Apple: The cheaper alternative?
I can't believe what I'm reading. All across the Web, reporters are saying that at Apple's press event next week, the company will unveil an $800 Mac to appeal to those looking to spend less on an Apple computer.
Anyone who has followed Apple since its inception knows that the very idea that Apple could actually compete on the same level as its competitors on price is a shocker. For years, the company has wanted to be considered a boutique vendor that doesn't submit to price leadership to sell units.
Steve Jobs went out of his way to create good-looking devices with a unique experience so he wouldn't have to charge less for his computers and it worked like a charm.
Mac sales have never been higher, and it's quickly becoming apparent that people are more than willing to spend the additional cash to own a Mac. And yet, the rumors that Apple will sell an $800 Mac simply won't go away.
Now, I'm a firm believer that Apple should start lowering its prices to appeal to more consumers and take the fight to Hewlett-Packard and Dell, but if Apple's plan next week is to offer cheaper Macs, I can't help but wonder if this is Apple's new strategy going forward.
I think it is.
Remember when we all made a fuss over how high the price of the original iPhone was? Do you remember when we all rejoiced as Apple announced that the lower-end iPhone would retail for $199?
And if you look at the iPod, now you can spend as little as $49 for the iPod Shuffle, $149 for an iPod Nano, and $229 for the iPod Touch. And just in case you want an Apple TV, the entry-level price of $229 isn't too bad for a set-top box with that kind of functionality.
Do you see what I'm getting at here? Apple is quickly becoming a company that offers high-quality products at a relatively affordable price. And if it decides to sell a Mac for $800, I don't think there's any debating the fact that Jobs has decided to change his company's business model.
And what a change that would be. As I mentioned, Apple is a boutique vendor on a number of levels and has decided that it would rather offer products for a higher price than play the pricing game. But as economic conditions change and people need to think more about their wallets than they may have over the past few years, Apple feels it needs to change its course and compete more effectively against HP and Dell.
Will it work? I can guarantee that it will. But what will it do to Apple's image? As long as the company continues providing high-quality products that easily eclipse the competition, I don't think it will have anything to worry about on that front either.
Apple's decision to offer a cheaper Mac is a smart one. But it goes beyond a cheaper product. In reality, Apple is now a changed company that will compete on price. And it's because of that that its competitors should be scared.
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Don Reisinger is a technology columnist who has written about everything from HDTVs to computers to Flowbee Haircut Systems. Don is a member of the CNET Blog Network, and posts at The Digital Home. He is not an employee of CNET. Disclosure.
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While I think what you did for your brother is very nice, non-technical people would have a tough time picking out all of the individual components. If they don't have someone as kind as you to setup their computer for free, then they'd have to hire someone like Geek Squad. Apple will help you with most of the issues that arise at a Genius bar. If you build a computer for your brother, you also become the defacto 24/7 technical support hot line. If the typical WinTel PC computer user needed help, they again would have to call Geek Squad for help. Check out these prices:
PC Setup - $129.99
Operating system install - $229.99
Software Suite Install - $149.99
Software Install - $129.99
Computer Optimization - 129.99
Source:
http://www.geeksquad.com/services/computer/category.aspx?id=455
An Apple store has a Genius bar that will move over all of your windows info to a Mac for free. If you had to re-install the OS, they would also do this for free. These are all very real costs that come with a computer, but that isn't reflected in the price of components that are required to build a PC.
Quite right. I actually do this for a living part time -- computer consulting for home office and small business. And to be honest, the bill would be about $250 higher after throwing in scavenging-time & labor. Add in the operating system for $120, and a 24" display, and you're already up to the price of a 3 GHz iMac anyway -- minus the convenience factor of having all your hardware (including the display) covered under a single warranty.
So, yeah, this post is sort of self defeating. :-)
Furthermore, in a year, when apple is halfway between model updates for your model, the guy who "built" his computer has a lot of "cheap" options for boosting performance without buying a whole new system. The one who purchased the Apple product doesn't have this option. Which leads to point 2: Apple product cycles are longer than their competitors.
Now, Apple has many positive points and I don't mean to malign them. (I don't own a macintosh, but I do appreciate certain features of their OS.) But these are two negatives about Apple's current product lines and development cycles that I think most objective people would agree with. And, furthermore, I think there is a large portion of the market interested in a mid-range tower (which makes Apple's lack of such a product... interesting).
My 2 cents...
