In both articles I found that the price difference for Macs on identical or substantially identical hardware, if they even offered the hardware you wanted, was ridiculous; and that at that pricing, Macs didn't represent a good value.
Since then Apple has completely revised their notebook product line from top to bottom.
I'm seriously lusting after the new MacBook pro 17". It's probably the nicest computer Apple has ever come up with. Seriously, it's gorgeous.
As it happens, after a little less than a year with my current personal laptop (I have separate personal and business laptops, as well as a couple I use for field engineering and testing), I'm going to be getting a new one. In this case it's because HP screwed up a warranty repair rather badly, and my current laptop is their former top of the line and is now out of production; so they are giving me a whole new laptop, a new EliteBook 8730
As it happens, I'm also in the process of rebuilding my hackintosh, which has decided to be non-cooperative of late. So I thought this would be an opportune time to revisit the state of Mac economics, from the laptop side.
It is expected that the next few months will also see a refresh of the MacPro, and MacMini lines; and when that happens I'll take another look at them as well.
So, the basic parameters for my personal notebook look like this:
- 17" screen, matte preferred, at least 1440x900, 1920x1200 preferred
- fast dual or quad core processor, at least 2.5ghz
- at least 4 gb ram
- at least a 250gb 7200rpm hard drive
- discrete graphics with at least 512m dedicated vram
- DVD recorder required, Blu-Ray STRONGLY preferred
- Discrete wireless A/B/G/N and Bluetooth (discrete is important for driver support)
- Both HDMI and DVI output preferred (at least one is required), HD15 (VGA) optional
- At least 3 USB ports required, and more preferred, firewire preferred, but not required
- At least a 4 hour real world battery life
HP is the king of super-high end notebooks right now (actually they have been for a while); and as I said I have an HP and will be getting another one, so I chose them to compare to the 17" MacBook.
I matched the config of the MacBook as close as possible to the list above (it offers fewer options than the HP does), and then built an HP to match it exactly (which was easy with off the shelf options choices). Then I built a maxed out configuration on the Mac and matched it again.
So first, how does the elitebook stack up?
HP EliteBook 8730Now the Mac
Features: The elitbook matches every feature on that list, and then some. Critically, it has BluRay available (+ $475) and all the requested ports are onboard without adapaters.
Pluses: Replaceable battery. When fully loaded has available "dream color" display, Nvidia QuadroFX 3700 (far more graphical power than the Mac), and quad core, or core 2 extreme processors.
Minuses: Just barely makes the 4 hour realworld battery test
Price (matching config): $2550
Fully loaded (matching config): $3725 (about $5k with every option added, but that includes twice the processor as the Mac, 4 times the video, and BluRay)
17" MacBook pro:
Features: Matches most things, but doesn't have BluRay available, and doesn't have all the desired ports (or requires adapters) or discrete wireless.
Pluses: Battery is officially rated at 8 hours. Chassis is very sturdy and durable.
Minuses: Battery can't be changed without tools. Real world testing shows just over 4 hours life.
Price (matching config): $3066
Fully loaded (matching config): $4566
So on the high end, where the price differences tend to be smaller between Macs and comparable machines, you're talking a basic config difference of $516, and a top config price difference of $831. Or, for the same price, you can add a BluRay player, and significantly better video to the HP, and for $500 more you can go to a core 2 extreme, or quad core processor.
Just for giggles, what about a more mainstream choice, the 15" business laptop?
This is the straight up mainstream performance sector of the market, where the majority of the "above entry level" laptops are purchased.
This segment includes my own business laptop, a Dell Latitude D830; and because Dell leads the market in this segment I think I'll do the comparison with Dell against a 15" MacBook pro.
Ok, first, the features:
- 15" screen, matte preferred, at least 1280x800, 1440x900 preferred
- fast dual core processor, at least 2.5ghz
- 4 gb ram
- at least a 250gb 7200rpm hard drive or 320gb 5400 rpm hard drive
- discrete graphics with at least 256m dedicated vram, 512m preferred
- DVD recorder required, BluRay desireable but not necessary
- Discrete wireless A/B/G/N and Bluetooth (discrete is important for driver support)
- DVI or HDMI output (at least one is required), HD15 (VGA) optional
- At least 3 USB ports required, and more preferred; firewire preferred, but not required
- At least a 4 hour real world battery life
So I matched the config of the MacBook as close as possible to the list above (as with HP, Apple offers fewer options than Dell), and then built a Dell to match it exactly. Again, as before I then took the same model built a maxed out configuration on the Mac and matched it again.
The closest match was the Dell Studio 15; but I couldn't get it down quite as low as the MacBooks lower end spec; ending up with a slightly faster processor (or you could go 75mhz slower than the Mac, for $175 cheaper), but lower end video.
The next higher model Dell with higher end video, is MUCH higher end than the MacBook (
The Latitude e6500 is CONSIDERABLY more capable; and still far cheaper, at $1950 in a matching or better configuration. ); given that, I left it on the Studio 15 as the closest comparison.
Also, there are only two configurable options on the 15" 4gb MacBook pro; a 2.8ghz processor vs a 2.53, and a different hard drive (you can go to SSD for $250) so I'm not bothering with a "high end" configuration comparison.
You could go to the 2.4ghz model for $500 less, which would also reduce the price on the Dell by $300.
Dell Studio 15Now the Mac
Features: As with the HP, the Dell matches every feature on that list, and then some. Critically, it has bothe a matte screen and BluRay available (+ $150) while the Mac does not. Also, as with the HP all the requested ports are onboard without adapaters.
Pluses: When fully loaded has available 1920x1200 display, slightly better audio, BluRay, and considerably faster processors.
Minuses: Case construction not as nice as the Mac. Lower end video.
Price (matching config): $1367
15" MacBook pro:The price difference here in the midrange, is quite frankly obscene; with the Mac costing almost exactly double the equivalent Dell.
Features: Matches most things, but doesn't have BluRay available, and doesn't have all the desired ports (or requires adapters) or discrete wireless.
Pluses: Battery is officially rated at 6 hours. Chassis is very sturdy and durable. Video is slightly better
Minuses: Real world testing shows just over 4 hours battery life.
Price (matching config): $2715
So it looks like, at least for the notebooks, the Mac tax is in full effect.
Seriously folks, if you really want a Mac notebook and don't care about the style, do some research on the hardware specs, buy a retail copy of Leopard, and hackintosh your way to happiness for half the cost. It's even legal, at least from a copyright standpoint **.
**You would be in volation of the software terms of use; but I both personally believe (from a moral standpoint), and in my legal judgement, that a vendor does not have the right to restrict your use on a purchase.
Software vendors try and get around this by saying that you don't purchase software, you effectively lease a license; but anywhere it has gone to court, that argument has been smacked down. So long as you actually pay for a copy of the software, you are within your fair use rights to use that software however you like.
