Apple "seems" like it should be the most profitable computer company... my buying exp

[chuckyeager]

Today I bought a Mini. I was in an Apple store west of Philly, PA....

We all know that Apple products are not inexpensive....

I have been in this store about 20x in my life. It is ALWAYS jam packed. and people are always buying. Today the line to checkout must have been 15 people deep.

I was moved out of line today while an employee was checking on something for me. i was standing right at the checkout area. It took 15 minutes or so to get what I needed. In that short time frame, I am "guesstimating" that this apple store sold $20,000 worth of gear. I saw at least 2 MBP purchased. One of them the guy bought a printer and had about 7 boxes of software with him.

The guy who was behind me in line before I was moved out, was buying a Mac Pro desktop, and he told me he was adding upgrades. I have no idea what they cost, but aren't they upwards of $4K?

And every time I am in this store it seems exactly the same way. packed with people buying. BTW, this was at noon today, and they were already "sold out", so to speak, of genius" appointments for the day.

I knew I should have bought Apple stock way back when it was $16 a share.

 

[rdowns]

Congrats on your new Mini.

My experience is the same. Apple Store by me is always crowded (I'm talking mornings, afternoons and nights) and not with just gawkers, they are buyers.

Oh, and my APPL shares cost basis is $11 and change.

 

[MacMini2009]

When I bought iWork 09 at my local Apple store, it was packed and many people were buying Macbook Pros.

 

[davidjearly]

I agree. It is the same over here too.

I was in the Glasgow, Scotland store two weeks ago buying a new MBP. it took me about 30 minutes to get seen to. I didn't have any questions - I just wanted to make the purchase and leave but they were so busy.

If anything, it proves that Apple is appealing to the right section of the market that are not affected by the current economic circumstances.

 

[chuckyeager]

Congrats on your new Mini.

My experience is the same. Apple Store by me is always crowded (I'm talking mornings, afternoons and nights) and not with just gawkers, they are buyers.

Oh, and my APPL shares cost basis is $11 and change.

Sure, rub it in!

 

[guydude193]

Oh yes, it's always crowded. But I'm always greeted by a Concierge and they always ask me what I'm looking for. I remember going on the Black Friday sale for my MacBook, and I had scheduled a Personal Shopping day (to make sure they didn't run out lol). The guy who helped me was very helpful, and I pretty much just stood there shouting out the stuff I needed to buy. It was like having a personal servant for that morning. I love the Apple store.

 

[gunraidan]

The guy who was behind me in line before I was moved out, was buying a Mac Pro desktop, and he told me he was adding upgrades. I have no idea what they cost, but aren't they upwards of $4K?

$2500 (Quad) and $3300 (Dual Quad).

 

[WickedRabbit]

I'm in California and I frequent an Apple store maybe once a month when I'm in the shopping center, but while the store is heavily packed, very few people are actually buying anything. Majority of the time it's little accessories for their Macbook's or iPhone's, but to this day I can honestly say I have never seen a hardware product beyond an iPhone leave the store. That's not to say hardware isn't going out the door, but I've yet to see anyone buy a Macbook, Mac Pro or any of the computer products.

Mostly, people just go in because they want to goof around with everything for a while. The Apple genius appointments aren't ever really sold out, but they are full from time to time.

The reps seem to agree and have said it's mostly just a lot of foot traffic with people coming in to play with everything like it's a toy store, but not nearly as many people are buying. That would piss me off if I worked at that store.

$2500 (Quad) and $3300 (Dual Quad).

But if you actually want to get "what you should have by default at that price" in the Mac Pro, then here are more accurate prices:

Quad-Core: $3,250.00
- 1TB Hard drive
- 6GB DDR3
- ATI 4870 (stock card is a joke)
- Wi-Fi Card
- Apple Care (obviously)

This is actually being "generous" as well because one could argue that the 2.93 Processor (an additional $500 could also be afforded)

8-Core: $4200
- 12GB Ram
- 1TB HDD
- ATI 4870 (stock card is still a joke)
- Wifi
- Applecare (obviously)

This is yet again being pretty generous because at that price, one could also argue that the 2.26 processor is a bit of a slap in the face and adding the 2.66 or 2.93 is an additional $1400 and $2600 respectively.

Also, these are prices without monitor as well.