
Apple Attempted to Censor Critical Coverage of Its $1k Monitor Stand - bobbybidon
https://www.extremetech.com/computing/292771-apple-attempted-to-censor-critical-coverage-of-its-1000-monitor-stand
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scarface74
This was such a monumental marketing fail. If they had just said the price of
the monitor was $7000 none of the target audience would have blinked.

Then when it went on sale, they could have quietly added in their
configuration when you buy it:

    
    
       -$700 Vesa mount

~~~
reaperducer
I could see it if the stand provided some benefit other than looking cool.
Like acting as a heat-sink, or being a massive Thunderbolt hub.

But even I, who has bought half a dozen launch-day Apple items, was surprised
that this price point made it through the marketing department. It came off as
really tone-deaf. More than half of the Macs in my office use reams of paper
as monitor stands.

Maybe iFixit will do a teardown and find out it's made from mermaid scales and
unicorn farts.

~~~
scarface74
$5000 for the iMac Pro isn’t bad if you need that kind of power - even though
you could spec a regular 5K iMac that was close enough and save a grand.

The price of the Mac Pro + monitor wouldn’t even make me blink if I had a
business that needed it.

But the stand is ridiculous even by Apple standards.

~~~
thrower123
It's bad when you can build a desktop with the same components for $2000 or
less, without the Apple Tax. Trying to act as though they aren't marking
everything up at least 100% is disingenuous, but extremely common for some
reason.

~~~
scarface74
So try to configure an iMac Pro level desktop for $2000 less.

Don’t forget that the 5K monitor by itself is $1300.

Also try configuring a workstation for $3000 with the specs of the Mac Pro.

On the lower end, try configuring a desktop for much less than the $2100 iMac
5K.

~~~
jmkni
Small nitpick, the _Mac Pro_ and _iMac Pro_ are 2 different products.

~~~
scarface74
Yes. And that’s why I use the word “also..”.

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malshe
What a click-bait headline. The title suggests Apple was involved in a large
effort to silence the negative coverage. The article lists only one instance
where they asked the website to pull down the video because it infringes
copyright! The article is still up, right?

Also, do people really believe that Apple makes their billions by selling
dongles?

~~~
bobbybidon
You're right, the title is kinda clickbait but the argument still "stands": a
$1k stand his basically taking users for cash cows (while a majority of them
are sheep)

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bobbybidon
"Sign In with Apple" is top post right now so I should I have figured this
would not get much traction ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯

~~~
bezidejni
You do realize that those are two completely distinct things and people can
like one but not the other?

~~~
bobbybidon
I do, do you realize I used the shrug?

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reaperducer
Link to the original reporting, instead of some other web site re-writing
someone else's work:

[https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/06/05/apple_stand_copyrig...](https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/06/05/apple_stand_copyright_lockdown/)

~~~
bobbybidon
this was posted after the original article (if you make such a claim, get your
facts straight)

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hermitdev
One of the many reasons I will not buy Apple. You're buying the brand, the
name, not actual quality.

I dont know what the exact percent is, but you're paying a significant markup
on hardware for Apple vs, say a Dell, for the same hardware. Yeah, OS X is BSD
based, but Dell will sell you the equivalent hardware for about half the price
and guarantee it works with Linux (with support).

I'm not a Dell fan, despite most of my prior purchases being Dell, but they
dont do an insane markup on Linux installs.

Tangent: I've also seen devs work on Macs have their code fail when dployed
because they assume OS X is _nix and Linux is_ nix not recognizong that by
default, the MacFS is case insensitive, like Windows, but Linux is case
sensitive by default.

~~~
scarface74
So Apple has been surviving on brand only for 40+ years?

Anecdotally: I am looking at a 5K iMac - 6 Core I5 with 256GB SSD and 16GB of
RAM for $2099. The only reputable company that I can find that sells a 5K
display is LG and it’s $1300 by itself.

If I try to find an equivalent price Dell it doesn’t cost any less.

~~~
mantap
If a regular display breaks, you can replace it.

If the display in your iMac breaks, you have to spend $$$ to repair it. And
maybe apple will tell you that it can't be repaired.

All-in-ones are fine as low end machines but I would never buy a premium one.

~~~
scarface74
So if my regular 5K LG display breaks and it can’t be fixed I am out of $1300.

If my iMac with a 5K display breaks and Apple can’t fix it. I’m out of $2100.

But, Apple usually will offer (non free) repairs for 7 years after a product
has been discontinued.

But that still didn’t answer the question, where can you spec out a similar PC
much cheaper?

~~~
shearskill
If you really want to try - the site
[https://pcpartpicker.com/](https://pcpartpicker.com/) is pretty easy to use
for specs.

~~~
scarface74
The original poster said you were paying a “significant markup” for Apple
computers and I specifically mentioned the $2100 iMac Pro - 16Gb 6 Core i5
with a 256GB SSD. Seeing the monitor by itself would be $1300. That leaves an
$800 budget for an equivalent computer.

So define “significant” and I’m Not building a computer myself like it’s the
90s flipping through Computer Shopper.

~~~
panpanna
> I'm Not building a computer myself like it’s the 90s flipping through
> Computer Shopper.

Maybe off topic, but...

What's wrong with researching the market and making more edcudated purchases?

~~~
scarface74
If something goes wrong with the Mac hardware, I lug it into an Apple Store
and pluck it down on the Genius Bar. If something goes wrong with the
FrankenPC not so much.

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wodenokoto
Is it really ridiculously priced though? As if such a price is unheard of. A
bang & olufsen TV starts at around $1000, and can easily be $2000.

I think it is pricy but not when compared to the kind of things apple likes to
compare themselves with.

Their watch is expensive, but not compared with a Rolex.

~~~
hhanesand
But that’s a ~TV~... a screen etc

Here it’s $1000 for two slabs of metal and a hinge...

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wodenokoto
Something got lost in editing on my phone. B&O stand starts at $1000.

Sorry.

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simongr3dal
The WWDC2019 video literally starts with the text:

"All Rights Reserved. This Broadcast and its contents are the sole property of
Apple and are protected by Federal Law and International treaties. You are
strictly prohibited from making a copy or modification of, or from
rebroadcasting, or re-encoding, this broadcast without the prior written
permission from Apple Public Relations, excepts as may be permitted by law."

The whole video is published on YouTube, they could have just linked to the
timestamp of the official video on there or on Apples own website.

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Zekio
Pretty sure copyright law allows doing exactly what they are saying you are
not allowed to do, through fair use

~~~
reaperducer
That's the "excepts as may be permitted by law" part.

