Why are Apple computers more expensive than other computers?

mmm... I am reading this question and wondering if it could start a "little war" between which PC is better...lol... A while back I answered this question in my website. So, let me quote it again:

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“A cheap Dell user asks: Macs are like Ferraris they’re expensive and Extremely Powerful .“

Answer:

Was that a question or comment??

Some things you have to consider first:
Your "cheap" Dell...you'll be lucky if it includes Wireless A or B and bluetooth. Last time I checked these were premium and optional, an extra $200. A wide screen adds about another $100 to the price.

Yes, it is true Macs are like Ferraris They are more expensive than your average $499.99 cheap plastic Dell computers.
All Macs nowadays use aircraft quality Aluminum, stainless steel, bullet proof polycarbonate and impact resistant glass.
Another plus to new Macs is that they come with iTunes, iLife (iMove, iPhoto, iDVD, Garage Band and iWeb), Mail, Oxford American Dictionary, iChat, Widgets, Address Book, Automator, Art Directors Tool kit, Omnigraffle, OmniOutliner(usually standard on MBP), Sherloc and Comic Life. All of these are full working programs.
None of that windows computer standard package of "demos and shareware" you are accustomed to get with your new computer. Which most of it will end up deleted from your computer anyway.
On top of all that free software you also get with a Mac: iSight (built in Camera), 24bit Audio both digital (optical) and analog, professional Widescreen with color filters and SyncMaster resolutions, motion and light sensors which makes your mac do cool things, a handy remote control, Wireless B,G and N, Bluetooth 2.0, ExpressCard 34, Firewire 400 and 800, DVI output, The Magsafe safety power plug.
If you want to know more about the features included with a Mac please go here: http://www.apple.com/macbook/

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In short the question that sometimes has to be answered is: "why do people buy Bang & Olufsen products? or Bose? when a cheap "no name brand" will also give you sound..." but whatever the answer the main point is not that one is cheaper than the other but the fact that you have a wide range of product options to choose from and you can decide to buy whatever you want. whatever fits your needs...

BTW:
The last HP laptop I bought cost me $3700 with tax. My MacBook Pro cost me $2990 with tax. So, in this case the Apple machine was cheaper than the HP laptop.

OS X computers don't have multiple hardware manufacturers competing to make cheaper hardware, they single source the hardware from Apple. So it is more expensive. Basic economics.

There was a huge debate within Apple in the late 80s and 90s about whether to license the Mac OS to others. They started to, and had one other manufacturer making Macs. Steve Jobs shut it down when he returned to Apple.

The thing that upsets me the most about Macs is that for about $700, I can build a computer of similar or higher spec. I would do that too, but I love the whole Mac OS X look and functionality and especially the programs that come with it. So it makes me confused, should I save up and buy a Mac or should I just pay $700 and use Vista on a similar spec machine?

Andrew: Well, I hate to say it, but as a person who has used PCs when forced to, but someone who has only ever spent money on Macs... you get what you pay for. I'm sure you've heard that one before!

It all depends on what is important to you. My goal is to get as much of my life as possible onto one laptop computer. I want to pare down my possessions and make my computer the one productivity tool I can't live without. And, I'm succeeding in doing that. As I shed the other possessions in my life and transfer as much of my life as possible to one laptop, that Mac gets even more valuable to me. So, it's entirely worth it to me. I happily pay more because I get an immense amount of personal value out of it.

Plus, if I have to look at an interface all day, I'd rather it be a pretty one.

Oh, and I don't get viruses. And I spend little time troubleshooting. Actually, the list goes on, so I'll cut it short and simply say: Don't knock it until you've tried it.

One word: Reliability!

it's a smaller "boutique" brand and feature extensive and unique brand design that is often imitated by the industry. they do not license out their platform to other mfrs so there's no competition for their computer brand/OS.

they did explore this option some years ago and then yanked it away when exactly that happened - 3rd parties started making cheaper macs. the problem stems from the fact apple wants to be considered a hardware/systems company and they don't want to be an OS vendor - despite the fact that's exactly how micro$hit became god.

even now when apple switched from motorola to intel processors, the rumor mills were amok with hopes and dreams of dual boot macs and running mac OS on PCs and vice versa. that too did not happen.

if apple were to pimp out an OEM OS that could run on other hardware, even if it were a simpler pimpler one, it would smoke windows off the road because it would be more stable and gosh darn it a heck more sexier.

bill gates tried to imitate the ipod (chuckle), gaming consoles (snort) and with vista tried to mimic mac OSX (whoosh) which only had ppl freaking out and wanting to run back to XP. windows has often imitated yet never replicated the innovations that are the mac, any more than disney or anyone else can ever imitate a Pixar movie!

