4 ms·

> In real dollars, the cost of Macs are extremely low. $1 in 2000 is about $1.40 now. So the cost of a $1000 13" Mac Air which is a very respectable laptop is a

by adevine 10y ago

> In real dollars, the cost of Macs are extremely low. $1 in 2000 is about $1.40 now. So the cost of a $1000 13" Mac Air which is a very respectable laptop is about $700 in 2000 dollars. This comparison makes no sense to me. It's 2016, not 2000, so the fact that a Mac Air is $700 in 2000 dollars is a completely random and arbitrary number.

tedunangst 10y ago
You couldn't buy any laptop of any quality for $700 in 2000. Macs have the reputation of being overpriced, but they are much more affordable than computers at the turn of the century. Of course, PCs are still available for less, but the point is that many people previously unable to afford a Mac can.
- jtuente 10y ago
  That's a pointless metric to use for affordability, because that $300 difference is purely inflation. It has absolutely nothing to do with Apple making their products cheaper.
  - tedunangst 10y ago
    If the price in real dollars is less, then then the product is cheaper.
- cptskippy 10y ago
  Macs have a reputation for being overpriced because their hardware is overpriced compared to similarly speced PCs. Just because they are now more affordable doesn't mean that they're not overpriced. Macs have a value proposition based on the user experience, quality of software, and quality of hardware. This value proposition is relative and certain market segments have never seen it. Graphic designers appreciate the consistency and accuracy of Apple products in their workflows so the value proposition was high. Gamers however saw anemic hardware and limited support so the value proposition was extremely low. With the arrival of OSX and the growth of the internet and *nix based development, and then with iOS, the value proposition for software developers grew significantly.
- brudgers 10y ago
  Reminds me of buying the Toshiba Satellite 1805-s201 in August 2001. It was the first sub $1000 laptop I saw: $995 with $100 manufacturer rebate. Celeron 800 mhz, 128mb, and 20GB of spinning rust. It was the cheapest laptop and ran the current version AutoCAD without a problem [actually, ADT2 which had a much higher load than typical AutoCAD]. To me, the way to weigh value is relative to workload. Few users are hardware bound and today the most likely bottleneck for ordinary people is going to be GPU, not that I'm saying ordinary users are going to run up against it.
  - davidf18 10y ago
    Around that time, I would buy "refurbished" Thinkpads around Canal Street in NYC (where many cheap things are sold) from an authorized dealer for much lower than the regular price. The "refurbished" were generally returns that were reinspected, etc. The company bought a lot of them. But to have only spent $700 for a 13" Macbook Air type of machine then! :-)

by adevine 10y ago

tedunangst 10y ago

You couldn't buy any laptop of any quality for $700 in 2000. Macs have the reputation of being overpriced, but they are much more affordable than computers at the turn of the century. Of course, PCs are still available for less, but the point is that many people previously unable to afford a Mac can.

jtuente 10y ago
That's a pointless metric to use for affordability, because that $300 difference is purely inflation. It has absolutely nothing to do with Apple making their products cheaper.
- tedunangst 10y ago
  If the price in real dollars is less, then then the product is cheaper.
cptskippy 10y ago
Macs have a reputation for being overpriced because their hardware is overpriced compared to similarly speced PCs. Just because they are now more affordable doesn't mean that they're not overpriced. Macs have a value proposition based on the user experience, quality of software, and quality of hardware. This value proposition is relative and certain market segments have never seen it. Graphic designers appreciate the consistency and accuracy of Apple products in their workflows so the value proposition was high. Gamers however saw anemic hardware and limited support so the value proposition was extremely low. With the arrival of OSX and the growth of the internet and *nix based development, and then with iOS, the value proposition for software developers grew significantly.
brudgers 10y ago
Reminds me of buying the Toshiba Satellite 1805-s201 in August 2001. It was the first sub $1000 laptop I saw: $995 with $100 manufacturer rebate. Celeron 800 mhz, 128mb, and 20GB of spinning rust. It was the cheapest laptop and ran the current version AutoCAD without a problem [actually, ADT2 which had a much higher load than typical AutoCAD]. To me, the way to weigh value is relative to workload. Few users are hardware bound and today the most likely bottleneck for ordinary people is going to be GPU, not that I'm saying ordinary users are going to run up against it.
- davidf18 10y ago
  Around that time, I would buy "refurbished" Thinkpads around Canal Street in NYC (where many cheap things are sold) from an authorized dealer for much lower than the regular price. The "refurbished" were generally returns that were reinspected, etc. The company bought a lot of them. But to have only spent $700 for a 13" Macbook Air type of machine then! :-)