Apple Low End Laptop? Call Me Back When You Sober Up

by Chris Seibold Apr 17, 2009

There are some go to Mac articles but the all time favorite seems to be: Macs cost too much, if Apple ever really wants to compete with the likes of Dell they'll have to crank out a cheap laptop that doesn't cost eleventy bazillion dollars

Maybe they have a point, so we'll run through the comparison exercize one more time, but let's switch it up a little. Instead of going Dell -v- Apple let's go Dell -v- Mystery Manufacturer. Heck, maybe someone even out cheaps Dell or costs as much as Apple

Here's the specs Hadley came up with:

Dell Inspiron 15 ($554)

Intel Core 2 Duo T6400 (2.00GHz/800Mhz FSB/2MB cache)
3 GB Ram
250GB SATA HD @5400 rpm
4 Cell Battery
15.6 inch screen 1366x76

That's a lot of computer for the money! But let's bring on the mystery machine

Intel Core Duo 2.26 GHz 

2 GB of RAM (Loser!)

160 GB hard drive (Loser!)

6 cell battery (winner, winner, chicken dinner!)

Intel Graphics accelerator 4500MHD (← That's important! I guess...)

13.3 inch screen (1280 by 800 LED)

Clearly this computer is a giant piece of crap compared to the Dell. I mean the specs are worse across the board. How much would you be willing to pay for this cow flop of a computer? You better be willing to pay $1,796 because that is the retail price (special discount right now -$449 for a total of $1,347). Though it is $50 bucks extra for XP instead of Vista (I'll admit, I like Vista better than XP so I didn't count that)

What the hell, before we reveal the mystery machine let's take a look at the Mac, the silver one.

Intel Core Duo 2.0 GHz

Nvidia 9400 M (← That's important I guess)

13.3 inch screen (1280 by 800 LED)

2 GB of RAM

160 GB Hard Drive

45 watt battery (5 hours)

Price: $1,29

Well the MacBook does compare nicely to the mystery machine (who wants a van anyway) but, let's face it, it is completley blown away by the Dell. Apple, and the other manufacturer simply can't touch Dell when it comes to price

So who is this mystery manufacturer that has the gall to sell Windows based machine so completely out of line with what consumers really want? You're thinking Sony, right? Maybe some super stylish offering from Lenovo? Nope, those specs are for a Dell Latitude E4300. So Dell crushes Dell. (The only reason I looked this machine up is because my wife's employer just sent her one).

What can be learned from this comparison? The first thing you should take away from this is that the $1300 price point is popular with computer manufacturers the second thing you should realize is that this is the market Apple is after, not the $500 lappy market

Back to the question of rather or not Macs are overpriced. In his piece Hadley wrote, and I quote (you can tell by the curly lines)

"If all these different companies are able to make a laptop that sells for $500 then Apple should."

A bold statement. This is the kind of thinking kids use when they get caught doing something wrong: 

"Why did you cut the drapes into ribbons?"

"Little Johnny was doing it!

And we all remember the response from Mom:

"If Little Johnny was shooting smack in a corner would you do it to?"

To which those of us about to whipped by a section of hotwheels track replied:

"I don't know, did he look like he was having fun?

Just because other companies do it doesn't make it a good idea. But Hadley has some more to say, he has a rationale behind his urging

"As the recession increases, and Windows 7 comes out these differences are going to be more and more glaring. At some point the extra revenue Apple makes with higher margins will get lost in reduced sales."

Cripes, the recession increasing? Economic prognostications from an Apple site? A bit too much protesting one suspects. Hadley might want to consider organizing a Apple tea party or something!

Here's the rub: there isn't an Apple tax anymore than there is a Dell tax. Before one side jumps up and starts yammering about specs or the other side starts BMW-Yugo comparisons it needs to be realized that it isn't about specs or about cases carved out of aluminium ingots. It is all about profit maximization, supply and demand.

While Steve won't return my calls Apple's demand curve probably looks something like a pretty flat line that suddenly tapers off. That is to say that demand for Macs isn't impacted by low price, Apple might sell a few more machines at $500 but the increase in sales won't make up for lost profits.

Hadley was adamant though, if Apple doesn't do something soon people will be buying cheap ass computers instead of Macs! The specs! THE SPECS! Macs have always cost more than Windows based machines according to convential wisdom and the reason Windows won wasn't because it was somehow better, it was because it was cheaper thanks to the evil triumverate of Intel, Dell and Microsoft

Weird thing is that even though Macs are a bazillion times the price Mac marketshare is doing fine. Screaming that Apple needs to match low priced offerings from other manufacturers at this point is like telling someone catching up in a marathon to slow the hell down because the leaders are running at a slower pace than they are. 

