[Macworld]

Post your comments for Cost-comparison caveats and lessons here

[TeaEarleGreyHot]

It really IS all about the user experience. For example, I can have a 4-course dinner and spend $35. Or I can get the same nutrition by eating a block of tofu and taking a vitamine pill, for $2. Which do YOU think I'd rather do on a daily basis? Yep, real food wins.
And a great user-interface, with low security concerns, allowing me to work & play, also wins. Even if I gotta pay 5% more. Even if I gotta pay $25% more.

[tfrogh]

I would have liked to have seen a full spec break down between the machines.
I also don't like how Apple is compared to the biggest PC manufacturers. Apple is a Niche maker so compare them to other Niche makers. In the Automotive world, no one compares a Ford Taurus to a Lexus ES350. They compare it to its functional equivalent the Toyota Camry. How about a comparison of the Laptop lines to what Sony is making? Dell and HP are the Ford and GM of the PC world. They crank out lots of OK machines. Apple and Sony are more like Lexus or Acura. They have a much smaller line-up of product and a much higher attention to detail and aesthetics.
I would LOVE to see Apple start selling MacBooks, iMacs, MacBook Pros and Minis maxed out in RAM from the get go. Loaded with RAM PERIOD! I have come across so many Macs in people's homes where they are complaining about performance only to find 512MB or maybe 1GB of RAM. They never knew RAM made that much of a difference. The Apple Store does NOTHING to inform users that they really should upgrade. OS X likes RAM. A LOT OF RAM. Please Apple, start maxing the machines out as the only configuration of RAM.

Tom

[fletc3her]

I feel that the Mac OS and the quality of Apple's hardware provide real benefits to me. So, if the prices are at all comparable then I'm happy. If I need to spend a couple hundred dollars more it is well worth it. Apple's value proposition is not reliant on the computers being cheaper than their competition, but it is great to see them competitive.

[Rhywun]

Right on. I would have said the exact same thing: the standard Mac models need more RAM, bigger hard drives, and iWork.

[SNOHO]

It would be nice to see more RAM and bigger disk. Did you ever look to see how much more power is consumed by those items? How much battery life are you willing to sacrifice? More RAM = shorter battery life...

[danmusician]

I am very certain that Apple has done their marketing research on the price point/feature ratio. We all assume that sales volume will go up if prices go down. Most likely, they will. But will sales go up enough to make up the difference in profit margin? That's a whole different story. Given the success that Apple has enjoyed in recent years, it seems to me that across the product line they hit that ratio pretty well.
I once managed a food concession. I was convinced I would sell a lot more product if we lowered the price. The owner pointed out exactly how much more product we'd have to sell to make the difference. There was no way with the number of customers available that could happen. Lesson learned.
All that said, I wouldn't mind paying less for my next Mac, either.

[caleb45]

I agree, stepping up those minor things to be on speck would make a difference. It seems like a waste to offer small drives and small ram bundles in any case. I just end up tossing them for an aftermarket upgrade. When I first bought into Apple it seemed like they, spec for spec outshined. But now there seems to be a bit of a lag. I do intend to pay a bit extra for the niceties of design in hardware, but the specs could match up better.

[GregForbes]

Here, Here
How much does Apple really make out of the ridiculously priced upgrades anyway. Most halfway savvy people will buy third party parts and upgrade rather than the apple standard bits anyway. If apple prices on Ram and hard drive upgrades were more reasonable they would solve this problem.

PS re the ddr2 v ddr3 and frontside bus issues - why doesn't someone just install XP or vista under bootcamp and run the same windows benchmarking programs on all of the machines using the same OS. This will give an even comparison of the hardware

[trichardlin]

Why doesn't Car and Driver compare any of the Mercedes C-class to a Toyota Camry? Because there is no point. There are specs and there are other things, build quality, user experience, aesthetics, design, etc etc. High end audio magazines spend 80% space talking about sound quality and very little about specs. If you want a tool that's cheap and clunky, go get a PC. If you want something nice as if the designers/engineers thought about YOU when they designed and built this machine, then get a Mac. My colleague recently got a MacBook, her very first Mac after years with PCs. She loved the fit and finish, loved the feel of the case work, loved the packing, loved the unpacking experience, loved how the mag-safe plug works. She then got an iPhone. Same reactions, love at first sight. How often do you get that from a PC?

-Richard

[cprice53]

>It would be nice to see more RAM and bigger disk.
>Did you ever look to see how much more power is consumed by those items?
>How much battery life are you willing to sacrifice? More RAM = shorter battery life...
If you look at the power specs, most laptop disk drives use about the same amount of power, even 7200 RPM drives.
As to more RAM == shorter battery life:
As always, it depends on what you are doing.
However, this is an opportunity disguised as a problem. If Apple can figure out smarter ways to manage RAM, consolidating used RAM to the minimum number of powered "chunks" (e.g. DIMMS) and and putting unused chunks into deeper sleep -- then they have a new competitive advantage. This would also be something that would very useful for the ultra-mobile devices like the iPhone and iPod Touch.
It might turn out that the gyrations required to do all that wouldn't save power, but you probably can't figure out all the ramifications except by experimentation.

[GregForbes]

I agree in general with your point. I have bought 8 computers in my life all but 1 were Macs. (I just bought a the latest imac and an airport express) The only reason for the PC was so my teenage sons could play cheap PC games. I use Pc's at work because I have to so I also know Windows well. If I am going to spend my own money I will buy Mac quality any time but none the less I do not see the need for Apple to to price gouge on the extra gig or 2 of Ram or the extra hundred gig of hard disk. The reality is that this just forces people into third party upgrades.

[akeller]

In fact, Firewire is on the lowest-price white Macbook. But that's a quibble. The deal-clincher for the Mac is the time you don't have to spend on the care and feeding of Windows and its malware pals.

[trichardlin]

Quote

The reality is that this just forces people into third party upgrades.

Which is fine. People don't usually take their cars to the dealer for oil change because the deal charges an arm and a leg for that.

-R