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AnimaLeo

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Sep 2, 2009
250
0
I'm wondering how much price difference there actually is between iMacs and Dells or whatever?

Say for example: the top end i5 (21.5 inch) (without the ram upgrade, I'd do that myself.)
 
Probably about the same, or just a little bit more. This is because the monitor that Apple uses in the iMac is an IPS display, which tend to cost an arm and a leg. If you were to get a normal, $100 monitor, a comparable Dell would cost a few hundred less.

You're also paying for the iMac form factor.

EDIT: I got $1500 for a Dell with a blu-ray drive, 2.1 speaker system, backlit keyboard, a better video card, and the same i5. For $150 more, you can get a touch-screen LCD. The Apple came out to $1700, without the above features.
 
I wondered the same thing. Recently I tried pricing out few components.

Cheapest 27 inch IPS display that I could find is $1099.00

http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/...4&cs=19&c=us&l=en&dgc=SS&cid=27530&lid=627063

Core i5 CPU, 2.8 Ghz is $209.00
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115067

Asus MB is $129.00
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131404

1TB Hard drive, western digital caviar black - $87.00
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...n_digital_caviar_black-_-22-136-284-_-Product


Memory, 4GB about $100.00
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145260

DVD drive, about a $30.

Case, anything decent is about $150.

Add about $100.00 for shipping, but will not count in total since you might find some deals avoiding shipping

Total (still excludes keyboard, mouse, OS, wifi) = 1804.

Things look different if you get a cheap monitor, but having used IPS displays for the past few years, going back to a cheap TN display is not an option.

Therefore, iMac 27 inch is a good value in my opinion.
 
you're right. So whoever came up with a phrase "apple tax", must live in a place where tax rate is negative.
 
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