Apple computers are more expensive for a few reasons, but the main one is very simple: marketshare. Apple have about 3% of the worldwide market, so to make a profit with such low volume sales they need to charge more. However, this doesn't account for
all of the price difference between a Mac and a PC. And in any case, comparing Apple to a company like Dell (or any PC vendor) is not a fair comparison. All a Dell PC is, is parts bought from other companies at high volumes for cheap, slapped into a case and a badge stuck on. Apple design and build many things themselves, such as:
Firewire (which Apple helped create), ethernet, sound, and USB chipsets
Memory and AGP controllers
Bus/switch/hub elements on the motherboard
Airport cards, maybe?
Power management chipsets
Enclosures
PCBs
Drivers
OS
Software
Companies like Dell don't have to worry about all that, and I bet research and design doesn't come cheap.
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Originally Posted by Steve H
Apple decide there products are more special, hence they charge more  |
I
really hope that was a joke.
Macs are marketed towards professionals, and many use them - music studio's and graphic design houses being the best example. They must use them for a reason, right? I can't believe they would shell out their cash on the strength of Apple saying "Buy a Mac - they're specialââ€à …¾Ã‚¢".
Simply, Apple make great quality products. Just pick up a Powerbook and compare it to a PC laptop in build quality - they're on a different planet. Even a Sony Vaio looks like the old titanium Powerbook. The only thing that has let them down in the past is what's under the hood, mainly the CPU, and that was Motorola's fault, not Apple. With the IBM G5 they now have a processor capable of competing with x86, and can start moving forward. If they can pick up some marketshare then prices will come down, but a PC will always be cheaper.
And, before anyone accuses me of being biased, I own a PC.
EDIT:
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Also how many manufacturers are competing to produce CPU's to run Mac software?
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It's the other way around. Software is written to run on the CPU.