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Why Should the MacBook be more expensive than Windows Laptops?

SXR

SXR

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Nov 20, 2007
995
7
Netherlands
When I look at the MacBook in Europa , its 881 euro ex. VAT or something. ( 1049 with VAT. ) It has 1 GB Ram , Intel Core2Duo , 80 GB HDD. I can get a Windows Laptop with intel Core2Duo , 2 GB Ram , 120 GB HDD for 600 euro INC VAT!. For obvious reasons I love the Macbook and will always get it over the windows machine at any price. ( Just a much longer wait before I can get it ).

But why is it a bit more expansive? Is it Mac OS X ? Thats a good reason.
Is it more beautifull? Obviously. What do you think?
 
Another reason is that buyers keep buying at Apple prices, so they have no incentive to lower the price to compete with other manufacturers.
 
more expansive?

:D:D:D

At least it's a real word.

ex·pan·sive /ɪkˈspænsɪv/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[ik-span-siv] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation
–adjective
1. having a wide range or extent; comprehensive; extensive: expansive mountain scenery.
2. (of a person's character or speech) effusive, unrestrained, free, or open: Our expansive host welcomed us warmly.
3. tending to expand or capable of expanding.
4. causing expansion: the expansive force of heat.
5. working by expansion, as an engine.
6. Psychiatry. marked by an abnormal euphoric state and by delusions of grandeur.
 
Apple makes money from Macs by selling older computer hardware at current hardware prices in order to balance out the cost of developing superior software

This is a sig from a guy here at MR.
Perhaps he is right?!? :D
 
windows Laptops are cheaper because there is a preemptive rebate for having to use Crtl-Alt-Del every hour. ;)
 
You also have to keep in mind that when you go to sell that MacBook, you will get much more for it than when you go to sell that used PC laptop. You get your money back.... and it is a much better machine all around (software & hardware).
 
Many reasons: The Operating System, the style, the included software and accessories (isisght, etc), some of the other cool features only macs have, the quality.

I chose my MBP mostly for the OS, i love os x.

And you cant compare it to a low end piece of crap dell or something. if you include all the features, software, etc, in a laptop just as good, itll be almost the same price.
 
SXR said:
Is it Mac OS X ?
Click to expand...

OSX and iLife account for £140 of difference. However, windows is not 'free' so you can take a figure of your choosing off that- perhaps £25. A new mac comes with an approx £115's worth of retail price product.

But - you can take £15 off, because to use an external monitor you'll need either a VGA or DVI adaptor - something I've never seen required on a PC laptop. £100 difference is justified based on the OS and iLife - perhaps 10-15% over a PC laptop. We can add a little more with the iSight (£25), Bluetooth (£15), Magsafe (£10)

More beautiful? The number of cracks that appear on Macbook cases - that's a dubious claim. I have one I've not seen mentioned on the top, front left, growing toward the keyboard. I'm none too beautiful when I have to bang the left arrow key to get it to work properly either. Perhaps we can say the value of the looks is the same as a nice polygfx skin - £30.

In terms of tangible, accountable different - I think £180 is a fair figure. Now - considering any PC laptop for more than £350 will include a DVD writer - the only Macbook we can compare with is the middle priced £829 machine. Less the £180 Apple benefits figure - £649. That sort of figure can buy you a good PC laptop - with a webcam, proper graphics acceleration, etc etc. A Macbook like specification will probably set you back £499 - £330 less than an actual Macbook.

I've tried to make the 'sell' to friends and family - shown them OSX, shown them iLife. But when you tell them that it means they'll be paying 40, 50%+ more for the machine - they ignore it. My office colleague just bought a PC laptop with MBP like spec for £700 less than the middle-spec MBP. At some point, you just have to say 'Because I'm prepared to be ripped off'. I am.


Doug
 
well, the actual reason is due to product competition and price elasticity and demand.

higher demand + high competition = lower prices
lower demand + low competition = higher prices

hence why Apple dont sell their OS to be able to be installed on normal 'PC's'

:apple::apple::apple:
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU like Mac OS X; en) AppleWebKit/420.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.0 Mobile/3B48b Safari/419.3)

you get what u pay for especially when it comes to pc's.
 
