Why are Mac's So Expensive?

Question

I am well and truely fed up with Windows and Microsofts global domiantion plans and want to return to mac (I had one years ago before replacing with a PC), but I have been having a look around and even 2nd hand ones are really expensive? If Apple want to cut Microsoft down, they should lower their costs?

Rawlyn, I've tried using Linux - you seem to need to know how to make it do things - it is a bit complex for a computer stupid like me! If it had some kind of standard iterface it would be easier to understand.

Answer 1

Charging a higher price for computers is necessary in order for Apple to have a large research and development budget, as well as allowing them to provide the number one rated support in the industry. There's a reason Apple has high support ratings...it's because they can afford it. The margins on PC's are so low that a single tech support call can cut what was made on that system in half... and as a result PC companies are hard pressed to offer high quality support.

Apple doesn't have the volume that many PC companies do either, so how do you think they pay for all their research and development. Dell doesn't even have an "R&D" budget...and they used to brag about that.

It's difficult (if not impossible) to develop new products and offer high quality tech support for those products if they had the same margins as the PC industry does, especially when they don't sell nearly as many computers.

Answer 2

They are not basically the same thing. NYX isn't bad, but its not as good as MAC. With MAC, alot of the price is just the name, but the lipglass and eyeshadows are definitely worth the price. Some would say the lipstick too, but I don't wear lipstick. Overall the colors are very pigmented, with a wide selection of really beautiful colors, and they blend very nicely. Never have I used a different eyeshadow (and I've used NYX) that has been as nice to work with as MAC.

Answer 3

I can explain in various way as below : -

(1) Because Apple chooses to price it at that level. It must be worth it to enough people for Apple to keep the price where it is.

(2) because its over priced!! Its very nice how easy it is to sync and I like the seemless intergration between my mac and the .mac service. I like it a lot but shelling out 100 clams a year for the service seems like we should be getting more storage and a better overall mail app. with more options.

(3) Because Apple has been able to get traction at that price. They have taken the value based pricing approach, as opposed to a cost based pricing approach. As long as enough people find value at that price and continue to pay, it will stay at that price

The actual scenario is ; -


It is a touchy subject. If you want to stirr things up, write an article titled "Macs are (not) too expensive" and you're sure to get a lot of comments, a lot of hits. Basically, there are three camps in this discussion. The first camp says that Macs are too expensive, the second one says they aren't, and the third group consists of people that just don't care. Leaving the last one out of this story, I'll focus on the first two camps.

Expensiveness is a very complicated term. Somehow, the people in the first two camps think that expensiveness (or it's counterpart, cheapness) is a universally applicable term, equal among all humans, a fact that one can set in stone. Like, ice is slippery. Fire is hot. Fish can swim. You know.

This is of course complete nonsense. Whether something is expensive or not is a completely subjective matter, influenced by many, many variables. In this story, I will concentrate on two of those variables. These two, perceived value of goods and income, are (arguably, however) the two most important factors that control whether an item is perceived as 'expensive' or 'cheap'.

Perceived value of goods

People buy things, because they perceive those things as 'valuable'. The more valuable something is to people, the more money they will be willing to spend on it. As you can clearly understand, an item's value is completely subjective. To me, an Aston Martin DB9 is well worth its whopping 202 000 Euros. I appreciate its timeless design, powerful engine, the craftsmanship (Aston Martins are built by hand), the brand's heritage, the whole nine yards. To someone else however, all that means jack. That someone just sees a car, nothing more, nothing less, and they will call me crazy for being willing to spend all that money on it. This is applicable to almost everything. I don't see the use in spending money on musical instruments; as I can't play them, they are valueless to me. To a musician however, they are invaluable, and he'll be willing to spend a lot of money on it.

The same applies to the Macintosh. I bought my Macs because I appreciate the design, the architecture, and above all, the operating system. I am willing to spend more on a Mac than on an x86 computer. So to me, a Mac is not expensive. Any added costs there might be in a Mac over a standard x86 are completely justified by my personal opinion about the superiority of the machine over the x86. Just like the musician and his instruments.

However, this of course does not go for everyone. Not everyone sees any value in the Mac platform that justifies spending any (if any) extra costs. Good case design is not patented by Apple. Most people don't care whether or not the PPC architecture is better (leaving the upcoming switch out of the story). Same goes for the operating system. I may find Mac OS easier to use than it's competitors, but that's just an opinion. It means nothing, at least not to anyone else but me. So, if we have someone who finds looks unimportant, does not care about architectures, and is happy with using either Windows or Linux-- than that person has no personal justification of spending the extra cash for a Mac.

Hence, for this person, a Mac is expensive

Answer 4

This is why IBM overtook them in the market place. They try to aim at an 'upwardly mobile' type of people, who think they're to special and unique to use a PC.

Answer 5

There is an economy of scale to consider. If it costs you, say £1 million to develop something, then the price will be a lot lower if you can sell 1 million, rather than 100,000.

Answer 6

Don't get a Mac because you're sick of Windows. Keep your existing hardware, but install Linux on it. Windows is only a program - not the hardware. Linux is free, and arguably better than both Windows and Macs.

Both Apple and Microsoft are corporate pig-whores - screw 'em both.

Rawlyn.

Answer 7

more expensive,means it's more branded. more branded means it's more valuble.and people are often tempeted to buy branded things even though you could get the same thing (which is no branded) for a lower price.

Answer 8

Simple; they cost more to make.