The mini isn't very popular, but it's no slacker in terms of the CPU and ports it offers. And it's FAR less OS limited than your generic PC, which can't run OS X. That is a huge advantage on it's own, but it also comes with the best software you can find for photo, movie, music, web, etc... all included. There is no keyboard and mouse, but I think their idea there was to use the ones from your PC--which it was designed to replace.
That limitation is due to a marketing decision by Apple. There is no technical reason why OS X can't run on regular PC hardware.
And you obviously haven't looked around much lately, because there are FAR more operating systems that will run on a generic PC than on a Mac.
who gives a crap? i mean, really now. we're NOT all fanboys, you know...
I hope you're not charging your clients too much.
So you are saying as a software engineer you can't figure out how to use a Mac. Ok first off you are quite ambiguous. You are using the term "Mac" as representing what? Is it the computer hardware or the operating system. The hardware is designed such that a toddler could remove it from a box and connect the cables. You power a new one up and it prompts you in a few questions the information it needs to self configure. So that part is a no-brainer.
The operating system is seamless, you hardly know its there and little requirements to use it. In general OS X manages your files, allows you easy access, and using common sense to integration into everyday life. Just like the trash can, it doesn't ask you over and over, are you sure you want to delete the files. The system it self handles security quietly and behind the scenes. Writing HTML based documentation, my gawd IE ask you over and over and are you sure over and over just to open a file. It is pure craziness.
As far as naming the Mini as the cheaper alternative people are not looking for desktops that much any more. The desktop computer has become the laptop and smart phones are replacing the old laptop for on the go personal use.
Again I have to go back to your statement, "nobody knowing how to use a Mac." That is just pure nonsense, OS X is the easiest yet most powerful operating system to use.
I thing you say that because you probably had work for decades only with MSWindows. So when a person see something different just get scared. But the situation here, is if that person take the time to adapt it self, I bet anything that that person most probably will choose on the future an Apple computer.
I'm sorry you find it so difficult. What kind of software do you engineer? I'd like to know so I can avoid it.
http://www.apple.com/macosx/technology/unix.html
That means even a $800 Apple laptop is still TWICE the price of a PC laptop that's probably overkill for most people already.
It's no wonder why Apple is forced to lower their price points, and yet still have their shares downgraded...
Try to configure a laptop with software and hardware similar to what Apple offers and you will find Apple is cheaper in some instances.
If you want a Dell or an HP with the exact same specs as, say, a MacBookPro, you'll end up paying HP and/or Dell anywhere from tens to hundreds of dollars more.
If you want a Dell or HP with the same specs as, say, an 8-core PowerMac, be prepared to pay a rather obscene amount of excess cash to Dell or HP for the privilege.
The author was a bit off - it isn;t that Apple is a 'boutique' seller, it's that they are a primarily high-end seller.
Your $399 laptop is more often than not loaded with grey-market parts ("house-brand" RAM that carries a slower speed or has no error-checking, a slower and usually narrower FSB, a screen that has a slower refresh rate and almost always gains its first dead pixel before the first year is up, slower RPM HDD's with smaller buffers, etc). Oftentimes the cheap rigs don't have components that match well with each other, causing an untold number of internal errors that slow things down considerably. The only quality component you're likely to find in a cheap laptop is the CPU, but even then it's quite likely a process generation behind (e.g. 90nm instead of 45nm, etc).
You can keep the cheap stuff. At least w/ an Apple, you know up-front that all the parts are matched, that the quality is going to hold up, and that the system (and OS) will perform exactly as described (unlike the "Vista Capable" debacle)... you can even test them in the store if you like.
/P
/P
For most that bother to try it, OS-X makes a computer worth twice the price of that Windoze powered machine.
I can say this with confidence because:
1) I can count on one hand (and have four fingers left over) the number of credible viruses that have come out for Linux since 2001... and that last once required that you had a system that was unpatched for the previous 12 months or more before it came out.
2) Ditto for OSX - outside of the lab, all that has come down the pike are at most a handful of trojans that required one to surf to some rather shady websites in the first place.
So - given all of this, why in the unholy Hell should anyone be forced to pay $50+ per year AND waste system CPU cycles on something that is about as common as a hurricane in North Dakota?
Now if you have Windows, yeah - get an A/V solution and keep your defs current - all the botnets zombies out there are 99.99% Windows-based for a reason...