It is not a good idea to get mired down in the numbers for two reasons: 1) you cannot do an exact spec-for-spec comparison; there will always be differences and thus compromises, 2) you should not concentrate solely on the "quantitative" but also take into account the "qualitative"; this side can't easily be expressed in numbers but adds so much to the experience.
 
If apple wasn't happy with the number of units they were selling, they surely would have lowered the price by now...
 
Long Answer:
I'm don't understand this question, because you can only compare like with like. Apple is a hardware and software company which really drives innovation and has brought to market some exciting technologies, like QuickTime and Zero Configuration Wireless Networking (Bonjour).

You can't compare this with a PC OEM who bolts together components in boxes (The PC OEMs still have to include an OS, but they get reasonably good deals (I'll explain why in a moment), although a couple (ASUS being one) have complained about the high cost of Vista). Of course Apple with have bigger overheads — they do more!

Mac OS X has cost Apple a lot of money. If you include the price it cost to buy NeXT and then add the figure NeXT spent making the OS, then total up the cost Apple spent developing the original Mac OS from versions 1-9 you could probably quiet easily run up a bill for a couple of billion.

Windows probably cost a similar amount (if not more, but Microsoft not only is dealing with huge economies of scale, they also have heafty profits from corporate clients and businesses).

Apple has traditionally sold to science, arts, education, consumer markets etc. so don't have as many of these volume licences which are effectively cash cows.

Just because Leopard is priced at $129 does not mean that's how much the OS costs to develop. If Apple licensed their OS to other manufacturers they would have to charge way more than Microsoft.

Short Answer:
It's the software, stupid!
 
Well, I am planning getting a macbook soon (my first mac) and I have been doing some research. Even though macs and computers in general are quite expensive in our country (2.2 SR Macbook around 1600 USD in Czech republic) they have several advantages (depending on your needs of course) over a PC laptop.

These are the key ones for me :
- long battery life (compared to similar priced PC laptops)
- 13.3 inch screen (considering this category, macbooks are not that expensive as they may seem)
- thin design (compared to for example Dell XPS M1330)
- remote control (you don't get one with other similar laptops)
- it works out of the box (no need to hunt for drivers, constant checking when there are new drivers for graphic card, no need for extra bulky software to get for example webcam to work etc.)
- iLife (Windows Live Gallery and Movie Maker are waaay behind)

You cannot compare only hardware specs, you have to compare all those things that influence your work on a laptop.
 
you can't give qualitative value to software just because you like it... i hardly ever had to ctrl alt del, and i hardly ever had a crash. xp worked very well for me. osx has kernel panics and software crashes as well, but you haven't mentioned those.

here's the bottom line:
apple charges more because people are willing to pay more. the end.
 
Does it have isight :p it's because it has good software with loads of nice programs...
 
I'm from Europe, the Netherlands. And actually the Macbook IS cheaper then most 12.1-13.3" notebooks. I've checked alot of online retailers and stores to find a 13.3 notebook with roughly the same specs as a Macbook (basic model) for the same price and I hardly couldnt find one.

Go ahead and try to configure a Dell M1330 with a c2d t7300 2.0ghz processor + windows for example. It will cost way more then a macbook configured with the same processor and roughly the same harddrive, ram.
 
icecone said:
Because demand is price inelastic:rolleyes:
Click to expand...

I disagree...Apple forsure sells more white macbooks than black ones - a lot of the people who would want the black one probably just buy the white one because the extra cost of the black isn't worth it to them. In that sense, it's quite elastic. Though the demand for Macs is pretty inelastic because those of us who love t hem are willing to pay an extra premium to get them!
 
surjavarman said:
I'm from Europe, the Netherlands. And actually the Macbook IS cheaper then most 12.1-13.3" notebooks. I've checked alot of online retailers and stores to find a 13.3 notebook with roughly the same specs as a Macbook (basic model) for the same price and I hardly couldnt find one.

Go ahead and try to configure a Dell M1330 with a c2d t7300 2.0ghz processor + windows for example. It will cost way more then a macbook configured with the same processor and roughly the same harddrive, ram.
Click to expand...

than you're online retailers are very expensive... for the same macbook in pc form WITH webcam... is around 799 €
 
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