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I think there's a lot of value in comparing spec to spec heads up and I $1,255 price difference is a lot so kudos to HP for creating a similar laptop at a much

I think there's a lot of value in comparing spec to spec heads up and I $1,255 price difference is a lot so kudos to HP for creating a similar laptop at a much lower price. Here's the intangibles that are hard to quantify and differ based on personal preference: 1) Status symbol - Let's be honest, probably doesn't factor in for HN audience but to the larger general public, status symbols are part of their lives and identities. Using an Apple product conveys outward that this is a person who can afford an Apple product, is perhaps appreciative of design, and is part of a more "elite/creative" crowd. Not my personal opinion fully but I don't think I'm wrong with this generalization. 2) Operating system - OS X vs Win 7. I'm not even going to start this discussion but it's a preference thing and to many, using the Mac OS is worth $x more. 3) Design - The HP Envy looks nice but it's missing the roundness and sleekness of the unibody MBP. What is .21" of extra thinness worth to a user? 4) Battery life - Can you add this since it's a big deal to a lot of users, especially when traveling. I might have glossed over this, but how about the value of Thunderbolt?

astrodust 16y ago
What's even more amazing is that HP can produce a machine like that while paying a very heavy Microsoft tax to include Windows. Apple can bundle it in pretty much at no cost to themselves.
- latch 16y ago
  Wouldn't that only be true if the cost of developing osx was 0? Isn't it possible that HP pays less per license than what it costs Apple to developer, support, ... osx? Isn't that one of the points of outsourcing?
  - astrodust 16y ago
    Apple can allocate money to OS X development independently of hardware sales, but HP is committed to paying Microsoft a fixed fee per unit sold. That's the difference. It's possible that HP is actually paying Microsoft more money than Apple spends on pure OS X development. I've heard that companies like HP spend more than $600M a year on Windows licenses, and that's at OEM wholesale prices, simply because of volume. From every bargain-bin netbook to high-end server, they get taxed. Although Apple doesn't disclose their budget for developing OS X, the core development team is surprisingly small in relative terms. Apple doesn't have to cover as many bases as Microsoft does. Every so often you can read of grumblings about how much some OEMs pay to Microsoft and how they could be better off keeping the money and doing it themselves: http://www.electronista.com/articles/08/09/12/hp.developing.own.os/ http://www.electronista.com/articles/08/09/12/hp.developing....

astrodust 16y ago

What's even more amazing is that HP can produce a machine like that while paying a very heavy Microsoft tax to include Windows. Apple can bundle it in pretty much at no cost to themselves.

latch 16y ago
Wouldn't that only be true if the cost of developing osx was 0? Isn't it possible that HP pays less per license than what it costs Apple to developer, support, ... osx? Isn't that one of the points of outsourcing?
- astrodust 16y ago
  Apple can allocate money to OS X development independently of hardware sales, but HP is committed to paying Microsoft a fixed fee per unit sold. That's the difference. It's possible that HP is actually paying Microsoft more money than Apple spends on pure OS X development. I've heard that companies like HP spend more than $600M a year on Windows licenses, and that's at OEM wholesale prices, simply because of volume. From every bargain-bin netbook to high-end server, they get taxed. Although Apple doesn't disclose their budget for developing OS X, the core development team is surprisingly small in relative terms. Apple doesn't have to cover as many bases as Microsoft does. Every so often you can read of grumblings about how much some OEMs pay to Microsoft and how they could be better off keeping the money and doing it themselves: http://www.electronista.com/articles/08/09/12/hp.developing.own.os/ http://www.electronista.com/articles/08/09/12/hp.developing....