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.
Are you consulting for Dell now?
Or you can buy 4 dual-core PCs and save about $10,000.
Are you consulting for Dell now?
Yeah – they’re paying me to write about Apple’s product launches.
This would have made an interesting announcement 3 days ago :-)
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.
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
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.
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.
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
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.
I actually thought it was kind of cool that Apple was selling a $13,000 PC. I guess my phrasing was off.
The price has gone down quite a bit. I priced out the 4 core at 16K last August.
http://chinpokomon.com/?p=277
Whoops, I forgot I added two 30″ displays. Never mind.