Comments on: The Apple Tax, Bloated Pricing or Design and Engineering Premium? http://technicallytwisted.wordpress.com/2008/12/02/the-apple-tax-bloated-pricing-or-design-and-engineering-premium/ Fri, 06 Feb 2009 14:03:57 +0000 http://wordpress.com/ hourly 1 By: Mark http://technicallytwisted.wordpress.com/2008/12/02/the-apple-tax-bloated-pricing-or-design-and-engineering-premium/#comment-6 Mark Tue, 09 Dec 2008 13:38:42 +0000 http://technicallytwisted.wordpress.com/?p=54#comment-6 David, I agree! When one reduces everything down to comparing Apples to Apples, no pun, the Apples are a much better value. When one adds the design, engineering, and software, there really is no comparison. Thanks for the comment. Mark David,
I agree! When one reduces everything down to comparing Apples to Apples, no pun, the Apples are a much better value. When one adds the design, engineering, and software, there really is no comparison.
Thanks for the comment.

Mark

]]> By: David Cohen http://technicallytwisted.wordpress.com/2008/12/02/the-apple-tax-bloated-pricing-or-design-and-engineering-premium/#comment-5 David Cohen Tue, 09 Dec 2008 13:12:06 +0000 http://technicallytwisted.wordpress.com/?p=54#comment-5 I find the whole 'Apple Tax' motif an interesting one. As a charge, it seems to me to be somewhat self-serving and ignorant of a blatantly obvious fact: Not all PCs, and not all PC software, is cheap. Take a look at machines from Sony, Toshiba, Lenovo. Yes, they do cheap PCs (though rarely do they plumb the depths of the Taiwanese clones). But, the best of their stuff, the stuff that thay are lauded for, is pretty much on a price par with an equivalent Apple machine (or in some cases is more expensive). Fact is, if you passed a law that banned the use of beige or cheap plastics in computer manufacture, there'd be precious little difference. OK, so some things like card readers would lead to a bit of give and take, but price parity would be fairly evident. However, throw software upgrade prices in (which no-one ever does), and the picture changes markedly. Upgrade prices for XP to Vista dwarfed the costs of OS X or iLife upgrades. That's just bare sticker prices, befopre oine considers the perceived value of the functionality included, and how well it runs on the platform. So where's the real "tax"? An Apple design tax, or a Microsoft upgrade tax? I find the whole ‘Apple Tax’ motif an interesting one. As a charge, it seems to me to be somewhat self-serving and ignorant of a blatantly obvious fact:

Not all PCs, and not all PC software, is cheap.

Take a look at machines from Sony, Toshiba, Lenovo. Yes, they do cheap PCs (though rarely do they plumb the depths of the Taiwanese clones). But, the best of their stuff, the stuff that thay are lauded for, is pretty much on a price par with an equivalent Apple machine (or in some cases is more expensive).

Fact is, if you passed a law that banned the use of beige or cheap plastics in computer manufacture, there’d be precious little difference. OK, so some things like card readers would lead to a bit of give and take, but price parity would be fairly evident.

However, throw software upgrade prices in (which no-one ever does), and the picture changes markedly. Upgrade prices for XP to Vista dwarfed the costs of OS X or iLife upgrades. That’s just bare sticker prices, befopre oine considers the perceived value of the functionality included, and how well it runs on the platform.

So where’s the real “tax”? An Apple design tax, or a Microsoft upgrade tax?

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