Other Have I missed the point of Apple products?

Proof?

Are you basing your comment purely on hardware cost? If so then you don't understand why people pay more for Apple products.

 

Of course I am basing in on hardware costs. What other costs are there? ...and no, I do not understand why people pay more for Apple products. I am an Apple user... and I still don't understand why.

 

The target market for Apple aren't just buying hardware they are buying into a brand. They know that they can pop in to the shop with any questions and have them answered for free, they can get classes at the stores for free on how to use iPhoto etc... and they know that they are buying hardware that has a very simple and easy to use operating system.

Apple is not just about hardware.

 

Brand.. yeah, that about sums it up for me. So you get some kid telling you how to use iPhoto... is that worth the extra?

Total price of my main rig = £1600

Mac Pro single Nehalem, with a 5870 GPU and same memory hard drives as mine = £3750, and nowhere near as capable.

So no.. I don't understand at all. I don't understand how being part of a brand, or having iPhoto explained to me is worth £2150, and I doubt you do either if you're honest with yourself.

 

I would be very happy to a see a worldwide ban on ipods and MTP transfer protocol in general.


Stupid wheel is awful.

 

Yes I do.

Who do you think Apple products are aimed at? You really think that everyone else that uses a computer knows how to do all the things you do? You think that grandparents around the country are going to assemble their own PC and run the maintenance?

And you have answered your own question, is it worth the extra $$$?

Who's profits were up 124% earlier this year? Or are all apple customers ignorant idiots paying well over the odds for no reason?

 

Why is the wheel awful? It's the main selling feature of the iPod and has been since day one, people love it.

 

After initial setup, I can download/purchase apps directly from my iPad... as far as I know, this didn't require any extra input.

Also, try flipboard, free app to display rss feeds, fb, etc..

 

this may explain why people are willing to spend extra on apple.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13924_3-20103501-64/apple-samsung-top-j.d-power-satisfaction-survey/

apple certainty costs more, but for smartphones at least people are more than satisfied with what they receive for their money.

 

That £4000 Mac Pro I referred to? Not my grandparents, that's for sure.

These things are aimed at professionals.. besides, you behave as if only people who know anything about computers can use PCs. People who pay £4000 on a high end Mac Pro are professionals who want the absolute best performance possible. However, they're getting less than great performance for 3 times as much. That makes them stupid in my opinion.

No.

Apple's high profits are not from their COMPUTERS at all.


Anyway... you're not some IT shy grandparent, so none of your arguments apply to YOU... so in YOUR opinion, are Macs worth the money?

 

No but the profits come from Apple products which have the same price premiums built in as all the other hardware.

I don't think business accounts pay 3 times over the odds, they will probably get good discounts. I know we won't be paying the full retail price for the Apple kit we will be using at work shortly.

And in your rig's cost have you allowed for the cost that would be off the shelf? From a company that isn't an online only business?

Edit: I have read through the posts again and originally you stated that you don't know why people pay more for Apple products. Now we seem to be arguing about the high end systems that not many people use.

Just for clarity I am still arguing for the justification behind Apple products not just the high end hardware.

 

But we're talking about computers, and the premium being worth it due to ease of use etc.. well, that doesn't stand up with phones, as many phones are just as easy to use as an iPhone. There's no real reason for the price hike in Apple's "non computer" products. It's a trendy, desirable aspirational product, and the actual function of (according to those I know with iPhones) was not high on their list of requirements. They just wanted it because everyone else had one.

And in your rig's cost have you allowed for the cost that would be off the shelf? From a company that isn't an online only business?[/QUOTE]

A similar rig from Scan ready built would be around £2k based on a cursory browse of their website. Still £1750 cheaper.

 

Oh and why apple? It's pretty, it's trendy, it's a brand.

Why buy designer clothes that cost 10x more then H&M ?
Compared to fashion, Apple products are bargains!

And yes, I have an iMac, MacBook Pro, iPad2, iPod, iPod touch and even an iPod hifi.
No iPhone because I have a company issued phone and I still want buttons on my phone! I won't be buying a replacement MacBook after this one as my new job came with a laptop as well (HP Probook) and I use my iPad for the quick email/fb in the couch.

