DIY Mac crowd innovates while Apple stagnates
It’s not that Apple is doing a bad job but as a company it’s not doing a great job. Many Apple fans worship the ground that Steve Jobs walks on but he’s not such a great person, after all. Of course, that shouldn’t have anything to do with the company, or does it? Apple thinks its computing products are superior and as such believes it has the right to charge more for the same insides that any PC has.
The cheapest Mac desktop is $600, the cheapest Mac desktop that is of any real use is $1,200 and the cheapest laptop is $1,100 but lacks many common features that can be found in a PC for the same price or cheaper (barring weight and size). But, again, the laptop that is of any real use is $1,999.
What’s going on here? In general, you’re paying for the name and (somewhat) superior service and support but, that’s not enough to justify the much higher prices for the same hardware.
There’s the design, Apple makes nicely designed products, unfortunately, a price comes with that. The computers are sometimes not as reliable as PC counterparts or have inherit design defects, some are fixed, others are not. Sometimes the company just waits for the next product revision to fix flaws and which may create new ones.
Aside from the design and engineering, Apple computers, be it, a desktop or a laptop have the same internal components as many PCs. Intel processors, Asus motherboards (albeit with a custom EFI) and other components and architectures that are used in PC-Land.
And that’s because Apple decided to ditch the PowerPC architecture and go with superior (and they are superior) Intel processors. Yet, the prices changed little.
Back in the PowerPC age, Apple might have been able to argue that it was more expensive to make PowerPC processors and motherboards but that argument can no longer be made. Apple uses the same motherboards (save for the MacBook Air) that can be found circulating in the PC world. The processors are the same. The hardware is the same. Why the higher prices? I like to call it the Mac OSX “tax.”
Apple charges more for its products because the software cannot be subsidized by companies (like the trial-ware found on many off-the-shelf PCs) but more importantly, I think it charges more, just because it can. The computers cost more because they run an operating system that can be had nowhere else (unless you want to break several EULAs and the law).
I didn’t say it was fair. While the company is giving the PC world some competition, it could do more. Like lowering prices. Paying $1,200 for a laptop that doesn’t have a dedicated graphics card like the MacBook is not great deal. Paying $2,000 for the MacBook Pro, kind of makes sense and it’s the best value out of all the bad values that Apple offers but there are still better deals in PC-land.
If the $600 Mac mini shipped with 2GB of memory and a larger hard drive, it might be worth it but if it’s stagnating specs stay the same then no it’s not worth it. The iMacs have a nice design but have the outdated Radeon HD2000 series graphics cards, how about tossing in a HD3800 series card, of course, there may not be room for those. Guess what a PC does, toss out the old card, in with the new card. Paying attention Apple?
The Mac Pros have upgradeable graphics but not in every case can it be upgraded. Apple released an upgrade kit that would allow users to install the latest 8800 series cards from nvidia in Mac Pros but it didn’t work with models that were just one year old. How’s that $2,500 paperweight working out for you? It’s still useful with the old card, just not as useful if the new one could be used.
In PC-land, this would not have been a problem. I guess it’s up to the DIY crowd to save us and save us they have. If you don’t mind breaking Apple’s EULA and illegally obtaining Leopard from a torrent or receiving letters from unfriendly lawyers in the mail, then go right ahead, you’ve been warned. You can build yourself a Leopard Mac using run-of-the-mill PC components for just $350. Though, spend a little more and upgrade the processor and memory… and hard drive. You’d still have a better Mac than the “basic” $600 Mac Mini.
Mac OSX is a great operating system, it’s just not worth it for some of us to pay the price that Apple wants us to. As for the risk of building your own, that, in many ways is also not worth it.
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February 5th, 2008
I have had three pc dell xps sony and hp all have been crap and cost me a arm and a leg to get them where I want to be. Two years ago I got a mac mini and has run with out problems I upgraded to leopard with no problem yes that cost me 129 but just to get drivers for my xps on a disk was over 100. Start adding up the price for all the program that come with a mac.
