Now that the Intel transition is “complete”, Apple is now focusing on a major problem Apple has had for a very long time. That problem is probably the most important and decisive reason for a consumer to buy a computer, and that problem is price. Even though Macs last probably twice as long as standard PCs and don’t require substantial maintenance and repair costs as PCs, people still don’t seem to remember that when they are ready to buy a new computer. But when you can modify and upgrade almost any system, through any computer repair ipswich, for it to work as new, then why profligate on a new one. Apple has finally recognized this problem and are claiming that they are going to do something about it. As Phil Schiller put it in the WWDC ’06 Keynote, “Not only making better products, but busting the myth that they are more expensive.”
Lately, Apple has been working on getting rid of the reasons and excuses possible switchers have when they are undecided on getting a Mac or a PC. From that transition to Intel processors and the ability for Macs to run the Windows OS, to their focus by lowering prices significantly on Mac and iPod product lines, Apple has done a great job lately on getting rid of the excuses for not getting a Mac vs. a PC.
The WWDC 2006 Keynote featured the first product-to-product comparison of an Apple product to a Dell product with similar specifications. While many features don’t make it to the spec-list, the new Mac Pro beat out the Dell by a $1,000 price difference and significant hardware advantages, not to mention millions of software advantages that come bundled with every Mac.
The other day Apple introduced new revisions to every iPod model, and at the same time, shocked everyone (including Microsoft) with their new price-points. It is now possible to fit 7,500 songs in your pocket for only $249. Compare that price (as well as the size difference) to the original iPod 5GB price of $399. Also note that Steve mentioned in his keynote on Tuesday that Apple will soon introduce a new 1GB Nano for only $79.
It seems as if Apple is going to be working hard on lowering the prices on all of their product lines, from Macs to iPods to other Apple-branded peripherals. In my opinion, a $749-$899 MacBook would really influence the amount of switchers and ultimately Apple’s overall market share. I can’t wait for the day when you can get fully-functional MacBook for only $549 (hence the picture), but I doubt that day will come anytime soon. But now that Apple has admitted that they are working on making their models more competitive, I’m sure that they are doing all that they can to lower the prices of their products and at the same time keep the same awesome Mac-user experience.
8 Responses
Zombie12toes says:
“Apple has done a great job lately on getting rid of the excuses for not getting a Mac vs. a PC”
Not so great ! Yesterday, wanting to buy an OS X compatible cellphone, I heard the salesman saying he wanted to buy a Mac, but finally decided not to, because one of his friends had bought one, a Macbook, and THERE WASN’T CTRL ALT DEL for Windows on it ! (I told him there was another combination, but he just seemed lost)
September 16th, 2006 at 6:33 am
Sam Prescott says:
In response to zombie12toes:
The combination to force quit a combination is alt comman esc. However it is hardly used with any mac because apple computers rarely ever freeze, unless of course you are exceeding your computer’s RAM and overloading the processor. This is very untrue with PCs. Quite frankly, I use ctrl. alt. delete on my PC frequently. And its only 3 years old!
September 19th, 2006 at 6:19 pm
Kuro Rai says:
That is quite true, in my life time i have only seen a Mac not function (i say not function becasue this includes ALL probleams, and event then its a great piece of work) twice, only 2 times, comparitivly to that; my PC crashes a min. of 2 times in 1 hour….
October 15th, 2006 at 12:03 am
John says:
Macs freeze all the time.
Difference is when it freezes you have to reinstall your software, and possibly buy new hardware.
Linux and BSD on the other hand have NEVER BEEN CRASHED. That’s right. I defy anyone to show me filmed footage where a BSD or Linux PC has ever crashed. The worse thing you could possibly do is kill KDE/GNOME/XFCE or whatever GUI you are using. Then when you get back to the good old man lines, type in “startx” and it comes back for you.
And Macs not needing to be upgraded? HAH. Maybe if you bought a 10,000$ mac pro. Apple’s PCs have been notorious for not being upgradable after purchase.
Their notebooks are half decent, and possibly better than HP’s.
But waaaaaaaaay over priced for their performance.
January 7th, 2007 at 6:08 pm
reginald watson says:
please lower the price for the mac laptop and you’ll have a lot of happy customers. well, you’ll make me super happy
July 4th, 2007 at 7:30 pm
Doug Anderson says:
The problem is the Mac is greatly overpriced for what you get. Don’t tell me you get more for your money because you simply don’t. Apples to Apples (sorry for the pun) a Mac is way more expensive than a comparable P.C. They don’t last any longer.
Mac may upgrade the OS more, but they charge you for it every time. That is outrageous. An OS should not be outdated in a year.
I would takes Windows of the Mac OS, but Linux is better than both. In fact, the Mac OS looks strikingly like Linux. May Mac is not all the creative after all. They just copy well.
December 17th, 2007 at 10:08 pm
Jon says:
I know I will feel the fires of hell for saying this…but for my money, I’m not buying into the Mac marketing scheme.
I recently bought a used iMac G4 with OS X 10.4 installed on it. It was a decent enough operating system, and had some features I liked. This was merely a way for me to take a “taste test” and see what all the hype is about, as I’ll be upgrading to a new laptop sometime this year.
Well, after using that system for about 6 months, I came to the conculsion it is just that – hype. I’m not one of those people who’ll buy something just because the marketing department of a company tells me to. I want real, tangible differences if I am going to be ponying up extra bills.
I didn’t really notice any benefits that would justify the large price difference between a Mac vs. PC notebook. I’m not trendy, I’m not looking to impress somebody with the latest tech-toy, I just want a decent computer.
I have a 1998-model PC that still works fine, so I’m not worried about reliability either.
So, when I buy a new system, it will be a PC, and the hardware specs will be better than the MacBook I was considering, for a fraction of the cost.
If Apple comes down on their prices, even just a few hundred dollars, that would make them much more competitive to me.
January 22nd, 2008 at 9:20 pm
Fullmetal says:
I have never had any problems with a PC crashing, except 1 motherboard BIOS failure. Windows is not as bad as people say it is, except i do have to say Windows is overpriced sometimes. at 400 plus for windows 7, I’m glad i was able to get it for $30 bucks. as for the example of the 2.0 GHz mac for 500 bucks, i got a 2.1 GHz Laptop with a 15 inch screen for $400. works fine, and can be upgraded.
December 14th, 2009 at 8:45 am
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