4 ms·

> apple only charges $200 for the 16GB option Only $200? That's twice what it would cost to buy from Newegg.

by minimax 14y ago

MartinodF 14y ago
And they're charging 200$ for an 8GB upgrade, not the whole 16GB!
- Jtsummers 14y ago
  That's what they charge, but your cost to upgrade is either $200 via Apple or $100 or so via newegg. The 8GB option is two 4GB dimms, and the 16GB option is two 8GB dimms, it's not like buying one more 8 GB dimm and throwing it in.
  - Ralith 14y ago
    But the cost to Apple is much less.
    - Jtsummers 14y ago
      Right. Apple has found that they can charge 50%-100% more than the aftermarket upgrade cost (though in this case that wouldn't be an option) and people will still pay for it. That's capitalism, don't like it? Buy something else. In particular, it's not abusive of their market position, and it hardly takes advantage of end users. Seriously, how many people upgrade their Windows PCs? It's a minority, and a small one at that. The Mac world is no different. Is it unfair for Apple to produce a product that cannot be upgraded by the end user (RAM specifically) and charge so much to do the upgrade before it gets to you? No, because you are not compelled to purchase it. This isn't like when AT&T leased phones, or MS forced OEMs to include Windows on all their systems (and had a >95% market share). Apple has no monopoly, they have no special sway with corporations and gov't (in fact, their absence in those fields and success despite it is somewhat remarkable and speaks well to their business acumen). If the prices are unreasonable, and people stop buying the products, the prices or the product will change. Wasn't the Macbook Air similarly expensive when it was first released? Found it, $1799 for the base model when first released (http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2008/01/15Apple-Introduces-MacBook-Air-The-Worlds-Thinnest-Notebook.html http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2008/01/15Apple-Introduces-M...). People bought them, but the price came down on future versions. The same thing will happen here, and if it doesn't then it means the consumers don't mind.
konstruktor 14y ago
Actually it's 200 for 8GB, which makes it more expensive in comparison.
sbalea 14y ago
The correct way to calculate this (using prices for the previous gen MBP as found on crucial.com) would be $160 for the 16GB kit - $46 for the 8GB kit = $114. Compare that to $200 and it's still more than 50% markup. Of course, these are retail prices, while Apple's BOM math will be totally different, but still...
- Tloewald 14y ago
  The correct way to calculate this is look at the price next to the 16GB option. If a car configurator had a $1200 leather trim option would you try to deduct the price of non leather seats?

> apple only charges $200 for the 16GB option Only $200? That's twice what it would cost to buy from Newegg.

by minimax 14y ago

> apple only charges $200 for the 16GB option Only $200? That's twice what it would cost to buy from Newegg.

MartinodF 14y ago

And they're charging 200$ for an 8GB upgrade, not the whole 16GB!

Jtsummers 14y ago
That's what they charge, but your cost to upgrade is either $200 via Apple or $100 or so via newegg. The 8GB option is two 4GB dimms, and the 16GB option is two 8GB dimms, it's not like buying one more 8 GB dimm and throwing it in.
- Ralith 14y ago
  But the cost to Apple is much less.
  - Jtsummers 14y ago
    Right. Apple has found that they can charge 50%-100% more than the aftermarket upgrade cost (though in this case that wouldn't be an option) and people will still pay for it. That's capitalism, don't like it? Buy something else. In particular, it's not abusive of their market position, and it hardly takes advantage of end users. Seriously, how many people upgrade their Windows PCs? It's a minority, and a small one at that. The Mac world is no different. Is it unfair for Apple to produce a product that cannot be upgraded by the end user (RAM specifically) and charge so much to do the upgrade before it gets to you? No, because you are not compelled to purchase it. This isn't like when AT&T leased phones, or MS forced OEMs to include Windows on all their systems (and had a >95% market share). Apple has no monopoly, they have no special sway with corporations and gov't (in fact, their absence in those fields and success despite it is somewhat remarkable and speaks well to their business acumen). If the prices are unreasonable, and people stop buying the products, the prices or the product will change. Wasn't the Macbook Air similarly expensive when it was first released? Found it, $1799 for the base model when first released (http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2008/01/15Apple-Introduces-MacBook-Air-The-Worlds-Thinnest-Notebook.html http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2008/01/15Apple-Introduces-M...). People bought them, but the price came down on future versions. The same thing will happen here, and if it doesn't then it means the consumers don't mind.

konstruktor 14y ago

Actually it's 200 for 8GB, which makes it more expensive in comparison.

sbalea 14y ago

The correct way to calculate this (using prices for the previous gen MBP as found on crucial.com) would be $160 for the 16GB kit - $46 for the 8GB kit = $114. Compare that to $200 and it's still more than 50% markup. Of course, these are retail prices, while Apple's BOM math will be totally different, but still...

Tloewald 14y ago
The correct way to calculate this is look at the price next to the 16GB option. If a car configurator had a $1200 leather trim option would you try to deduct the price of non leather seats?