iPads are an enormous profit engine for Apple

[belvdr]

You don't?

No. Remember I said visual appeal. The Mac Pro certainly has cleaner lines and you don't see the DVD drive lines and such, but that's about the only difference.

I actually find the few thousand holes in the front of the Mac Pro to be quite ugly and I always have. And it's just way too much aluminum/silver color. I personally liked the old QuickSilver and B&W G3 myself. Also, you may want to take a look inside of the rest of the lineup before claiming it is inside of all of Apple's hardware, especially the Mini. It's nowhere near clean with the antenna wires and such on top. Granted, it's a piece of engineering, but it's not aesthetically pleasing.

Besides, when I had a tower, I never looked inside unless working on it. I don't think anyone really cares but geeks.

 

[snberk103]

I'd say installing memory in a Mac Pro is actually more difficult than say the Dell computer posted above. You have to remove a riser board and then slot in the memory and put the board back in. In the Dell, you just push the memory into the slot and you are done.

I don't know that particular Dell, but before my Mac Pro days any PC RAM I added involved either snaking my fingers (and the RAM module) through a bunch of wires and ribbons, Or... unplugging some things in order to shift said wires and ribbons aside. I agree the Mac Pro has an extra step, but I can add memory where ever I want, without having to lug the big box there as well. So, by my reasoning the extra step of removing the riser card makes things easier in the long run.

Like I said - OS X is the #1 reason.

Respectfully... I think it's the close integration of OS X and the HW. OS X is nice, and I really like using it.... but I like the uniformity across the HW and form factors.

 

[thekev]

So given the reality of this world-beating cash horde, it seems inevitable that Apple will have the ability to scale up Mac production to take over the entire PC market within 5-7 years. I can see a majority of smartphones being iPhones and they already own the tablet & music player lock, stock and barrel. Imagine a world in 2017 where 80% of any electronics made and sold are Apple.

You made a whole troll thread out of a completely obvious statement. Congratulations on that .

 

[rhett7660]

Is that the same world where all restaurants are Taco Bell, and you use three shells instead of handfuls of wadded paper?

You mean to tell me Taco Bell didn't win the fast food wars!!!!?!?! Lol

 

[BaldiMac]

They could. But more likely they'll release marginally updated products and horde the profits

Not necessarily you in particular, but do people that say stuff like this figuratively think that an anthropomorphic "Apple" sits around staring at $80 billion in gold coins in a Cupertino cavern? This money is actually invested in the world economy. It isn't isolated and useless.

Sorry, just something that keeps coming up lately.

 

[boss.king]

Not necessarily you in particular, but do people that say stuff like this figuratively think that an anthropomorphic "Apple" sits around staring at $80 billion in gold coins in a Cupertino cavern? This money is actually invested in the world economy. It isn't isolated and useless.

Sorry, just something that keeps coming up lately.

No, I don't think an apple sits around staring at money in a cave. When I say horde, I mean retain rather than investing it back into R&D. I know obviously some of it does go back but not nearly as much as I feel should be put into it.

Of course this is just my opinion.

 

[BaldiMac]

No, I don't think an apple sits around staring at money in a cave. When I say horde, I mean retain rather than investing it back into R&D. I know obviously some of it does go back but not nearly as much as I feel should be put into it.

Of course this is just my opinion.

"Not nearly as much as I feel should be put into it." Based on what? Are you aware of areas where Apple could get a reasonable return on their R&D investment that Apple's leadership is ignoring?

 

[*LTD*]

Not necessarily you in particular, but do people that say stuff like this figuratively think that an anthropomorphic "Apple" sits around staring at $80 billion in gold coins in a Cupertino cavern?

Actually, Forstall looks a bit like he does.

 

[wonderspark]

No. Remember I said visual appeal. The Mac Pro certainly has cleaner lines and you don't see the DVD drive lines and such, but that's about the only difference.

I actually find the few thousand holes in the front of the Mac Pro to be quite ugly and I always have. And it's just way too much aluminum/silver color. I personally liked the old QuickSilver and B&W G3 myself. Also, you may want to take a look inside of the rest of the lineup before claiming it is inside of all of Apple's hardware, especially the Mini. It's nowhere near clean with the antenna wires and such on top. Granted, it's a piece of engineering, but it's not aesthetically pleasing.

Besides, when I had a tower, I never looked inside unless working on it. I don't think anyone really cares but geeks.

I chose my Mac Pro on a whim, really. Not much more than a coin-flip and some "what would you buy" questions from my techie friends. I normally build my own PC workstations, but this time I had some extra cash and less time than usual. A couple people said they preferred the UI of OSX over Windows, but that was about it. As it turns out, I think OSX is pretty cool.

Anyway, it wasn't quality or the OS that made me choose Mac. It was just trying something different that I hoped would work out ok.

 

[smoledman]

I chose my Mac Pro on a whim, really. Not much more than a coin-flip and some "what would you buy" questions from my techie friends. I normally build my own PC workstations, but this time I had some extra cash and less time than usual. A couple people said they preferred the UI of OSX over Windows, but that was about it. As it turns out, I think OSX is pretty cool.

Anyway, it wasn't quality or the OS that made me choose Mac. It was just trying something different that I hoped would work out ok.

Do you do pro content creation like video editing or 3-D modeling?

 

[wonderspark]

Do you do pro content creation like video editing or 3-D modeling?

