
Apple is trolling us on prices? - Lagogarda
https://mashable.com/article/apple-trolling-prices/
======
mrweasel
Haven't the stand been debated to death by now? It seems like the general
opinion is that they should just have made it a $5999 monitor, including the
stand, but knocked $1000 of the price is you didn't want the stand.

~~~
askafriend
Exactly this.

The reason these components are priced like that is because VFX studios don't
use stands or wheels. Everyone has mounts and the machines are locked in
place. That's who the Mac Pro and XDR Monitor are aimed at. In fact, that's
also why the XDR monitor doesn't have a webcam built-in like almost all modern
monitors. Webcams are not allowed in many VFX studios.

So if you want a stand or wheels designed to fit these ultra-niche components,
that in and of itself is niche amongst the niche.

The cost of R&D + materials for those parts will probably far exceed what
Apple will ever recoup in sales.

This isn't like the Apple Watch where they manufacture 60 million of them
every year. There are no scale advantages here, it's just Apple doing
enthusiasts a favor and making highly custom one-off work available.

~~~
lostmsu
Modern monitors have a webcam attached to them? Do you mean attached by the
owner or built-in? Weird phrasing.

~~~
askafriend
Good catch, fixed.

------
holstvoogd
What is the point of this kind of article? Don't want to pay 400,- for a set
of premium wheels? Then don't buy them and be done with it.

I mean, some people pay that for a pair of jeans. I think that is BS, so I
don't buy such jeans. Problem solved. And I didn't even go around berating
jeans companies for selling expensive jeans :o

~~~
calcifer
> premium wheels

What exactly is premium about them?

~~~
blueberry_47
The Apple logo

------
AmVess
$59,945.00 for a fully loaded desktop PC with monitor sure does feel like this
is an elaborate troll job.

On the other hand, if they are in a position to command that sort of dosh for
it, why not?

With all the cash they have, I'd to see some innovation in technology versus a
weird chassis design and adding zeros to price tags, though.

~~~
holstvoogd
I think calling it a desktop pc is a bit of an understatement :P

I have to say though, after buying a non-apple laptop recently, I feel at
least macbooks are worth the extra 1k over what I paid just for build quality.
I something with similar specs to my MBP for ~1600$ and it is just a piece of
shitty plastic with a crappy trackpad & worse speakers than on a 90s phone.
I'll gladly pay the premium to have apple harware I've learned hehe

~~~
mister_hn
sure, then how do you explain the continuous drama made here on HN and on
Reddit about the faulty Keyboard (for 3 years), the speakers that "pop" (fresh
on MBP 16") and thermal throttling?

1K extra doesn't make the product "pro" or "premium", especially if you don't
allow people to upgrade it after the Warranty is expired (RAM and Disk
soldered, nice).

~~~
Betelgeuse90
FWIW, the popping speakers are a software related issue, many users who
updated to a recent version of Catalina have reported the issue has been fixed
for them. Also, thermal throttling has not really been an issue with the new
16" MBP. It can sustain well over base clock for indefinite periods it seems
while still staying under the power budget.

------
alanfranz
The huge issue is: what are competitors doing?

How can it be that in 2019 I can't have another trackpad which is comparable
in quality to a 2009 Macbook Pro trackpad?

How can it be that Windows 10, while slightly better than Windows 7 and 8, is
still a terrible mess with regards to a ton of things (examples: hidpi,
nonsensical settings organization, drivers requiring manual updates)?

I won't start talking about Linux desktop, because, IMHO, that's the NCAA of
desktops. Not the same league as Windows and Mac.

Apple can put an incredible price tag on anything because other vendors are
simply doing a terrible job just at coping.

~~~
wayneftw
Competitors are occupying the vast majority of the market. Apple laptops and
desktops comprise about 12% in the US and significantly less abroad.

Comparable trackpads certainly do exist including all the gesture support in
Windows or Linux. I have a lowly Acer E5-575G - a 5 year old machine at least
- that provides exactly that. When was the last time you looked?

Windows 10 itself has perfect support for hidpi, better settings organization
than macOS and I can't remember the last time I've had to update a driver in
the past decade... So, what are your specific complaints about hidpi or
settings organization?

You're right that Linux desktops aren't in the same league as Windows or Mac.
They're actually much, much more flexible. I certainly put them in a different
league after having switched. And I'm lazy. I wouldn't have switched if I had
to fiddle with things all the time. I recommend Manjaro Linux with XFCE. I'll
still use Windows for building Windows things or Macs for building Apple
things. But that's just because of lock-in.

Apple can put a 20-30% higher price on _some of their products_ due to a
combination of brilliant marketing and technical lock-in. Some people have
gotten convinced that there's nothing for them but macOS. You'd definitely see
a lot less people on Apple hardware if macOS could easily run on "clones"
again as it once did though. That's why Apple will sue anyone who tries to
even goes so far as to start a professional service for installing macOS on
non-Apple machines.

------
goldcd
It's the same approach that luxury car makers take, where the normal set of
options could buy you a budget car.

The people who are going to buy this are a self-selecting group who have the
money, want 'the best' performance and want it from Apple.

Yes, you could buy a third party monitor stand or wheels - but you're only
saving a small percentage of the price and would have to look at your machine
as being 'imperfect'. So you grit your teeth and pay.

The people who wouldn't pay, have already built themselves some fugly
hackintosh.

------
t-h-e-chief
If you compare it to other server systems, it is pretty typical. I remember
talking to Cisco about buying some lug nuts for our rack and they quoted me a
price that was one-hundred times more than you could easily buy them for from
a local supplier.

------
mamcx
Instead of prices, I think is storage and memory (of base configs for
desktops/laptops) 128GB/256SSD/8GB is too low IMHO.

