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iMac prices are RETARDED

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posted on Nov, 14 2010 @ 10:00 PM
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Take a look at this configurator on the mac-store. It shows how absolutely retarded Apple prices their products and how they are completely raping the people that buy them. This is for the 'iMac 27-inch'. All of these prices are Australian, but 1 AUD = 1 USD anyway although things are somewhat more expensive in Australia anyway.

MAC:

2.93GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7 870
8GB 1333MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 2x4GB
2TB Serial ATA Drive
ATI Radeon HD 5750 1GB GDDR5 SDRAM
27 inch screen

= $3459 not including postage

ONLINE STORE

- Intel Core i7 950 CPU, Quad Core 3.06 GHz
- Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R Motherboard
- ATI Radeon HD5870 Graphics Card
- Corsair Force Series 60GB SSD, SandForce 285/275MB/Sec
- Corsair CMX6GX3M3C1600C7 6GB PC-12800 (1600MHz) DDR3
- Samsung 2TB Spinpoint F3EG EcoGreen Hard Drive
- Sony AD7240SGB SATA 22x DVD±RW
- Corsair HX-650W ATX Power Supply
- Antec Nine Hundred Two Case
- Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit OEM

(this PC MURDERS the Mac)

= $2039.00

+ very nice Dell 27 inch screen U2711 = $798.00

TOTAL = $2837

DIFFERENCE = MAC IS MORE EXPENSIVE BY $622, and the Mac has a slower processor, probably slower memory, no overclock ability, a graphics card that is LESS THAN half as fast and no SSD. It's a RIP-OFF. What does it have, a $1000 operating system or something?


HARDWARE UPGRADES

PROCESSOR:

2.8GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i5
2.93GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7 [Add A$ 290.00]

The top processor is the Core i7 760, the bottom processor is the Core i7 870. On an online store that sells individual components (PCCASEGEAR aka PCCG - I am not affiliated, I'll just use them as a baseline, any store should show similar results) the 760 is $215 whereas the 870 is $319.00. Upgrading should therefore cost you an extra $104 whereas the same hardware upgrade from apple will cost you an extra $290.

MEMORY:

4GB 1333MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 2x2GB
8GB 1333MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 4x2GB [Add A$ 290.00]
8GB 1333MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 2x4GB [Add A$ 560.00]

This means that they are adding an extra 4 gigabytes of memory for $290.00. At the online store 4 gigabytes of faster memory costs $109. Upgrading should therefore cost you an extra $109 whereas the same hardware upgrade from apple will cost you an extra $290. And then there's option 3 which is $560 for the same amount and speed of memory, just in a different configuration. WTF.

HARD DRIVE

1TB Serial ATA Drive
2TB Serial ATA Drive [Add A$ 210.00]

At online store the difference is $100 for Western Digital Black drives (fast drives) and $50 for Western Digital Green Drives (slow). Apple therefore costs you an extra $110 or $160.

This product is a rip-off. Anyone with half a brain can see it, which apparently[/ are many Apple fanatics who cannot think for themselves.
edit on 14/11/10 by C0bzz because: (no reason given)

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edit on 14/11/10 by C0bzz because: (no reason given)



posted on Nov, 14 2010 @ 10:18 PM
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reply to post by C0bzz
 


I configured the same PC and it came to $2,549.00. (2565.70 AU) Shipping is Free. Add $35 for 2day FedEx

iMac 27-inch Specifications
2.93GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7
8GB 1333MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 4x2GB
2TB Serial ATA Drive
8x double-layer SuperDrive
ATI Radeon HD 5750 1GB GDDR5 SDRAM
Apple Wireless Keyboard (English) & User's Guide
Magic Mouse



posted on Nov, 14 2010 @ 10:19 PM
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To be fair, I have owned an 06' version iMac up til this day and have for the most part- never ran into issues regarding data loss or any sort of malfunctions. At the time, this base model cost me only £750 with a student discount, and it was incredibly overpriced then as well.

But speaking as a PC&Mac user, I can say the PC experience does tend to cause a lot more issues, maybe small ones, but pesky ones. iMacs are very fluent and easy-to-use, their software is pretty darn secure and it just differs in the way that it puts what you need in front of you. Month after month, I would use the iMac much less than the PC, because it just got the job done - efficiently and quickly.

I'm not debating their differences, but I do agree with you for the most part, on prices. They are absolutely ridiculous here in the UK, and I see a lot of other countries are getting screwed with Apple's currencies too. It's absolutely not fair, there is either a plan behind this (in the sense that they are trying to stand out in the market) or it's simply just Apple at their best. "Here is something revolutionary, go drool over it then buy it."

