The numbers will present themselves. Tons of blog posts and columns have been dedicated to the idea that Apple Macs are not only better but actually cheaper than your regular computers from Dell, HP, Acer and Lenovo. Let’s cut to the chase and show you hard facts and real numbers.
Just go to the Apple website and order yourself a fully loaded Mac or MacBook. Here are the screen shots:
Upgrade your MacBook’s RAM from 1GB to 4GB: $850
The iMac’s RAM from 2GB to 4GB: $700
The MacPro RAM from 1GB to 16GB: $4,499 (it’s $699 from 1GB to 4GB)
Now, let’s go to the HP website and get our PC a memory upgrade.
The HP D4996T Ultimate Desktop series from 2GB to 4GB: $170
Note, all RAM upgrades are DDR2-667MHz dual channel SDRAM (PC5300). As a comparison, a 4GB (2GBx2) RAM purchase directly from the manufacturer’s website (Kingston, Corsair, Crucial) will only cost you $150.
So why is Apple charging almost $350 per GB or RAM when SRP is just about $50? That’s a 700% mark-up. maybe it’s hard to personally insert an extra RAM module there so Apple is actually charging for professional installation fee to add more memory to your new Mac.
I upgraded my iMac RAM from the Standard 2 GB to 4 GB for $50. At the same time, I went to DDR3 at 800MHz.
But on the plus side, most of the software was far cheaper than the PC equivalents when it wasn’t actually free. For example, I was using Sony Vegas that cost $700 when I bought it. The equivalent program for the Mac is Final Cut Express for $150. Plus FCE was easier to learn and use. In fact, I found many free tutorial videos.
I have NeoOffice, a Mac-Optimized version of OpenOffice that does everything MS Office does and is free. I have other programs that were either free on under $50. So I gave saved a bundle on software.
Yes, I can play all my PC games and they run faster and better with nothing more than Crossover Games. No dual boot, or Windows emulators needed.
Then there are the things that come with OSX that cost extra with Windows systems like Preview for all files including PDFs (take THAT Adobe), a spell checker, a group of widgets like a translation program and unit conversion applet, etc. True some of these are also available as free 3rd-party programs for Windows, but do they all work as perfectly as one built into the OS??
Finally, the quality of the build itself exceeds any PC I have ever owned. Even the KB is the best.
Twitter: bloggingaccess
says:
It’s their job to install their own hardware. They don’t need to charge it.
I think, their hardware are durable that have a long life span of usage.
In the other side, it is still very expensive and it’s hard to find mac accessories when you are not in the big cities.
Twitter: http://activata.co.uk/ifreemem/
says:
mac ram
Great remarkable things here. I am very glad to peer your post. Thanks so much and i’m looking forward to touch you. Will you please drop me a mail?
[...] four (4) years ago, I wrote about “Why Apple Mac are still way more expensive” and a lot of Mac owners agreed that upgrading their Macs right in the store is exponentially [...]