/P
Probably can't engineer software "to save [your] life," either. Windows must be way beyond your ability to comprehend, too. What kind of computers do you use? Leapfrog?
by bmelendy October 10, 2008 9:46 AM PDT
"But how will they address the problem of nobody knowing how to use a Mac? I'm a software engineer and I can't use a mac to save my life. They do look cool though."
Please let me know, ASAHumanlyP, for which company you are a "software engineer," or consultant, as I want to make certain that I do not engage their services going forward -- especially when one of their engineers, you, is so un-smart as to not be able to "use a mac to save their life [sic]." Pathetic!
Let me say that most of intelligent Engineers people that I know prefer a Mac than a PC with Windows. I prefer a Mac or a PC with Linux for Desktop. For servers I prefer Linux or Unix. So by your words I must be retarded... because I try not to use MS Windows and I prefer use a Apple computer or Linux than a Windows PC. :-))))
The ones that can't use a MAC is because they just are to much pro-Microsoft and too much limited to change. So your theory of "MAC is designed for retards" is just bad language. Mac is designed with intelligence for humans and that is why some people, like you, will never understand why people like Mac.
Mac OS has a learning curve of a few hours, having an experienced user showing you what to push and where to drag. One of the least intuitive things at first is the concept of installing by dragging to the Application folder.
Another thing about engineers - most of them work for large corporations, and corporations are locked into some sort of convoluted love affair with Microsoft. This is simply because the systems IT has in place are so large they would be difficult to migrate to any other platform other than Windows XP SP3.
The whole system is just resistant to change.
Where I live, a cheap two wheel drive pickup will "work," somehow or another. However, if you wish to really accomplish something, easily and effectively, a four wheel drive works much better. Does that mean that the auto manufacturers should try to compete by trying to make a four wheel drive pickup at the same price point as a two wheel drive? Yes, if the Windows Whiners were to have their way.
If you buy computers on the cheap, you get what they pay for - a cheap system with a questionable operating system. If you chose to do so, have at it. Apple makes a decent computer, at a decent price that, above all, WORKS, first time, every time.
I would prefer that Apple continue to make machines that work. Leave the cheap market to PCs and buyers that believe they should be able to get a Porsche for the price of a Daewoo and, actually, like Windows...
A lot of opinion, not much substance and too many insults.
You are correct that windows and OSX are not the only alternatives. You seem, however, to omit Apple's position on value added. You certainly don't have to agree with it, but to not mention their point of view at all suggests you don't know, don't properly understand or don't care.... any of which really disqualifies you from having an objective knowledgeable conversation on the topic.
An $800 Apple laptop would be quite welcome!
When I switched to Mac this year (going against my wife's desires), my wife called me a few times at work frustrated because certain things didn't work the way she expected. This lasted for maybe the first month. The funny thing is, those calls were much more enjoyable to work through than the calls about the computer running slow, the virus scanner won't stop popping up, why is Windows asking me to allow this or that, what do I do when everything freezes...
Now my wife, who admits she's not technically inclined, sings the praises of OSX to her friends and encourages them all to buy a Mac. When people start asking her about why Windows won't recognize their camera, or things won't print, she just smiles and says, "I don't have that issue. I use a Mac."
A software engineer who is very familiar with the Windows OS will have a a much easier time getting used to the Mac OS than a receptionist. Look at it this way. A gamer who has played one first person shooter for years, will be much better at playing a different first person shooter than someone who rarely plays any games.
Back to the point - Folks who call themselves software engineers, but refuse to expand their horizons? They are blatantly self-crippled when it comes to creativity and depth, and that kind of personality is the last thing you want in a programming job.
You claim to have met hundreds of folks who would be "lost in OSX", but I submit to you that you're wrong - give them time to sit with it (and not a very long time, either), and they'd have the hang of it in very short order.
/P
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I agree that building your own is far cheaper, but how many folks do you think are capable of doing that?
If I wanted to, I could run any flavor of Windows or Linux on my MacBook Pro.
This article is about laptops, not desktops. And it is about buying pre-built machines, not building your own. Lastly, you did not price out an OS - so you going to be giving your brother Windows or Linux? Because Windows is NOT free...
3 strikes, you are OUT!
