Seriously… Holy shit. Compared to every other manufacturer on earth, they hideously overpriced. Not to mention they charge an exorbitant amount for upgrades. $400 for 4GB RAM? Are you shitting me? I can get two 2GB SODIMM’s for under $100 easily. But the thing that kills me is that even compared to a Lenovo T61p, it’s ridiculously overpriced! I understand that part of the allure is the OS and the overall “look and feel” of the machine. But is it worth $500? I seriously doubt that. Just look at the comparison I did rather quickly.
We’ll start with a nicely configured 15.4″ Macbook Pro.
2.5Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo T9300 (6MB L2 cache)
2GB RAM (2×1GB)
NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT 256MB
200GB 7200rpm SATA hard drive
15.4″ 1440×900 LCD
8x DVD+/-R/DL
Integrated Bluetooth & A/B/G/N wifi
60W/hr Lithium Ion Battery (no word on how many cells)
Admittedly, it’s a beautiful piece of machinery and does have both the LED-backlit display and the muti-touch interface. However, it’s insanely expensive. Now let’s compare to a Lenovo T61p:
Intel Core 2 Duo T9300 2.5Ghz (6MB L2 cache)
2GB (2×1GB) RAM
Nvidia QuadroFX 570M 256MB
200GB 7200rpm SATA hard drive
15.4″ WUXGA+ (1920×1280) LCD
8x DVD+/-R/DL
Integrated Bluetooth & 802.11a/b/g/n wifi
7.8A/hr 9-cell Lithium Ion Battery
Windows Vista Business x64.
All this for a grand total of $2143.20… In order to match the Macbook Pro’s price, I would have to reconfigure the Lenovo with 4GB RAM, a Lenovo USB webcam and a 2yr Onsite/9×5 next business day warranty. Adding the webcam brings it back in-line with the feature set of the Macbook Pro except for the multi-touch interface. But still. Why is Apple so insanely expensive? Adding 4GB RAM and AppleCare to the Macbook Pro and changing the Lenovo to 3yrs to match the AppleCare makes the tally $3298 for the Macbook (!!!!) and $2596.16 for the Lenovo. I love the Macbook Pro, don’t get me wrong… but holy SHIT that’s a lot of money. I realize that if you configured them both with 2GB it’s a little closer in price ($2443 for the Lenovo and $2898 for the Apple). I guess you’re paying for the look of it.. along with the OS.. and the cache of owning an Apple product. Whatever. Way too much money if you ask me.