Surface Laptop Studio with similar specs at $2100. Costs +$600 to go to 32GB and 1TB (which == $400 + $200 upgrade you mentioned).
Dell XPS 15" is $2400.
If you were even dimly aware of current prices for high-end laptops you'd know the Mac is priced in the same expensive range. If you prefer $1K plastic crap that's fine. Some people like Velveeta and Canned Spam too.
That XPS 15" is probably running a comet lake chip.
https://en.wikichip.org/wiki/intel/microarchitectures/comet_...
Ie, 14mm, launched in 2019
That node size (less the ++'s) goes back to Skylake (when it was amazing actually) which is from 2015.
Acer sells MUCH cheaper machines all day:
$1.6K for a Predator here:
https://www.walmart.com/ip/2021-Flagship-Acer-Predator-Trito...
Apple has been told that their products (watch, airpods, iphones etc) have been too costly for decades now. And still makes money selling them.
What I don't get - Apple's stuff seems to last forever. My dell's just crap out (battery, drivers, updates etc). My wife on a mac -> she just goes and goes. I'd love to see the support histories on old ACER's and Dell's vs Apple.
What they don't value is that apple, in the midst of chip shortage, is going to be doing delivery within ONE WEEK of announcement of an absolutely bleeding edge node solution.
I get it, your Dell Intel whatever is better and/or cheaper. I used to be on dell and now am on lenovo. But there is a reason apple charges what they do, a totally integrated solution, that just works, battery life for miles, not too hot on the lap etc etc. and available in seemingly insane quantities.
Seriously, ford parks cash cow F-150's and apple is turning out millions and millions of phones (100 million phones alone per year)?
And you’re right: I don’t appreciate that Apple can deliver a week later. That’s not valuable when my machines still work. Not paying a premium for that.
I’ve been chafing at the upgrade cost of Apple laptops for more than a decade of using their products. The reason customers keep paying is for the reputation, and because of their short memories. The keyboard debacle, the screen issues, MacBook Air early gen laptops burning people’s laps… and those are just the laptop issues.
I’m upset because this is just another instance where Apple’s profit margin goes up substantially. Their markup is basically 4x higher than MSRP off the aftermarket RAM/SSD.
No one is using Dell or Acer here. We're just holding on to our old MBPs.
I wouldn't care about the notch for a 2k laptop but I do care for a 3500 laptop. Ontop of that I'll absolutely need more storage and ram so it's 4k laptop. But the notch. So ugly. Welp guess no 2021 MBP for me.
It has:
* dead SSD, replaced on warranty
* dead battery
* dead keyboard
* dead audio
* some hardware issues, I think related to GPU (it panics sometimes)
* replaced charger, second charger is in bad condition, probably time to think about replacing it as well
It's the most terrible laptop I've ever owned. I owned plenty of laptops and I never had any issue with any of them. Macbook really set the bar.
That said, it kind of works... I use USB keyboard, USB headset, always plugged in, don't push it too far, as it starts to throttle very fast. But it loads some ancient macOS version, constantly nags me about updating it.
I'll buy new Macbook. Because of macOS. Reliability-wise I don't have any expectations from Apple. I bought plenty of Apple devices and I had plenty of issues with many of those devices. They definitely don't last forever. Apple software - that's what hooked me.
I have 2013 MBP, but have removed OSX and use it solely as a Windows machine. Nothing ever broke on it, and I use it solely for build quality and reliability.
I’m interested in the disparity between Apple and others with enterprise support programs. Virtually any other company will send you a loaner or replacement laptop under warranty and repair yours. Apple seems to just say “That sucks” and might fix your laptop.
Especially the keyboards, and the speakers in recent years.
If you don't mind Windows, lots and lots of cheaper options. But you already knew that.
Ultimately, though, my beef with their pricing is not really about this specific release which obviously uses cutting-edge components, but about Apple's general approach to pricing these upgrades. They'll happily sell you old tech with the same crazy markups. You can still buy a new 27" Intel iMac with 8GB of RAM and the option to upgrade to 16 for $200. That's just a normal 8GB DDR4 SODIMM, which you could instead order for $29, and it installs in about 15 seconds.
I get that businesses need margins to survive, but Apple's stinginess and customer unfriendly price structure with storage and memory has been going on for a long time and just really bothers me.
I like their products! Just let me spec it such that it deserves the "Pro" label without feeling like a chump.
That's perfectly fine, you don't have to use a MacBook if the value isn't there for you.
I'm never going to buy a Bugatti Chiron, but you won't find me going to their forums and bleating on about how the gas mileage isn't as good as my Ford Focus...
Or at least they did. This loss in value is what I’m complaining about.
And this isn’t Apple’s forums, now is it?
The touchpad alone is probably worth it.
If you look at a feature comparison, sure, macs have always looked like a bad deal, but that evaporates when you bring a time calculation into it. The surveys I have seen all seem to place macs at about half the failure rate of other devices, and they seem to last twice as long. everyone seems to have a shocking story from Lenovo/Dell et. al. about shoddy hardware and incompetent support for anyone without a $10mil+ PO. If you pay more up front, you can make it back by using the same device for longer.
I'm not paying $2k for a laptop below what I need as a developer, when <$2k from literally anyone else will get what I need.
Apple is ridiculous. Inflation is murder right now, and they JACK the prices without delivering more value.