini, but it would be nice for them to have a very low end imac

then people could bitch about that unless it was $200 :)
 
Well since prices are the same here in the US, its just a not amazing upgrade....in Europe, you might be feeling the pain.


Luckly this just makes me all the happier for not waiting, and I'll live with my older Mini
 
Apple has gone WAY too far with pricing. Today's update was/is an insult to people who know what that hardware really costs.

And their BTO options??? :eek: Someone at Apple is definitely on crack.
 
i'm so glad i picked up the base model last week for £778 - 10% discount and upgraded to 4GB of ram.

For what i use the Imac for this is a nice price... £300 saved on the new cheapest option.

Apple should be offering a cheaper base model if they want to attract new users... nearly a grand for a very nice looking machine but with inferior hardware for the money is not really the way to go.
 
ValientHimself said:
As was said earlier in this thread, the price has not gone up. At all. The exchange rate has changed.
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You know, that argument rings really hollow.

I live in Canada. Last year, when CAD$1 was worth US$1.15, prices of Mac hardware were still higher than US prices, dollar per dollar. In other words, Apple did not drop the prices on new stuff (or they dropped prices by a minimal amount relative to the values of the two dollars) here as our dollar approached par with the US, and then went even higher.

So, currency-at-par prices here were already higher, and now Apple needs to raise prices another 10-15% because our dollar has dropped? Dude... that's oil company pricing.

And, by the way, you can call this "whining" if you like. But each of these whines is Apple moving closer to losing (or in fact actually losing) a customer. If prices are too high, Apple will lose sales, REGARDLESS of the reason for the increases. That's capitalism. You can only sell your product at the price that a market is willing to pay; whether the price is fair doesn't matter... the PERCEIVED fairness of a price matters much more in sales. And I think (and a lot of people think, it seems) that these prices STINK.
 
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