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Whoa, with the strikethrough.

Wow, great new copy style

Strike three!

This just goes to show, if true, how much pent-up demand there is for an entry-level mac that ships with a keyboard, mouse, and monitor.

Apple not addressing this demand is a criminal waste of market share.

STRIKE 1, 2, 3 - YOU'RE OUT

I have to agree with you Tommo_UK

I agree also. It's difficult to explain to some people that although the Mac Mini is cheap, they have to bring their own monitor/keyboard and mouse. It seems to reinforce the myth that Macs are more expensive.

The problem isn't that the $1,299/$1,199 17" model is overpriced, it's just that there is also a pent up market for the basic $899 model out there as well. Why Apple doesn't just offer both models on a full time basis is the real mystery here. Maybe they'll come to their senses and do the same thing they did with the eMac back 3-4 years ago and make it a regular model as well.

Maybe they'll fill the gap with something else......they're not limited to the models they have out right now, you know....

How do you do this . . . Strike stuff?

Ohh, cool!

Now someone needs to post how to do that cool color text thing, too.

It's not a myth - they are more expensive, in the sense that in most cases you have to spend more money to get a computer that does what you want. A Mac is simply a computer that comes with a large package of hardware and software features that hardly anyone will use all of. But unlike other computer manufacturers, you HAVE to ante up and buy all this stuff, rather than exactly the features you want or need. In that way, it is more expensive, and that is why Macs persist to this day in being expensive in the eyes of the majority of consumers (who are certainly not represented in this site!).

I suppose so, edgar.

The argument can be made, however, that a Mac is cheaper than a similarly configured PC. (If you can even find one).

wow MDN -- is this some new cryptic way of giving your take? Are we supposed to read between the lines?

Akido, I think the often-repeated argument that Macs are cheaper than similarly-configured PCs is only true sometimes, and off and on as times passes and as new offerings emerge elsewhere (and it's worth remembering that there are many more PC configurations that are simply not available in the Mac world than vice-versa).

(By the way, I hate PCs!)

Personally, I think that argument is moot anyways, because most people just want a "computer", usually without bells and whistles, and want to pay a low price for it. If Apple doesn't present an offering that is somewhere in the perceived low price range, they will always be thought of as more expensive by most people, and rightly so. And this perception is not helped by the fact that Apple is only too glad to completely take you to the cleaners on basic things like RAM and hard drive upgrades (yeah, all of us here know you can get third party RAM and HDs cheaper, but most people don't, and/or don't bother and like to shop for everything in one place).

I was going to order one of those today...a bit of a bummer

College students can piss off - go buy the full-fledged iMac like everyone else. The educational iMac should be for institutions only. Apple's education policy has been lax for too long.

They just can't make them fast enough to cover both the institutional buyers and the consumers. In a couple of months they will be selling them to consumers again.

Tommo_UK said: "This just goes to show, if true, how much pent-up demand there is for an entry-level mac that ships with a keyboard, mouse, and monitor. Apple not addressing this demand is a criminal waste of market share."

Couldn't agree more! There is still a lot of fat margin philosophy at AAPL. When will they reconcile the need for market share and profit? Isn't there anyone at Apple that can do a Econ 101 demand curve?
I still remember paying over $8,000 for a Macintosh Ci while peecees were less than half that price. Surely there's a better balance between margin and market share Apple.