“We’ve all heard how Macs are supposedly so much more expensive than PCs, but now that Apple is going Intel, is this still the truth? Some may ask if this was ever even true in the first place. Now that the playing field has been leveled some, we’ll be able to get a better idea of where Apple stands in terms of price… This comparison does not take into account more subjective factors such as design. Also, this comparison only take into account initial cost of purchase, not total cost of ownership,” Nick Mediati writes for Deep Thought. “For this comparison, I took a 17” Gateway Profile 5.5C and a 17” iMac Core Duo. I went with the stock iMac and a customized Profile, since the base Profile was rather stripped down. The results were somewhat surprising.”
“At least in the case of an iMac and Gateway Profile 5.5 fresh out of the box, the old Apple marketing slogan from the mid 90’s holds true: ‘Macintosh: It does more. It costs less. It’s that simple.’ The iMac wins,” Mediati writes.
Full article here.
Dan Frakes sizes up a Dell Inspiron E1705 vs. Apple MacBook Pro and finds much the same story. Full article here.
Advertisements:
• MacBook Pro. The first Mac notebook built upon Intel Core Duo with iLife ’06, Front Row and built-in iSight. Starting at $1999. Free shipping.
• iMac. Twice as amazing — Intel Core Duo, iLife ’06, Front Row media experience, Apple Remote, built-in iSight. Starting at $1299. Free shipping.
• iMac and MacBook Pro owners: Apple USB Modem. Easily connect to the Internet using dial-up service. Only $49.
• iPod Radio Remote. Listen to FM radio on your iPod and control everything with a convenient wired remote. Just $49.
• iPod. 15,000 songs. 25,000 photos. 150 hours of video. The new iPod. 30GB and 60GB models start at just $299. Free shipping.
• Connect iPod to your television set with the iPod AV Cable. Just $19.
Related MacDailyNews articles:
Apple Macs are less expensive than Dell PCs – April 24, 2005
Apple Macs are less expensive, more secure, longer-lasting than Windows PCs – April 21, 2005
Switching from Windows to Mac? Save money by asking to ‘crossgrade’ your software – April 12, 2005
Apple Macs are far easier, cost less to manage than Windows boxes – March 02, 2005
Is this news? I thought we all new this stuff already?
we may know, But the average joe need to know.
Look at his first comparison chart. It clearly states that a similar Dell costs ~1000 less. If you remvce all the coupons/specials that Dell ALWAYS runs then yes, the Powermac is cheaper. But give me a break, the writer manipulates his facts until he gets the outcome he wants. This is FUD plain and simple.
There are other reasons to buy a Mac besides price but at least own up to the fact the a Dell costs les..
And it’s more fun. Can’t wait to see what Leopard adds to the mix. It just keeps getting better.
I was just discussing the Mac with a coworker who’s daughter was fed up with viruses and spyware. I mentioned that she should try a Mac. He said that he would consider a Mac if it only ran Office. I brought him up to speed. He was actually very surprised that we had Excel and Word on the Mac (and zero viruses).
dell bullshit like nothing. what you see on the ad is not neccassarily what youll pay.
they dont include tax in their price for a start. which is alot. then theres all the stuff like wireless card etc etc.
ive done comparisons to g5’s versus dell workstations and the mac is about $2000 cheaper. serious.
the other thing they do is include xp home edition on alot of there computers which is even more crap than xp professional.
and the list goes on…
A heavily couponed DELL is usually a low budget crippled machine. You almost always leave the site paying from twice to three times as much to make the machine useful to you. Also does DELL make and all in one machine? Dont remember seeing it on the site.
Here’s an interesting read on Dell Customer Service and Dell quality:
http://weblogs.asp.net/acampbell/archive/2004/06/06/149359.aspx
P.S. who’s should be whose in earlier post
bradychase,
The article compares the Macbook pro to a Dell laptop. There’s no mention of a desktop system. Please read the article before posting next time… thanks.
What?
If you want comparisons with Dell look at this site.
http://www.systemshootouts.org/
to Please Read the Article:
“bradychase,
The article compares the Macbook pro to a Dell laptop. There’s no mention of a desktop system. Please read the article before posting next time… thanks.”
Actually, YOU should try reading the article(s). There are two. One IS about desktop systems, and is, in fact, the HEADLINE of the goddamned article.
Dumbass,
for more tales of fun in Dell Hell
http://www.thisistrue.com/dellhell.html
Fight! Fight! Fight!
you can alos read “The Motherboard Chronicles” at
http://www.mentallyincontinent.com/index.php
Chapter 10 in “Earlier Books”
<free registration required>
While it is a good comparison it must be noted that it is only for people that are buying a PC for the first time.