I use the iMac for my photography (Aperture) and watching movies/tv-shows (don't have cable). I bought the iPad 2 for viewing/showing pictures as its light/small (portable) has a great battery life, a nice enough screen and it's pretty. But have been using it a lot at home for reading mail, flipboard (rss-feeds) and for managing to do lists. I don't need it like I need my iMac. But I must admit is easy/fun to quickly check fb/mail/rss in bed in the morning while waking up, no need to turn on the computer in the morning. And it's great for showing pictures to friends in a restaurant or at a party.

Be glad you don't love apple products, it's a lot cheaper to like PC-stuff.

 

A similar rig from Scan ready built would be around £2k based on a cursory browse of their website. Still £1750 cheaper.[/QUOTE]

Agreed, I was still arguing about products not just computers whilst you had shifted to computers. Crossed wires I think and I apologise for being so heated due to the mix up.

Maybe the iPhone is just a trendy product for most (I know it is for some of my mates) but then I do know quite a few people who have it for the ease of use and integration into their lives with iTunes etc....

 

most people, professionals included don't build their systems, i dare say most people couldn't even pick a specification for a company to build a custom system for them.

so you can't really compare the cost of a mac pro to a custom build, but if you do compare a mac pro to a realistic alternative from dell, the prices aren't really that different.

 

Well, Dells are slightly cheaper, but its the Mac factor which sells it to people.

And I feel that this sort of exploitation of a person's lack of pc knowledge is slightly unfair.

 

aye apple will still be more than a dell in most cases, but certainty not outlandishly.

not sure i would call it exploitation, more convenience at a cost.
i mean consider how much it would cost to knit a jumper, compared to buying one in a store.

 

I was in a taxi once and there was a fat fingered taxi driver with a a smart phone on a little stand.

He cursing it and saying it was a piece of crap and he could never get it to do what he wanted simply.

He then said that he had tried the the I Phone and it was brilliant; that it just let him do everything he wanted to do and he never had to spend time learning it or fiddling around with it.

 

And I agree with Pookeyhead that when comparing specs, Apple hardware is just bloody expensive.
I believe this is because
A. Apple has a bigger profit margin
B. All that marketing is expensive
C. They spend a lot more on R&D, Design and details (even in there packaging)

But still, for me personally, buying an Apple product is a completely different level of emotional purchase then PC-products. Here is why:

When I bought my MacBook Pro a few years ago, it was replaced by a slightly better model for more or less the same price a few months later, and this repeats itself over and over. The current MBP model still costs roughly the same as I paid for mine but is higher spec. So you can now get a better machine for the same price, fair enough as I had mine all this time.

When I bought my last computer hardware, I was stupid enough to buy the (reasonably) recent quality stuff. I had some issues getting everything to work toghether, but I'm not getting into that as this is a whole different discussion. Less then a year later though, I could buy the exact same hardware for about half the price. I suddenly didn't feel that happy with my PC anymore, even though this is a natural marketing-cycle for electronics.

It's not rational, but still I couldn't help feeling a bit ripped off... Apple doesn't make there customers feel like crap a few months after a purchase. They are marketing & design geniuses.

 

Really? Apple have come forward and said they basically make no money off the iTunes stores (so music, apps, films) as their 30% cut is spent on servers and bandwidth to provide those services.

They certainly won't be making a killing off software - iLife is bundled with all new Macs, OS X costs a mere £25 (which I'd be surprised is a profit-making price) and their professional software won't sell in meaningful volumes.

So you're left with hardware - computers, phones and iPods. iPod sales have been dropping since the iPhone began taking over, and even in 2008 they only contributed 14.21% of revenue.

That same breakdown in 2008 shows some interesting figures. 31% of profit was from Macs. That's a third of their revenue, the majority of which is notebooks.

In 2011, a quick look at their financials clearly reveals they make significant sums off Mac sales. Nearly 4,000,000 units were shipped in Q3, which if we guesstimate a value of $1300 for a machine (which is rather a low end estimate), that's $4bn of revenue right there.

So no, Apple make large sums off their Macs. Big chunk of that is profit too - else why bother making them at all?