Now go back 5, 10, 15, 20 years.
Are this now quite the bargains?
Bob
Ever since my entering into the computer world, I have always made it a point for myself to investigate what can be some of the most expensive computers, and what they can do.
For starters, I will add the two best Macs that sell currently: the Mac Pro and its laptop counterpart, the MacBook Pro.
The Mac Pro, with a base price of $2200.00 at 2.0Ghz, is what I think to be an incredible machine. In hardware (excluding pre-installed software, AppleCare, and .Mac), the Mac Pro can cost up to $16,824.00. For the full Apple experience, this hot rod can be bought with:
two Intel Xeon "Woodcrest" 3.0Ghz processors,
16GB of RAM, four 750GB hard drives for 3TB of storage,
a 512MB NVIDIA Quadro FX 4500 with Stereo 3D (2 x dual-link DVI),
two 30 inch Apple Cinema HD displays,
two 16x superdrives,
both Bluetooth 2.0+EDR and AirPort Extreme,
a quad-channel 4Gb Fibre Channel PCI Express card for connecting to Xserve RAID,
an Apple USB modem,
the wireless Mighty Mouse and wireless keyboard,
Spanish or English OS X (doesn't affect price)
Unlimited Mac OS X Server Client
Aperture 1.5, Logic, or Final Cut Studio Express
a .Mac subscirption,
and an AppleCare subscription.
Yeah that's a lot. But for $18,440.95? I think anyone who paid that for a computer would have to be rich and crazy, not just rich. Come on, that kind of power in a computer is not too common, but it is great. But this is a fantasy for most people. I'm pretty sure 99.9% of people asked would say that they don't need that much computer power. Who really would, besides the government?
The MacBook Pro is more like a fourth of the Mac Pro on legs. (Yes I know, lists are boring, but I'm explaining my theory here).
The 17 inch model sells for $2,799, and the lower end 2.2Ghz 15 inch model sells for $1,999.
Completely tricked out, the ultimate Mac laptop would have:
a 2.4Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo processor,
4GB of RAM,
a 250GB @ 4200 rpm for storage OR a 160GB hard drive @ 7200 for less storage, but more speed,
a glossy or matte high-res 17 inch display,
an Apple 30 inch HD display for mirroring or extended desktop stuff from the other forums,
an Apple USB modem,
an Apple MagSafe airline adapter,
the backlit keyboard with English or Spanish Mac OS X (doesn't affect price),
any of the $299 pre-installed software,
.Mac,
and AppleCare.
This is actually a logical computer for high-end graphic artists and musicians who are on-the-go, like myself, and from the reviews on this, it may be worth buying. If you have a spare $6,423.95 in your pocket. But that's less than half of the Mac Pro, and if I needed another MBP, I'd go ahead and buy that. But 4GB of RAM is too little for the money Apple wants for memory, HP can make a Vista 17 inch laptop with 400GB of storage or something like it, most people don't need to pay $2K for a second HD monitor, and most people who could buy this wouldn't need a USB modem because of broadband.
Now the point of this listing of the high-end Macs is to show their "superiority" (if that's what we should call it) to other computers. Are they good? They are top-of-the-line machines. Are they worth paying thousands of dollars for? Not it you don't need the extras that you could buy and if you're trying to save money.
I posted this in a Mac forum so that my fellow Mac users would also contribute to this. If this was in a Windows forum, I'd get scorned for claiming that Tiger is better than Vista and XP, but still, it is anyway. I'm just showing the Mac OS supercomputers.
Whoever reads this, post your comments and list any other combos of Mac hardware for good deals and stuff. Windows users or Mac users who are familiar with the other side, post your ideas of Windows overpriced supercomputers and compare them to Apple's.
I encourage others to argue with me to prove me if I'm wrong with this: HIGH-END Macs can be overpriced (MacBooks and Mac Minis are great for the budgeters), but are still better than all the other overpriced Windows machines. I use both Windows and Macs, and I have found that Windows machines are just horrible in comparison. Many of my associates agree with me.
Uncle BeatleMegaFan wants YOU to comment on this.

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