If you want cheaper Macs hope for less Macs sold because that's the only way you'll get them. As long as Apple is growing Mac marketshare going "low end" not only doesn't make any sense it would positively stupid. There was a time when cutting prices likely would have helped Mac marketshare but those days are long gone.

Comments

  • I guess you prob wrote this yesterday, coz today’s figures show macs taking a significant downturn. I’d paste a link but am on my iPhone…

    Of interest is the reasoning. It’s suggested apple is losing out because of the surge in netbook sales.

    Now to my mind, you cant get any more crapular than netbooks. Yet people are buying them hand over fist.

    This sends a big msg that people don’t want to pay a high price for computers. And in this recession, are looking for bargains. So I think H is right.

    But I also think there’s going to be A LOT of people disappointed with their netbooks in 12 mths time.  eBay will be flooded with them once the recession ends.

    And then we’ll go back to buying more expensive computers, like macs.

    Chris Howard had this to say on Apr 17, 2009 Posts: 1209
  • Chris,
    I did see the news about apple selling fewer Macs but the market share went up according to this article:
    http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/163251/apple_market_share_rises_slightly_as_pc_shipments_fall.html

    Chris Seibold had this to say on Apr 17, 2009 Posts: 354
  • “There was a time when cutting prices likely would have helped Mac marketshare but those days are long gone..”

    Speaking only for myself, I don’t want a low-end Mac because I think it will fatten Apple’s bottom line or increase their market share.  I couldn’t care less.

    I want a low-end Mac because I want a Mac, but I don’t want to pay $1000 when I can get the same specs for $500 on a PC.  There’s simply no way to justify that purchase when the two systems are basically the same.

    The only thing that keeps me on the Mac at this point is Final Cut Pro.  That’s the only Mac exclusive software I have since I moved from my iMac to my HP.  Otherwise, honestly I could take it or leave it.

    Beeblebrox had this to say on Apr 17, 2009 Posts: 2220
  • I hear you Beeb. If you’re all about the specs and have to use FCP it would really chafe to have to buy a Mac.

    That said there is obviously a market for the $1300 lappy. I don’t know why a multinational company decides to send out the Latitude instead of an equally specced Dell but they’ve got an IT department devoted to this stuff.

    To me Macs, and probably the latitude are worth the extra dough. The latitude is a pretty nice computer, not as nice as a macbook, but getting there. But I’m not too concerned with render times and processing power per dollar. That’s a personal thing though.

    I gave up really caring about Apple’s bottom line a few years ago because it isn’t like they are kicking any back to me. That said, looking at the question from Apple’s perspective leaves me thinking that low end is not the way to go. Sure it would be great for me (cause I’ve never bought something and wished I’d paid more) but great for me and great for Apple aren’t the same thing. And guess which option Apple will go with every time?

    Chris Seibold had this to say on Apr 17, 2009 Posts: 354
  • Now, on my desktop. Here’s the link. http://www.tuaw.com/2009/04/16/apple-market-share-drops-slightly-in-the-past-year/

    Funny how a PC site says Apple’s marketshare improved, and a Mac site says it went backwards.

    Chris Howard had this to say on Apr 18, 2009 Posts: 1209
  • Market share, who cares? BMW and Mercedes Benz have a lower market share of the U.S. car business than G.M. or Honda. Both Chevrolet’s and Honda’s will all get you down the road, but as Steve Jobs once said “The Journey is the Reward”. 

    I use XP at work and Macs at home. They both do similar things, but I love working on my Mac and put up with XP because I don’t have a choice. Why can’t MB or BMW build and sell cars that sell below $20,000? Can Apple build laptops that retail below $700? Of course Apple can do it, but the quality would suffer along with the profit margin. Apple is not like the grocery store, where they make a two cent profit on a million can’s of soup.

    Flyboybob had this to say on Apr 18, 2009 Posts: 33
  • “That said there is obviously a market for the $1300 lappy.”

    I wouldn’t deny that.  My brother just bought a laptop at roughly that price.  But his is a tablet PC that folds into a notebook for sketching and notes or turns into a regular laptop for doing other kinds of work.

    And that’s been the whole point with these discussions.  Yes, you can pay as much for a PC as you do a Mac, but in most cases, you get a lot more functionality or hardware.  A $1300 Mac laptop is going to be pretty basic comparatively.

    Beeblebrox had this to say on Apr 21, 2009 Posts: 2220
  • I’m not sure about that Beeb, the whole point of the comparison was to say that there is a Dell Latitude out there with roughly the same specs as both a Macbook and the Insprion.