Why not just be done with it and install Fedora or any other free linux platform on a bunch of hardware barebones gear without having to use some proprietry Java interface designed by Apple(c) Would run similarly and I wouldn't have to pay through the nose for some jacked up label same as why buy Nike's for $300 when I can buy the same typa ruddy sandshoes at Walmart for $7 So what if it's bullet proof, Do I need to run about with a bulletproof sheet of metal in America now, are you guys really that gun crazy? And so what if it's not made of aircraft material, will I be flying in my macbook now???? Plastic is fine on a computer after all thats what most $10 keyboards are made out of and how long do they last? Thats right, years. My Atari 400 is made out of plastic and that still works dudes....

Cheers, hope you had fun reading this, Marty out.....

P.S. And yup, you need to buy Apple Compliant Stuff (ACF) i.e. not as flexible as windoze!!!!

Responding to Artpulse...seriously? Comparing specs are wrong? Ahhh no wonder you bought a Mac. Obviously you don't know that much about computers and you bought into the hype my friend. Have you checked Gateway or Dells sites and compared the specs vs. the cost? You can even buy an Alienware PC that will kick the $hit out of a top of the line Mac Pro for roughly the same cost and still offer more when it comes to "specs." You can also upgrade them later if you want. PC's are usually 3-6 months ahead when it comes to the specs anyway. As far as the operating system, you may want to check out Vista or Windows 7 because they are solid. Windows 7 rules by the way. Granted there were some problems when Vista first launced but remember, OS X wasn't a perfect launch either. I work in the recording and entertainment industry and I have to tell you my company dropped using Macs. We get more bang for the buck with a PC. Oh, and all the hype about them not crashing...seriously? They do crash and we are finding that they crash and freeze more than the Windoze machines we are using with roughly the same specs. The best part about a Mac crashing, Macs make it nearly imposible to figure out the reasons why. One big reason...the programs don't close, they just sit there and kill the CPU power. As far as the specs are concerned, I need to know how fast my hard drives spin, what type of RAM (DDR2 vs DDR3) what type of processor I'm using...it's imperative to what I do. I am glad, however, that Apple finally stepped up to Intel because their previous processors were crap. As far as Macs being the Ferrari of the computing world, ask yourself...why is it that serious gamers prefer PCs over Macs? If graphics and performace suck on a PC shouldn't Apple have that market share? Gaming on a Mac does indeed ssssuuuuccckkkk. I can go on forever about this but the truth is that Macs are all hype, they are expensive and they limit what you can do with them...but hey they look cool...seriously???

It would appear that nameless912 (and probably most of you other mac users) is not the kind of user that is pushing his mac-whatever to its throughput limits on a daily basis. While it is true that it is hard to discern the difference between 2.24 and a 2.6GHz processor, to a video editor running Avid Media Composer the difference in spindle RPMs is significant. I have been editing with Avid systems for nearly 20 years, the first half of that time the edit suite was available for Mac systems exclusively... and every day I was pushing that Mac to the very edge of its ability... for the past 10 years I have worked daily on both platforms running Avid software and I can certify that both systems crash with the same frequency... and for the same reasons. Mac users love their Mac, mostly, I have observed, because it is elegant in the design of its interface and its form, but when it comes to function... for the power user at any rate... there is essentially no difference between the systems. That is why production houses are slowly becoming pc/windows facilities as the Macs age out.

SE
(Avid/Final Cut Pro/DPS Velocity/Discreet/Quantel Editor)

Well, alt088 raises an interesting point. I have a few things to say. First off, my first response was a little out of line, and that is my fault. Anyway, thanks for aknowledging that you can get similar performance CPU wise from a less powerful setup.Also, it is a fair point that spindle speeds can matter to a power user (for example, someone doing video editing) but for a normal user, that doesn't really matter. I've done some powerful programming stuff on a mac using xCode (btw one of the best IDEs I've ever used) and it worked flawlessly. It wasn't even a "high-end" mac. It was a previous-gen white MacBook w/ 2 gigs of ram. And that was more solid than any other IDE I had ever used. I think the important thing to note is that any OS can and will lock up when streched to it's absolute limits, but the diff between OS X and Vista is that it takes a lot more to strech OS X's limits. Also @mykv: Vista? STABLE? HA! Oh one last note: the price difference btwn a mac and, say, a similarly equipped Sony laptop is negligible once you count the software the mac comes with for free.

Mac are more expensive because they are the only system that offers MAC OS X where as there are loads of windows supporting computers like:

Dell
HP
Acer
Sony
Packard Bell............

all these companys are at war with each other over who can get the lowest price!

eg. If Dell sold a laptop at Apple prices then people wouldnt buy any, instead they would go for cheaper laptop like HP, Acer..........

Where as Apple are the only company that offer Mac OS X and can therefore chare as much as they please!

Who knows why people prefer Mac OS X is a differant question.