Technology sucketh.



posted on Nov, 14 2010 @ 10:22 PM
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posted on Nov, 14 2010 @ 10:27 PM
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I don't know about the taxes either. For me I would have to add $160 sales tax as well. I am thinking the GST is like 10% according to what I have been able to find. I don;t know if you have more taxes or something like that either. very strange either way how the prices are all over the place.
edit on 14-11-2010 by Rhadamanthus because: (no reason given)



posted on Nov, 14 2010 @ 10:28 PM
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reply to post by Rhadamanthus
 


Ah, you're in the US. Everything is cheaper in the US even though 1 AUD = 1 USD approximately. I guess it's that the cost price was higher since the stock was purchased when the AUD was weaker against the USD, and then there's imports maybe. Or something like that. Anyway, I'll take those specs and do a price comparison on newegg for an online US pc store (newegg).

But first I am going to have lunch.
edit on 14/11/10 by C0bzz because: (no reason given)



posted on Nov, 14 2010 @ 10:30 PM
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But anyone with half a brain knows that Apple makes the best operating systems on the face of the planet and the quality of their work is really self-evident. My pops has an iMac, sure it was a tad more expensive than getting a desktop PC running windows. But in the end, OS10 murders Windows 7 in every way possible. The fluidity of OSX is flawless. Everything is quicker, cleaner, easier, and safer with an OSX machine than it would ever be on a Windows.

Comparing hardware inside an iMac vs a Dell or an HP or Alienware or hell even D.I.Y., its the quality, mate.

Compare that with Ford, Chevy, Fiat/Dodge, and then bring in Mercedes, BMW, Audi.

All have the same equipment, but its manufactured and installed completely different in each. And the software is different in each dude.

Happy hunting. Mac pwns PC, and I'm a PC



posted on Nov, 14 2010 @ 10:31 PM
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reply to post by C0bzz
 


Cool. I have never really done that. I do believe that the monitor alone is probably a good chunk of it. From what I have read the monitor dominates pretty much everything on the market and actually has a better resolution then that of a 1080p display.



posted on Nov, 14 2010 @ 10:32 PM
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I've been using Macs since 1988. I currently own three and in all that time I've never felt fleeced, ripped off, raped or unhappy with either the OS or the machine. You pay your money and make your choice I suppose.



posted on Nov, 14 2010 @ 10:37 PM
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Cool kids use Amiga 500 ...


eta: btw, i'm no computer expert but even i know that one can't compare ram/processor speed between pcs and macs ... windows is a behemoth to run and requires much more to run than osx. If one wants to do a true comparison find serious software (like PShop or other) comparisons on each platform and you'll see that macs most times outperform pcs with much less ram/processor speed.

So yes macs are more expensive than pcs, but not as much as one would think if they simply look at numbers whose values mean little. Peace of mind, ease of use, not rebooting every five minutes, and attractive objects also have value for some. If that's not one's bag, thankfully there's PCs and Ubuntu.



edit on 14 Nov 2010 by schrodingers dog because: (no reason given)



posted on Nov, 14 2010 @ 10:41 PM
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reply to post by Rhadamanthus
 


Rofl, dude...

Yes, the resolution is bigger than 1080p, and that is why a very good dell monitor which is almost identical that costs more than $600 was chosen and included in the price of the computer.... It has the same resolution, but resolution is not all that matters. Some people say that the macs display is slightly better quality than the U2711 but not by much.

Oh and also, the macs screen has had problems with yellowing AND when the imac was first released there were massive issues of people receiving them with massive cracks through their displays because of lack of quality of packaging + #ty casing on the monitor with the added weight of the pc behind it.
edit on 14-11-2010 by t1mt1m because: More information added



posted on Nov, 14 2010 @ 10:51 PM
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If you want to buy a mac talk to people at macnn.com or macrumors.com.

They'll tell you straight away to buy the memory from an aftermarket supplier. Not Apple. Drives and memory cost a bundle thru Apple and even more when it's imported to a foreign country such as Australia.

When I bought my iMac this past summer I ended up buying 8 gigs of memory from NewEgg and saved a bundle.

It might be "slower" than the machine listed but it still geekbenches over 10,000 and you get Mac OS X which isn't the house of cards that is windows (although as an MCSE I have to say that 7 is the least egregious Windows OS as yet). If I need to run Windows I can do so on the iMac under boot camp or VMWare Fusion or Parallels desktop.

You could build a hackintosh out of the machine listed above but honestly if you want an actual real legit Mac that will keep running after the software updates you get breaks your Hackintosh then Apple is the sole source and supplier and of the OS.



posted on Nov, 14 2010 @ 10:56 PM
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reply to post by aliensporebomb
 


Macrumors is great, especially for letting one know of product cycles.