Yes, video production. Depending on the job, it could be complete production from script to screen, or just pieces of the process. I do big and small clients.

 

[smoledman]

Yes, video production. Depending on the job, it could be complete production from script to screen, or just pieces of the process. I do big and small clients.

Couldn't you have done it on a PC workstation just as well?

 

[wonderspark]

Maybe I shouldn't leave that last bit hanging like that...

The biggest client so far has been Microsoft, Bing Maps project. Next biggest, Dell, then maybe eBay? One gave me a hard time / made fun of me when they saw me using their competition. They're good sports, all of them. I'm sure there are some loonies like you see in this thread that are blind to anything outside their "home team," but I haven't met them yet.

----------

Couldn't you have done it on a PC workstation just as well?

Absolutely, and that was the point. I chose Apple, and while I don't regret it, it turns out it would have been cheaper to go PC based on GPU upgrade choice and cost alone. If it had been a PC, I would have had more options for the recent upgrading I did, and considerably less money as well.

----------

Incidentally, my über-tech buddy built a PC that runs OSX into a Pelican case, and he edits RED in real-time in the field off a set generator. The lid of the Pelican case houses a sweet monitor. It's more powerful than a 12-core Mac Pro, dual-boots OSX and Win7 and cost a lot less. It's amazing.

 

[Eidorian]

Looks pretty nice inside too:

The TJ-11 and Cosmos II would probably send it home crying.

I'm sure there are some loonies like you see in this thread that are blind to anything outside their "home team,"...

Quite the understatement but this is probably not the best place for meta.

 

[*LTD*]

The TJ-11 and Cosmos II would probably send it home crying.

Yikes.

Proof that there really is no accounting for taste.

 

[roadbloc]

Yikes.

Proof that there really is no accounting for taste.

Taste is a personal thing. It differs from person to person. Whereas Fashion does have some influence on people's tastes, fashion is constantly changing. The bitten apple logo will not be in fashion forever.

 

[Eidorian]

Yikes.

Proof that there really is no accounting for taste.

It is alright. You are just not used to spending that much money on a computer case.

 

[boss.king]

"Not nearly as much as I feel should be put into it." Based on what? Are you aware of areas where Apple could get a reasonable return on their R&D investment that Apple's leadership is ignoring?

Dude you're making a mountain out of a mole hill (and before you ask, no, I don't think you're actually building a mountain ). Based on how much money they have accumulated I think it's a fair assumption that they could afford to invest a bit more in developing things like sturdier glass for the back of the iPhone or a better form of battery tech. These may not be wildly profitable but they would be greatly appreciated by the consumer.

 

[gnasher729]

It's estimated Apple has sold 55 million iPads to date. Given the average BOM vs the average selling price, it's safe to assume they've made in the range of $22-$25 billion EBITA on this product segment alone in just 22 months.

If you base this on BOM vs. selling price, then you are absolutely clueless.

BOM pays for a box full of parts somewhere in China.
Selling price has to pay for a lot, lot more.

Selling price has to pay for the person who buys an iPad and returns it the next day, so the money has to be refunded, the item has to be checked, repackaged, and sold as refurbished at a used price.

Selling price has to pay for all support and for warranty repairs, including repairs due to European consumer protection laws.

Selling price pays for development. Selling price pays for advertisement. Selling price pays for the stores and their employees.

Have you seen the Mac Pro? A bit dated, don't you think? Granted, the inside is nice, but you're not looking at the inside all day. I don't see any difference in visual appeal between the Dell model you posted and the Mac Pro.

You can't see any difference? I can.

 

[belvdr]

You can't see any difference? I can.

I already answered that question, so why ask again? They both are large computer boxes; neither are visually appealing to me.

 

[mrsir2009]

Not as much as the iPhone

 

[BaldiMac]

Dude you're making a mountain out of a mole hill (and before you ask, no, I don't think you're actually building a mountain ).

Like I said, it's not just you. I decided to comment because your unsupported argument is repeated over and over as fact.

Based on how much money they have accumulated I think it's a fair assumption that they could afford to invest a bit more in developing things like sturdier glass for the back of the iPhone or a better form of battery tech. These may not be wildly profitable but they would be greatly appreciated by the consumer.

What makes you think that they are not investing in those things with the $80 billion? Not everything needs to be brought in house. Their "cash" isn't just sitting around doing nothing.

 

[snberk103]

...t they could afford to invest a bit more in developing things like sturdier glass for the back of the iPhone or a better form of battery tech. These may not be wildly profitable but they would be greatly appreciated by the consumer.

Actually, technically speaking - it's Corning that would be investing in developing the glass, if I understand correctly.... and the glass being used is already bloody near a miracle. It is very very thin, yet tough enough to take a lot of abuse even if it's not quite indestructible. Plus... it's glass. Which makes it both scratch resistant and transparent. And it's economical to produce.

Until transparent aluminium is brought to market - and they've have to solve the scratching issue first - I think the glass being used on the back of the iPhone is pretty amazing.

 

[smoledman]

Apple doesn't owe anything to anybody. Also this idea that their cash pile is sitting in some vault where Tim Cook is swimming through the cash like Scrooge McDuck

is absurd. Most of the cash is in short-term investments and some of it is long-term investments. It means the cash is circulating in the global economy , probably creating jobs and improving peoples' lives just like all the other $2 trillion in corporate cash. It's just because Apple has the #1 pile they get all the media attention. If you add up MSFT + GOOG they have way more cash.