Companies don't price products based on component costs.

With healthy competition product price is reduced almost to component cost. Not the case with Apple, sadly.

There's tons of competition in the PC space.

If nobody makes alternative Mac-like machines people want to buy for cheaper (or if Macs are seen as Veblen goods), that's a different matter.

But Apple doesn't charge $4000 for a MacBook Pro for lack of competition in the laptop space.

"But only Apple makes MBPs" is not an argument. Only Acer makes Acer machines, and only MS makes Surfaces too.

The argument is that only Apple makes computers that run macOS well. If they would allow macOS to run on other computers (legally), they would face real competition.

All PC makers had to do was come up with their own competing operating system around 2000. It’s not like Apple was rolling in cash back then.

PC manufacturers only have themselves to blame for being low margin commodities.

Nonsense, we'll see the PC OEMs come up with their own first-class OSes to compete any day now. /s

>The argument is that only Apple makes computers that run macOS well

Apple also makes macOS. Dell, Acer, and co are free to make their own OS. MS and Google already did. Heck, even some student in Helsinki did IIRC.

Can't blame Apple if people don't want their PC+generic OS bundle and prefer Mac+macOS.

Soldering in the RAM amounts to apple resorting to extortion. Where else are you gonna get this RAM other than paying the toll troll hundreds of dollars over what it should cost solely because apple greedily removed alternatives.

The RAM is quite frankly easily upgradeable on the iMac.

I hear some models they have a nice little door but some models involve a lot more frankensteining. At least on macbook's its been impossible for a while.