For a current owner you have to taken into account the expense of replacing Windows Software to Mac versions. If the user has 1 or 2 expensive Windows apps then the Mac will very likely be more expensive and despite of MDN has mentioned in the past software companies don’t give discounts when you move from one platform to the other. This and Windows only biz apps/web sites is the biggest switch hurdle.
Oh yeah, JEG? Time is money for many adults.
iMac Core Duo 17″ – US$ 1,299
(Pentium 1.83GHz Core Duo)
etc.
Dell XPS 400 – US$ 1,084
Pentium D 820 2.80GHz, 800FSB (dual core)
XP Media Center 2005 Edition
ATI Radeon X300 SE HyperMemory 128MB PCI Express
512MB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM
160GB SATA 7200RPM
16x DVD+/-RW (double-layer)
56K PCI Data Fax Modem
Integrated 10/100/1000 NIC
17″ Ultrasharp 1707FP Digital Flat Panel
Dell AS501 10W Flat-panel attached speakers
Price difference – 16.55%
Hey, the Mac’s not _that_ much more expensive…
From reading MDN’s headlines and takes recently, I’ve come to following conclusions:
1. MDN thinks “Windows PC’s” is the same as “Dell PC’s.” When MDN refers to “Windows PCs”, 99% of the time the take will almost always refer to a Dell. A good example is a prior take: “Windows box assemblers like Dell simply cannot match Apple Macs in the area of processor choice or anything else, for that matter.” in which my response was “And why the reference to Dell? They don’t even use any other chip other than Intel (not even AMD). Other “windows box assemblers” do in fact “match” (and in reality exceed) Apple Macs in the area of processor choices, and everything else (can Apple match the plethora of choices in the area of video cards and memory & other hardware that “windows box assemblers” have available?)”
Which leads me to my next point.
2. MDN is completely unaware of the not-so-well known PC makers that routinely beat the big PC retailers (Dell, Gateway, etc..)in price and quality. You will not find the best quality brands (such as ASUS, MSI, Leadtek, etc…) in a Dell. The best chipset and best desktop CPU on the planet is not even associated with Dell or Intel (or Apple either).
Which leads me to my next point.
3. MDN is afraid of anything with “AMD inside”. The price and performance advantage of AMD based machines is quite evident any which way you look at it (from the iMac line all the way up to Powermac).
to get a cheap laptop from Dell to run an instrument in my lab. Once I customized it as required, it was $1,100 with coupon. If the propriety software could run on OSX, I could get an iBook for about the same (with some customization).
The issue isn’t which is cheaper – it’s which is cheaper for your particular needs. Obviously, Dell, because they offer a trillion different things, might just be able to sell you a cheaper laptop if you don’t need much horsepower or memory. However, I suspect that the majority of people need options that will put the Dell in a similar price range as an Apple.
Who really cares about these comparisons. Faster slower, does it really matter. Slightly less/more expensive? I just don’t get it.
The reality is that the Apple is cheaper for most individuals especially if you count your time and I do since I charge for it. We dropped Windows when we were spending more time and/or money just keeping the thing working at the slowest paced Macintosh.
One of the biggest hurdles that Apple has to get into the business sector is that an entire industry of individuals has cropped up over the last 10 years to deal with the Windows problems. There is no incentive for Windows to be as good as or better than Apple. As long as we have inertia and lack of leadership in business, they will continue with the product that everyone uses.
As the society becomes more and more the same and less individualist this becomes very important. How many people do you know look at you funny when you say you have a Mac? And how many of the people looking at you funny really know what they are talking about? Very few.
The IT guys are driving this decision.
It’s Bill’s fault!
It’s Dell’s fault!
It’s the IT guys’ fault!
It’s the consumers’ fault (because they’re too stupid)!
It’s the government’s fault!
It Dubya’s fault!
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”wink” style=”border:0;” />
I love it…
It’s the emoticon’s fault.
Some folks know the price of everything and the value of nothing.
And some people think they know everything.
I seem to remember Einstein had a phrase for that. Went something like “The more I learn the more I realize that I know nothing.”
Or something to that effect.
Oh, and talking about value. I sure as heck wouldn’t pay $150 for 2GB of SDRAM and some codecs in firmware.
Sheeesh.
Macs have always been more expensive than other computers. Apple has made it a hallmark to steal every red cent from anyone stupid enough to buy their computers. It is amazing that people will spend $1000 more for a computer that has worse specifications than another merely because of the logo on the front. Mac users are lemmings that have too much money and just want to play around with a toy.
Real computer users will always pick Windows because of the ease of use and build-in security. No real company would ever purchase Macs because they are all slow expensive toys that have no software to run. Oh sure, if you want to browse the web or import pictures the Mac is useful, but for any other task no one writes software for it.
Good thing for Steve Jobs that there are rich people that like throwing their money away on cute looking computers rather than on systems that can get real work done.