And very good point on the ram ... never ever buy ram upgrade from Apple! You can often get the same ram for 1/2 to 1/3 their listed price. Also one should never buy from Apple's site anyway if you live in the US. Many resellers sell the same thing without sales tax or shipping and will usually bundle a whole bunch of free stuff with it.


edit on 14 Nov 2010 by schrodingers dog because: (no reason given)



posted on Nov, 14 2010 @ 10:58 PM
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OK This is for the US PRICES and the APPLE STORE / NEWEGG

NEWEGG

Intel Core i7-950 Bloomfield 3.06GHz $294.99
GIGABYTE GA-X58A-UD3R $209.99
CORSAIR XMS3 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 CL7 $144.99
SAPPHIRE 100281-3SR Radeon HD 5870 (Cypress XT) $299.99
Corsair Force CSSD-F60GB2-BRKT 2.5" 60GB $135.99
SAMSUNG EcoGreen F3 HD203WI 2TB 5400 RPM $109.99
ASUS 24X Burner with E-Hammer Software Black SATA Model DRW-24B3LT $19.99
CORSAIR HX Series CMPSU-650HX 650W $119.99
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit $100
Antec Nine Hundred Two $109.95
Dell UltraSharp U2711 $993.77

TOTAL = $2540

All prices newegg except screen
screen was on sale on amazon

APPLE ONLINE STORE




The difference is smaller in the US, although the Apple is still overpriced because it's got significantly slower components (graphics card that is slower by a factor of 2.5, slower RAM, slower processor, no SSD) Is buying much slower hardware worth it for an OS?
edit on 14/11/10 by C0bzz because: (no reason given)



posted on Nov, 14 2010 @ 11:10 PM
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Yea it's just like alienware. You can build the same comp for like 1/3 of the price if you just build it yourself.

It's all marketing..
edit on 14-11-2010 by MurrayTORONTO because: (no reason given)



posted on Nov, 14 2010 @ 11:10 PM
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reply to post by C0bzz
 


lol, as I tried to explain before it doesn't work that way ... the only way you can do speed tests is by comparing software performance/speed on each platform. it is a simple fact that osx requires way less ram/processing to run. These kind of performance tests are available in many places on the net if one is truly interested.



posted on Nov, 14 2010 @ 11:18 PM
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reply to post by schrodingers dog
 


False.

You can install OSX on the build that c0bzz presented.

And, the build that c0bzz presented, will run significantly faster than the apple product he presented.

Also, what kind of computer experience do you have? Most Mac users I've met don't know the first thing about computers, typically unable to know the difference between a dual-core processor and quad-core processor.
edit on 14-11-2010 by Revolution-2012 because: (no reason given)



posted on Nov, 14 2010 @ 11:26 PM
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Originally posted by Revolution-2012
reply to post by schrodingers dog
 


False.

You can install OSX on the build that c0bzz presented.


I don't understand what you mean by that ... are you saying he can run osx on the pc build he presented?


And, the build that c0bzz presented, will run significantly faster than the apple product he presented.


Maybe, as I stated at the start I am no expert so I wouldn't know ... what I'm pretty sure of is that software like PS will run much faster on a mac if it has the identical processor/ram and other hardware that a pc does. Again I won't bet the house on it but as far as i've researched osx needs less powerful hardware to run at equal speed to a pc. Heck my wife's laptop pc has more ram and GHz than my mac and runs much much slower for even the most basic software including Office.


edit on 14 Nov 2010 by schrodingers dog because: (no reason given)



posted on Nov, 14 2010 @ 11:31 PM
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reply to post by schrodingers dog
 


I think you're right to a certain extent. However I am having a difficult time believing it will even come close to leveling out the advantage.

5870 is 2.5 times faster than 5750.

i7 950 has 4.4% higher clocker speed than i7 870.

DDR3-1600 CL7 TRI-CHANNEL has much more bandwidth than DDR3-1333 CL? DUAL CHANNEL.

SSD obliterate HDD's by a factor of 2 in terms of boot times.

With iMac you get a very nice operating system. That's it. While OSX might be much better with the same hardware, the fact is that the hardware isn't the same. It isn't even close to the same. I don't understand why the hardware upgrades are so costly with the iMac either because it means you're paying so much more for the hardware itself rather than the OS.

I saw benchmarks here, but those were on much slower hardware. Given the overhead for a slow computer is the same as much faster hardware, I would expect the difference to be much smaller with these systems.
edit on 14/11/10 by C0bzz because: (no reason given)



posted on Nov, 14 2010 @ 11:34 PM
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reply to post by C0bzz
 


Okay ... sounds like you're sold.

Enjoy the PC experience.




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