The other day a coworker forwarded this screenshot around the office (click for larger size):
It made me rage a little bit, especially considering how loyal of a Mac user I am. Here's a summary of the key points made above, and their rebuttals:
- Most importantly: This is last year's Mac Pro Build yet it's compared it to current prices. This is the Mac Pro released in March 2009. So when you complain about prices, think about them in March 2009 terms, cause that's when this screenshot was taken.
- You cannot run OS X on any PC. Hackintosh installs are not as easy as it seems. Apple only writes drivers for hardware they support. That's not so bad, it's possible to write drivers for most devices that have open source drivers already written... but they also only use half of a mangled version of the ACPI standard, meaning that even on the most vanilla-ready hardware, CPU fan control, sleep, and hibernate probably won't all work properly. Most people have trouble with non-ATI video cards, audio hardware, PS/2 hardware, and ACPI.
- In March 2009, jumping from 2.26ghz to 2.66ghz CPU was a major increase in cost. What's more, most PC manufacturers do this kind of price hike on CPU boosts too. For Dell, it has to do with the manufacturing process - the boxes arrive pre-assembled, and different CPU means someone has to swap it out.
- The RAM is ECC RAM. That's expensive even when you're buying parts.
- The RAID card is an SAS RAID card with 512mb cache and a 72 hour integrated battery for said cache. You can get cheapo SAS raid cards for as cheap as $150, but with this much cache, a battery backup, PCIex8, and 800mhz throughput the cards start around $650 today. The Apple card is about equivalent to the Areca ARC-1880i, current retail price about $650.
- The hard drives are when we really see the data storage cost of March 2009. At the time, retail cost-per-gb of 7200RPM SATA storage was about 25c/gb. Suddenly the price doesn't seem so out there.
- The numbers on the video cards and the "superdrive" are just out of date. In summer 2010 you can get DVD burners for $25. Winter 2009 we got DVD burners for $75-$100.
- The screen was one of the top quality available in terms of responsiveness, brightness, color accuracy, and size. It is still an impressive monitor - it's just not a direct comparison to the cheapest 24" you can buy on Newegg.
- OF COURSE they overprice MS Office, Apple has their own line of office products they're trying to sell... and in case the poster didn't notice, Microsoft is Apple's COMPETITION.
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Of course most Mac users don't buy Mac Pros for simple web surfing and email, that's what iMacs are for and they do a damn good job at it. These computers are for professionals. Music producers, video editors, graphic designers, and serious scientific researchers use Macs. Why? They need their computers to work. If you're given a large budget and are expected to give professional results, you aren't going to skimp on your computer to save a few hundred bucks. Plus they retain their value, I can look on Craigslist right now and find a four-year-old Mac Pro selling for $800+.
Saying a high price is no reason to buy is like saying you shouldn't buy a BMW or Mercedes because Kias and Hyundais are cheaper. As my fellow Mac-loving coworker puts it, "I'd hate to have dinner with the guy who wrote this article - he probably drinks boxed wine, and eats hot dogs with ramen."
As an amateur DJ, I own a Macbook for music production and performance. Sure, it was more expensive than a PC, but the cost of the software and equipment I use with it far exceed the cost of the original computer. And you know what? I've never had a single problem with it. It's never frozen, locked up, had a failed part Apple didn't fix, or had any software problems that weren't my own fault.
Call me a mindless fanboy if you will, but it won't change the fact that I love my Mac. Of course this wouldn't be a legitimate argument without considering the alternative, so I welcome you to read a response from one of my Windows-loving coworkers.
