Dumbest Logic I have ever seen.

[thegodfaza]

Consider this example: Last Thanksgiving, you could have purchased a fairly well-outfitted Windows desktop -- the HP Pavilion Media Center A1640n -- on sale from some retail outlets for $699. The machine came with 2 gigabytes of memory, a 250 GB hard disk, and it ran on a quick 1.86 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor.

Around the same time, you might instead have picked up Apple's top-of-the-line Mac Mini, which came equipped with a processor slightly less powerful than the HP's (a 1.83 GHz Intel Core Duo), a far smaller hard disk (80 GB), and less memory (512 MB). The Mac Mini would have set you back $799, or $100 more than the HP.

A good way to gauge the current market value of a computer is to check how much buyers have been willing to pay for similar models in auctions recently completed on eBay. Doing so for the HP shows prices ranging from $236 to $257 -- let's say a rough average of $250. Sales of the Mac Mini, meanwhile, go from about $445 to $550. Let's assume you can unload yours for $500.

If you used your HP for a year and then sold it, you would have spent $449 to own it -- that is, your purchase price of $699 minus your sale price of $250. The Mac Mini, for the same year, would have set you back far less: $799 minus $500, or just $299.

I saw this in the apple web site today. Here is the link.

 

I think this is stupid since it doesn't cost you less. It costs more. Macs are always overpriced and probably will be. PC's are dirt cheap. I can buy a pc for less than I spent on my monitor. Just because you say you can sell it for that price doesn't mean anything. People usually don't buy a Computer to "rent" it.

[Sabr]

But it does show how well a Mac retains its value over a standard PC... :censored2:

[hecker]

But it does show how well a Mac retains its value over a standard PC...

Exactly. Also, the (bad) hardware quality of most "dirt cheap" PCs make them a bad long term investment.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Apples' are always gonna be overpriced no matter what

 

I wish OS X was like Linux. Open source is a good way to go

[Danyel]

Hi thegodfaza:

 

The article is saying that Apple's cost more initially but retain their value over time.

 

Apple's do cost more but I think they are marketing for an 'upscale' market.

 

--danyel

[apowerr]

Apples' are always gonna be overpriced no matter what

It's irritating.

Apple's do cost more but I think they are marketing for an 'upscale' market.

I think that they're overcharging

Exactly. Also, the (bad) hardware quality of most "dirt cheap" PCs make them a bad long term investment.

True, Dirt Cheap PC's are terrible buys. Their instantly obsolete and to slow, and you will be buying another one in a year. That being said, Apple Computers are overpriced, and have the highest markup when compared with their competitors.

[iestyn]

Apple mac's are not overpriced.

Perhaps they cost more than an equivalent PC running windows/linux etc.

 

You get what you pay for in this world. You're just lucky someone clever ported OSX to run on any old PC!

[apowerr]

Perhaps they cost more than an equivalent PC running windows/linux etc.

Exactly. In terms of price to performance, Apple computers are indeed overpriced.

[blade77]

Having been a person who actually followed this forumla with first a iMac older variant with the pod like base and the LCD attached to an arm and which I intally paid $1800 for then sold on E-bay 2 years later for $800 (the only reason the price hit so low was because the new dual cores were out) then again with a Mac mini (btw the best media PC ever made hands down) which I bought on E-bay for $500 and a year later sold for $400.

Sure you can install OSX on a PC but it is not a simple thing, not to mention close to illegal and not every out there is all that tech savy. BTW I personaly am a person of questionable morles espially when it comes to software and money LOL. Yes Macs are expensive, Yes they are overpriced, but so are Hummers and BMW's and Lexuses but they still sell and have a huge resale value. Simply put the PC market is no differnet then any other market. You get what you pay for.

[steadybootleggin]

this is the same logic as buying a car in the U.S., domestic is to PC and import is to apple... they retain there value.... before i stumbled onto hackintosh, i was in the market for a used/ebay mac mini and you couldn't get an ok one for less than $400 or $500

 

and i agree... i think apple sets the bar up high and as long as folks are willing to pay ... hey, why not

[apowerr]

Yes Macs are expensive, Yes they are overpriced, but so are Hummers and BMW's and Lexuses but they still sell and have a huge resale value.

No, BMW's and Lexus's are not overpriced. At least not in the same way Apple Computers are. Compare a BMW to a Ford, they have a different engine, drivetrain, etc. They are not similiar at all. Compare a BMW to a Lexus, again they may compete with each other but they have different parts made by different companies.

 

Now lets compare an Apple computer and an Identically spec'd (or the PC may have better specs, because Apple uses laptop procs in two of their three desktops) PC. The Apple will be more expensive. Same CPU, GPU, RAM, Display etc and the Apple still costs more. The only difference between say an Identically sped'd Apple and HP are the Motherboard, Case, OS and maybe a few other hardware options (i.e. webcam or wireless). So Apple computers are indeed overpriced. If BMW's had the same parts as Fords, and yet cost more they too would be orverpriced.

[steadybootleggin]

No, BMW's and Lexus's are not overpriced. At least not in the same way Apple Computers are. Compare a BMW to a Ford, they have a different engine, drivetrain, etc. They are not similiar at all. Compare a BMW to a Lexus, again they may compete with each other but they have different parts made by different companies.

 

Now lets compare an Apple computer and an Identically spec'd (or the PC may have better specs, because Apple uses laptop procs in two of their three desktops) PC. The Apple will be more expensive. Same CPU, GPU, RAM, Display etc and the Apple still costs more. The only difference between say an Identically sped'd Apple and HP are the Motherboard, Case, OS and maybe a few other hardware options (i.e. webcam or wireless). So Apple computers are indeed overpriced. If BMW's had the same parts as Fords, and yet cost more they too would be orverpriced.

 

ya know , you prolly have a point but , none the less they still retain their value.....go on craigslist or ebay and the $$ speak for themselves ( as per the 2nd hand market)

[Hagar]

This is a naked emperor.. macs are always being put up for sale secondahand at ridiculously high prices, they rarely sell.. I've seen this time & again.. mac users buy into this myth that macs keep their value because they too want to benefit from it, but try looking at the g4's being advertised in your area.. the prices will often be a joke.. with the switch to intel, suddenly this has changed. Machines are directly comparable, mac users can no longer lean on comforting illusions like "the megaherz myth" and other reality distortion fields, and sure enough, secondhand macs are responding to market forces just as any other commodity. The real consequence of this is that mac users, used to believing that their several-year-old mac is still worth what they paid for it, or even more, if they've upgraded it, simply refuse to sell, preferring to keep their machines because they can't get "the right price".

 

The reason for this bizarre anomaly is the traditionally exorbitant price of macs. if you paid a fortune, you're going to try to recoup as much of that as possible. If you paid a reasonable price, you are less concerned with the depreciation. In a small niche market, it is entirely possible to maintain such artificially inflated prices, because no-one is there to compete or undercut you.... With macs slowly approaching realistic prices as they become cheaper (macs now cost only something like 1/3 more than the equivalent PC, as opposed to say, 2-3 times as much in the PPC age) and the increase in volumes of sales, particularly on macbooks, this is finally beginning to respond to gravity & secondhand prices are becoming more realistic.