February 5th, 2008
Your title, “DIY Mac crowd innovates while Apple stagnates” makes absolutely no sense as you do not mention any Mac DIY’ers or their mods…
February 5th, 2008
“Your title, “DIY Mac crowd innovates while Apple stagnates” makes absolutely no sense as you do not mention any Mac DIY’ers or their mods…”
I suggest reading the last two paragraphs.
February 5th, 2008
jesus, where to start?
First, not being able to use an nvidia 8800gt hardly makes the older mac pro a paperweight, since I would assume anyone with a macpro already has a video card in it that they are currently using.
Second, the lack of a dedicated GPU absolutely does not mean that the Macbook is ‘not of any use’. It’s a great general use laptop, and even runs virtualized windows fast enough to be useful. I even run Logic on my macbook from time to time, and can get up to about 40 tracks or so. How exactly is this laptop not useful to anyone, then?!
Really, this whole blog post seems to be in the Dvorak mode, and it occurs to me that i’ve fallen into your trap by posting this. Bah.
anyway, have fun trying to get pageviews by being a dick.
February 5th, 2008
The people that are happily using Mac Minis and Macbooks might differ with your opinion that less expensive lower-end Macs are not “of any real use”.
Notwithstanding the fact that there are relatively few Mac models to choose from, Macs ARE priced comparably to other name-brand pre-assembled computers –when similarly configured.
Of course DIY computers are certainly less expensive than Macs, if you consider your time and expertise as a free commodity.
Then there is the question of how much OS X adds to the value of a computer. Apple sells OS X upgrades for $129 (to people that have already paid big money for a Mac). If Apple sold a System Builder’s version, it could easily cost $300 or more.
While I sympathize that DIY’ers aren’t supported in building the custom Mac’s they would like, remember that Apple’s philosophy for the Mac was originally to build computers for “the rest of us”, where “the rest of us” referred to people who wanted to use computers without having to be technical experts. In other words, the Mac was never intended for you.
Techno-geeks are a highly demanding and vocal sub-market which Apple has decided to ignore in favor of the much larger number of ordinary folk who don’t give a hoot about graphics acceleration, and bus speeds.
February 5th, 2008
Wayne hinted at a big reason. Don’t think of the “OS X tax,” think of the “iLife tax.” Every new Mac contains best-of-breed consumer apps for managing digital content. Spec a Windows laptop with software comparable to iPhoto, iMovie, iDVD, Garageband and iWeb and see what your pricetag says.
BTW, PowerPC chips were, for the most part, cheaper than Intel parts, so there’s no call to suspect that moving to Intel would allow Apple to lower prices.
February 5th, 2008
DON’T FEED TROLLS
DON’T BE A SUCKER.
YOUR CLICKS HERE = MONEY TO A-HOLES
February 6th, 2008
“And that’s because Apple decided to ditch the PowerPC architecture and go with superior (and they are superior) Intel processors.”
lol, you’re kidding Mr. Clueless, right?
February 8th, 2008
This site seems a little biased and a lot misinformed. The iMac’s HD2900Pro/XT card was pretty much state-of-the-ATi-art when the computer was released. Wait until the next refresh before knocking it for having an ‘old’ card. Also: I can’t think of one mass-market PC that can be all: “toss out the old card, in with the new card.” Easily and cheaply upgradeable mass-market PCs are more or less a myth. Dells, for example, largely use pathetic power supplies that won’t support decent graphics cards. Want to upgrade the power supply? Hopefully you’re a metal worker. Maybe they’ve changed but for a while PC makers were using some proprietary components – all the bulk of a traditional PC, but no more upgradeable than a MacMini (exaggeration).
February 20th, 2008
itsme, the “The iMac’s HD2900Pro/XT” which you said was “state-of-the-ATi-art” does not come installed in iMacs, instead it’s the 2400XT, which are about as useful as a wet paper bag in a gunfight.