    Now the latitude is nice it’s metal and black and all that. And if I had a ton of dough I’d get the latitude over the inspiron but, just looking at the specs, you’d have to wonder who would buy the inspiron. It doesn’t turn into a tablet or anything compelling. It matches up really well specwise to the MacBook and costs the same (or a little more). For the record the latitude does have a nice design. Gotta say if I was buying a Windows machine I would seriously consider a latitude. But you don’t really get anything more with the latitude than you do over the inspiron or Macbook.

    For the record, if anyone is thinking of buying a Latitude, it is a nice machine but if they try to upsell you to the docking station just say no. The docking station is craptacular

    Chris Seibold had this to say on Apr 21, 2009 Posts: 354
  • heheh. These arguments are so funny. I specced up a dell to match a mac mini and it creamed the mini both on price and performance. It seems quite an easy thing to prove macs are cheaper than pcs and that pcs are cheaper than macs. So I just laugh.

    Chris Howard had this to say on Apr 21, 2009 Posts: 1209
  • actually I was just bouncing around dell’s website and it seems to me that the latitude must be some super gouge model cause I couldn’t find any other laptop line that costs as much (well adamo, but….)

    Chris Seibold had this to say on Apr 21, 2009 Posts: 354
  • “I’m not sure about that Beeb, the whole point of the comparison was to say that there is a Dell Latitude out there with roughly the same specs as both a Macbook and the Insprion.”

    Chris, that’s one model of computer from one brand, and I fail to understand why these PC vs Mac comparison always turn out to be Dell vs Mac comparisons, as if no one else makes a PC.  Yes, there are some PCs that cost as much as Macs.  That’s not really the point.

    “I specced up a dell to match a mac mini and it creamed the mini both on price and performance.”

    I can go out and get a really nice work-horse PC for $600-700.  The ONLY Mac I can get at that price is a Mac mini, and a workhorse it ain’t.  It’s decent and can get the job done if you’re on a budget and must have a Mac, but there’s no question it’s less bang for the buck than the PC.

    The same is true in the laptop market as well.  When your lowest-end computer starts at $1K, it’s hard to argue that you can compete in price.

    Beeblebrox had this to say on Apr 22, 2009 Posts: 2220
  • wanna know something stupid, Beeb? All this talk about Apple can’t make a lowend computer coz it would be crap etc, or in apple’s own words $500=junk, is bullsh…

    It’s not the hardware that make a Mac a Mac. It’s the OS. Therefore you should be able to stick OS X on any computer and it would be significantly better (allowing that OS X is significantly better than Windows - which I know you might not, but humor me.)

    I know shite loads of people who’ve bought low-end computers that have lasted fine for years. (Ironically, I have had hardware failures on four out of six Macs I’ve owned in the last 5 years… but that’s another story, eh?)

    HP, Dell, etc don’t want warranty issues. They aren’t going to deliberately make a computer that’s shite. Yet they make computers for prices Apple calls “junk”.

    So, when folks say it’s crap, or junk, what do they really mean? Not that it’s prone to failure as they might happily let you think they mean. But simply, in their eyes, it’s inferior. But inferior doesn’t equal crap.

    And when inferior has OS X running on it, suddenly it becomes superior. Magic, that. smile

    Chris Howard had this to say on Apr 22, 2009 Posts: 1209
  • “Chris, that’s one model of computer from one brand, and I fail to understand why these PC vs Mac comparison always turn out to be Dell vs Mac comparisons, as if no one else makes a PC.  Yes, there are some PCs that cost as much as Macs.  That’s not really the point.”

    Actually, that was the point. The point I was trying to make was that since Dell was selling a 1300 compy that was equivalent to a MacBook on specs that there was a 1300 dollar price point that people were comfortable with. The reason people always choose Dell is because they are a big player.

    All that said, we’re talking about consumer stuff, Apple doesn’t really do the business thing. And here I’m wrong. The latitude isn’t easily accessible if you go to Dell’s website (which is a mess) and every other similiarly specced computer is substantially cheaper than the lat or the MacBook. (not the adamo)

    I surely get what you’re saying Beeb abut the problem is that we’re confusing specs with demand. We both know the only reason Apple charges 1300 for a MacBook is because people will pay that price. We also both understand the profit motive, there’s no reason for Apple to sell a $500 computer if the company can make more money selling a $1200 computer. Finally, we both agree that it would be fantastic if we could get Macs for a lot cheaper than we can now.

    But there is a huge gulf between what is good for you or I and what Apple is willing to do. We love the “apple community” was a great strategy for Apple when the community was fifteen people

    Chris Seibold had this to say on Apr 23, 2009 Posts: 354
  • Page 1 of 1 pages
You need log in, or register, in order to comment