Where does Apple get the $1000 price tag for 4GB of memory?

[Tom McMahon]

Random thoughts.....

The 2gig OE ram I removed from my MBP was Samsung....the 4gig OWC ram I replaced it with was also Samsung (with a lifetime warranty).

I'm not buying the "better QCed" logic. If it has a lifetime warranty that shouldn't matter, your replacement is free.

The 2gig OE MBP ram is going in to my wifes Mini. I'm interested to see what the 1gig OE in the Mini is.

A thought, if Apple (or any PC manufacturer) purchases a given quantity of memory chips anually, would it make sense that they would rather sell those chips in BTO machines than as parts?

 

[inkswamp]

I'm not buying the "better QCed" logic. If it has a lifetime warranty that shouldn't matter, your replacement is free.

It's not a matter of replacing. It's a matter of reducing annoyance for the average customer as I outlined above.

If Apple admits to doing this kind of thing with LCDs, I'm not sure why it would be so hard to believe that they do it with RAM or hard drives or other components. I'm still waiting for a satisfactory response as to why Macs have so many fewer hardware failures than PCs made of the "same" parts.

 

[Leon Kowalski]

My 4gb from OWC was $99, current Apple.com site has 4gb for
the iMac listed as an $850 option.

That's $850 for a 3 GB upgrade, or $233.33 per GB -- with a 1 year warranty.
That's TEN TIMES the street-price of top-quality, guaranteed iMac compatible
RAM -- with a lifetime warranty. For example:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820146701

...a fool and her money are soon courted,

LK

 

[Michael CM1]

You get what you pay for. There is cheap and cheaply made RAM and better quality RAM.

I'm not saying what Apple sells is better quality RAM than whatever is sold by others, because I have no proof of that. However, the companies that produce computer components do quality grade them and, who knows, maybe Apple's working behind the scenes to buy lots of the highest graded stuff. They don't try to compete in the low-end market so it wouldn't surprise me if they do that, leaving the lower rated stuff for others. Steve Jobs stated on stage that they do exactly this with LCDs. It's possible they do it with other components as well.

Anecdotally, I've never seen Apple-bought RAM go bad. I *have* seen lots of non-Apple RAM go bad, including the RAM that was installed by MacMall, where I bought my last Mac. Also, Consumer Reports has reported now for many years that Apple has a much lower hardware failure rate (especially when it comes to critical failures--i.e., where the computer is no longer usable) than other PC makers despite them using what is ostensibly the exact same components. Something has to explain that.

That sounds all nice except for the fact that I bought a 2GB stick of Kingston ValueRAM for $40. It's not really "certified" to work in this thing (it hated the stick that came with my MBP) but it does. It may eventually be a piece of trash, but $800 or whatever it costs for 4GB of RAM from Apple is crazy. It would take having to replace this chip 5 or 6 times before I'm even close to justifying Apple's price.

 

[Tom McMahon]

It's not a matter of replacing. It's a matter of reducing annoyance for the average customer as I outlined above.

If Apple admits to doing this kind of thing with LCDs, I'm not sure why it would be so hard to believe that they do it with RAM or hard drives or other components. I'm still waiting for a satisfactory response as to why Macs have so many fewer hardware failures than PCs made of the "same" parts.

Better hardware? Uh, hop on over to the MB/MBP forum and count the threads that start like this .... "My MBP has the yellow LCD issue, should I return it?" Or " My MB top panel has developed cracks around the the edge and its only 6 months old!". They might SAY they do, but with this latest MBP LCD fiasco, the person doing the QC is either really bad at their job or they aren't actually doing what they say.

I also couldn't find any warranty information for their memory. If it's one year (like their other hardware) what would be the point? In my experience, memory has either gone bad right off the bat or several years down the road. I'd be really pissed if I spent $1000 on memory and two years later have an issue only to have Apple say "sorry, it's out of warranty". That's WAY more of an annoyance than replacing memory, for free, two or three times during that same period. Plus, non-Apple memory is so much cheaper, one could buy a 'back-up' set for just such emergencies and STILL be $800 ahead of the game.

I still think it's a quantity issue. Apple doesn't want to sell you those chips separate. They would much rather them be in a shinny new computer.

 

[BaronvdB]

I got 4GB for of crucial through buy.com for $70....there is no way in heck i'd ever buy it from apple...i think the only people that buy ram from apple are people that don't know much about computers and are afraid to try and install ram themselves.