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PC vs MAC

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  • PC vs MAC

    it's been a few years since I have even looked at a MAC, but the other day my dad calls me up and asks me to help him make a decision on a new comp...and he wants a mac...

    anyway, I start doing a little research and I noticed that PCs and MACs are very similar these days...at least as far as hardware goes, infact the only difference I can tell is in the mobo and cpu

    so what happened to the massive difference between PCs and MACs?? and how can apple still charge so much $$ for a product that is soo similar to PCs?

    can anyone give me some reasonable input as to why macs are so freakin expesive? otherwise I'll just try to convice my dad to let me build him another PC for a third the cost (or less)

  • #2
    Simple supply and demand will play a large role here. As a general rule, if you sell a bunch of your product, you can lower the prices to a more reasonable level because you're selling more at a lower profit margin to still allow for money coming in on a regular basis. If you don't sell as many items, then you have to charge higher prices to maintain that steady flow of income.

    Going on from there, the main folks who buy Macs are schools and institutes of higher education. The civilian market sector for Macs isn't that great due in large part to a lack of software support. Most of the good stuff will be made for the PC, and then maybe somebody will decide to port it to the Mac OS.

    Thank you for participating in Economics 101. :D
    Old age and treachery will overcome youth and skill
    My Toys

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    • #3
      It's almost like the old "sell 10 units for $100 or sell 100 units for $10" trick. Or even supply + demand. Who knows? I almost burst out laughing when I found out my work had spent $9000 AUS on 1 Mac. Then I saw the machine. And I would almost say it's worth it. I'm not a fan of Apples, but this machine just oozed appeal. But in the end it all boils down to what you are going to use it for.

      Ask your dad what he plans to do with a Mac if he got one, and why he'd prefer it. Some people just like the ease of using one, as there's not much of a learning curve to Macs nowadays.

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      • #4
        Hehehe.. nice work Darth. We posted pretty much the same ideas at the same time..

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        • #5
          ya, i know about economics....well at least I hope so after 4 semesters of it at the university...

          I guess what i want to know is the MACs worth $2k (US) more than the PC counterpart?

          if the only thing that apple has going for it is that it looks pretty, then I'm not too impresssed

          from what I can tell, PCs even outperform MACs in their own feild...adobe released a statement not too long ago that stated the current high-end PC (it was a Dell btw) blew away the MAC equivilent...and Adobe has always been on the MAC side of the fence

          and why has MAC gone to such PC-like hardware? at this rate you'll be able to instal mac os 11 or 12 on your next pc

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          • #6
            Macs and PCs have had common hardware for a long time now. The major thing that keeps these two apart is the CPU/Motherboard architecture and the way in which they work.

            Also, the Mac world isn't as enthusiast-friendly as the PC world. You don't see Mac users building machines from scratch, or upgrading parts very often. It just doesn't happen.

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            • #7
              no competition in the market let's Apple charge whatever they please.

              That difference in the cost of the hardware is just the tip of the iceberg. The cost in actually utilizing the system is astronomical in proprtion to the PC.

              I don't care for Mac for 1 simple reason;
              there is a definite lack of free software out there.

              There is good software, but rarely is it free - even simple utilities that can be found so readily for PC seem to cost? Even on the older OS's (8x, 9x) this is true.
              I take a lot of comfort from being in the 70% marketshare - and mostly that comes from having decent applications that are so readily available.
              I'm not talking about warez and cracks, but legitimate-free applications and software.

              If you were to give me a new Apple, I couldn't begin to populate it with software that is equivalent to what I use regularly on my PC.

              I guess those who code for Mac OS's are trying to offset the extra they had to pay for the system:?:

              P. S. __ If I'm wrong about the application cost, please provide some linkage.
              A good friend of mine has the original iMac and he is extremely application starved.:(
              The reason a diamond shines so brightly is because it has many facets which reflect light.

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              • #8
                Macs are expensive because one can't build them himself. You have to buy it from Apple computer. Like most of us on this bloody forum have built our computers from parts we bought on the net. No work like that in apple world. Can't do that. THat is why Microsoft and Intel have gone miles ahead whil Apples have not. Because Apple used to make a better machine. It is just that Apple made a bad business decision long ago. (by the way..i know all of this cuz my dad is an apple mega freak!!!!) So that is why.

                Apples aer primarilly used in the music industry, schools, and businesses. If you look in the big music magazines, they will sell Apple computer configs. to go along with your electric piano. That is so cool!

                Anyways tata. Hope you have enough to munch on for now. Tell me what ya think!

                Chaos

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                • #9
                  Originally posted by Chaos
                  THat is why Microsoft and Intel have gone miles ahead whil Apples have not. Because Apple used to make a better machine.
                  careful there, as far as technology goes, mac's can be quite far ahead of PCs
                  generally speaking, MAC's are the first to try something new...or develope something new....then the PC world sits back to see if it sinks or swims...like firewire for example

                  and unless I'm mistaken, MAC's use a 64-bit PCI bus

                  and I can't really say M$ has been real inovative with their line of OS's

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                  • #10
                    Oh yeah you are definately right. I think they also invented the Windows emulator programs, right? Apple is still really cool. At least we are in agreement. By the way, is your dad getting that apple he wants?

                    Chaos

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                    • #11
                      he is, but he is going to put it off for a little while...he has more important things to spend 3 grand on at the moment

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                      • #12
                        Only reason I dont go MAC is because im ot rich, and cnnot shell out 3k for one. I lover the smooth sleek design of their pc's and their OS's though, I say, price is the only thing that puts em behind a pc

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                        • #13
                          I hate their mouse though. It is so smalll. Their keyboard sucks too. But who cares about those anyways.

                          The apples 23" inch monitor is really a sweetie though. That thing is awesome!

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