
« Amazon patents cybernetic mind-meld | Main | Ozzie walks the line »
Apple intros $13,000 PC
April 04, 2007
Apple today introduced an eight-core version of its Mac Pro computer, the top model of which, tricked out with 16 gigs of RAM and four 750-gig hard drives, will cost you more than thirteen grand. Didn't anyone tell Jobs that these things are supposed to be commodities?
(Monitor not included.)
UPDATE: Steve responds, in a way.
Advertisement: Are you ready for "The Big Switch"? Nicholas Carr's new book "is the best read so far about the significance of the shift to cloud computing," says the Financial Times. The Independent says it's "lucid and mind-boggling." Order now from Amazon.com.
Comments
Are you consulting for Dell now?
Posted by: jamesgross
at April 4, 2007 01:40 PM
Or you can buy 4 dual-core PCs and save about $10,000.
Posted by: dugh
at April 4, 2007 01:46 PM
Are you consulting for Dell now?
Yeah - they're paying me to write about Apple's product launches.
Posted by: Nick Carr
at April 4, 2007 02:20 PM
This would have made an interesting announcement 3 days ago :-)
Posted by: Zoli Erdos
at April 4, 2007 04:55 PM
Part of the problem is that you're using Apple's exorbitant prices on RAM. It accounts for about a third of that price quote you got for choosing to get 16GB of memory from Apple.
Posted by: s4xton
at April 4, 2007 05:26 PM
Christ.. you're a bit of a tosser aren't you.
Mac
----
3GHz 8-core Mac Pro with 2GB RAM, 250GB Hard Drive, 256MB Video Card, CD-RW/DVD etc etc
>>>$4296
Dell
---
2.66GHz 8-core DELL Workstation, same spec as above (ie. no monitor, no floppy).
>>>$5756
The faster (3GHz) Mac Pro is $1500 CHEAPER than the slower (2.66GHz) DELL
Posted by: Tommo_UK
at April 4, 2007 05:28 PM
Believe it or not, this post was not intended as a criticism of Apple or its pricing but as an observation - a pretty lame one, I confess - about the nature of commoditization in technology markets. But thanks for the shopping tips.
Posted by: Nick Carr
at April 4, 2007 05:40 PM
Ahhh then excuse my rudeness.. the subtle, dry nature of your observation seems to have escaped me. I think its the lower end you'll find commoditized; high end workstations still command a healthy premium, though not as much of a premium as Dell would like to charge. Bye-bye to Dell's margins, thanks to Apple. I bet they're sticking pins in voodoo dolls of Steve Jobs over there in Texas.
Posted by: Tommo_UK
at April 4, 2007 05:48 PM
Nick,
goodCRIMETHINK is the blog of comedian, author and vigilante pundit Baratunde. I saw Baratunde last night at the MassNetComms awards dinner. Funny guy, and he did a schtick on how warped Apple Mongers are. His blog post isn't quite as good as the live presentation (He has good timing), but its still funny. Here's the link:
http://www.baratunde.com/blog/archives/2007/02/apple_fans_are.html#comments
Posted by: MarcFarley
at April 5, 2007 02:52 PM
Nick, Criticizing an entire industry is easy, but now that you've taken on the Mac I'm afraid you're in for a world of pain.
Posted by: Timothy Swan
at April 5, 2007 02:57 PM
I actually thought it was kind of cool that Apple was selling a $13,000 PC. I guess my phrasing was off.
Posted by: Nick Carr
at April 5, 2007 07:36 PM
The price has gone down quite a bit. I priced out the 4 core at 16K last August.
http://chinpokomon.com/?p=277
Posted by: Kevin
at April 13, 2007 01:35 PM
Whoops, I forgot I added two 30" displays. Never mind.
Posted by: Kevin
at April 13, 2007 01:36 PM
Post a comment
Thanks for signing in, . Now you can comment. (sign out)
(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)Work in progress:
The Shallows
Nick's new book:
"Future Shock for the web-apps era" -Fast Company
"Ominously prescient" -Kirkus Reviews
"Riveting stuff" -New York Post
Greatest hits
Avatars consume as much electricity as Brazilians
The love song of J. Alfred Prufrock's avatar
Flight of the wingless coffin fly
Other writing
The end of corporate computing
Nick's last book:
Order from Amazon
Visit book site