One of those ought to fetch for around $700 - $800 :)
The Microsoft haters have bought into the idea that Apple is the solution to the monopolistic Microsoft practices - but instead of switching to a business that is less monopolistic ,Apple is even worse. It's like replacing Castro with Hitler. Microsoft only monopolizes Windows, Apple monopolizes OSX & the hardware. When Apple allowed 3rd parties to make Mac hardware they nearly lost their shirt as Power Computing made them better, made them faster and made less expensive Mac's. Apple hates competition so third party Mac hardware is not an option. Bend over and watch the quality decline should they be able to increase their market share.
Spew on Macfundies - you may even be able to convince yourself if you pray to a photo of Jobs you'll be more prosperous....
If and when I switch from Windows Vista it will be to Linux not Apple...
I did not know that Apple monopolizes the Intel processors, the NVidea graphic board, etc... Apple just assemble does not monopolize any hardware. :-)
I could agree that I think Apple should let their OS X run in any machine, but letting not run is just an option from Apple. I think Apple lose more than wins with that attitude. But that does not make them the ugly beast you paint.
Let me remember about Sony PS3 who have an OS who runs only on PS3. They not sell the OS separated from machine. So it does SonyEricsson with Symbian UIQ and Nokia with Symbian S60. I could continue as you can see... So Apple is a hardware company as any other and not a monster who survives because of a legion of fanatics ... blablabla!!!!!
Get a life!!! And you will understand why so many people loves an Apple with Mac OS X! :-)
Cheers friend, I believe you are not a completely lost case! ;-)))
I see a lot of glittering generalities and adjectives in your vile spew, but no real facts, no numbers as far as cost. Maybe you need to get back to the RNC where you belong....
LOL You are funny... I use daily all kind of Operating Systems and you do? When you do than we can talk. ;-)))
So you talk about leomons when we talk about apples. :-)
Nothing is perfect and you have your reasons to ate so much Apple. But than you can stay with Microsoft if you think you are better. You can illude your self like Microsoft do with PCs... "I am a PC" so what this is mean? That when I buy a PC I have to buy a Windows OS? Probably yes and you do not even know it. So do not came talk on this forum about that because is just hipocrit.
Do you know Apple OS X is Unix BSD? Did you know that you can use X? Did you know you can use OpenSource code and compile as a Linux? Do you know when you need easy and fast you have OS X that works very well? Maybe you did know it, because you do not know what you talk about.
I see for your kind, we people that use Apple are all devils fanatics and Apple is all evil... Are you happy? Camon now just go sleep. Peace and love and use what you like! I will enjoy the day! ;-)))
Intel makes the most powerful processors in the world - That?s it. Apple simply joined the bandwagon when IMB and AMD could not keep up with the technological advances. Wait to you see the "Atom" and Wi-Fi stuff coming out. Try to visualize Dick Tracy watches if you know who that is.. We are living in the dreams of our forefathers -
So Apple is not "monopolistic" - it doesn't control the PC market and people can easily switch over to a PC whenever they wish. It is, however, unique in this industry for trading product flexibility for usability in a different way and that has been a big part of their "religious" following.
As for a central tenet on this argument - that an $800 Mac reduces their "botique" status (a competitive differentiator) I think that horse already bolted via the current array of Macs and iPhones and iPods that are everywhere now.
But which dream: 1984, Fahrenheit 451, or Brave New World?
Ok, I'm being mostly facetious..... mostly....
After the introductory netbook laptop, who knows where the MacBook will start out at, but I'd say $1000 is the new price point.
I guess we'll find out on Tuesday.
But I believe they should be more daring and have something like a NetBook not more that 400$ for compete with the EeePC and equivalents. I personally will not buy a computer with low specs because I need to run sometimes virtual machines to do some tech tests and so it would be very limited for me. But for most people should be enough an I thing 800$ will be only good for MacBook, but Apple should go forward on is strategies to raise is share. As I use to say for each people who get used to work with a Apple computer is one more who will never want other commercial Operating System.
- by nicksinthis October 10, 2008 1:17 PM PDT
- I believe that anyone that buys one of those "cheap" computers will be having many problems. Apple have been selling reliable computers since they started. I have a powerpc G4 top of the range and it is running well whenever I turn it on. My macbook has been running for 3 years and my macbook pro is running fine. My 2006 imac is still going fine. Apple are supplying great computers for a reasonable price.
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- by nicmart October 12, 2008 4:49 PM PDT
- According to Consumer Reports and other sources, every major vendor of laptops has roughly the same incidence of defects. Actually, Apple finished last the last time CR reported on brand reliability, but CR said the difference between the first and last vendors was statistically insignificant.
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