Apple’s Intel Macs: Why Aren’t They Cheaper?
There’s not much to say about this, and this doesn’t even merit a real article. But one advantage to Intel processors in Macs, we were told by industry pundits, was a lower price: people suggested that Intel processors could lop off about $200 on the price of a new Mac, making it more tempting for PC users looking to switch. But when Apple announced the new iMac and MacBook with Intel processors, it was, "twice the speed for the same price".
Now, getting that kind of speed bump is nice, but where’s the price drop? I don’t know how much the processor represents in the price of an iMac, for example, but it’s true that they remain relatively expensive computers, speed bump or not. So, Apple, why aren’t they cheaper?
Posted: 1/18/2006 by kirk | Filed under: Apple & Mac OS X | 3 Comments »
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, or 
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I can’t ever remember new hardware announced at MW at a cheaper price than
the old hardware. The MBP isn’t even shipping yet, so the only people buying
them are hard core early adopters who expect to pay a premium price along with
the cuts and abuse of being on the bleeding edge. Lower prices will come in
time. Over-expectations will lead to dissappointment evey time. Macs with Intel
processors are already here 6 months before they were promised! Quite a
change from the glacial advances offered by IBM and Motorola/Freescale :-)
It’s easy to say that the move from IBM chips to Intel chips ‘should have
produced a lower cost Mac’, but the reality is that laptops with the same chip
set and same virtually same configuration cost the same. See here for proof –
http://global.acer.com/products/notebook/tm8200.htm and pricing here –
http://www.pcconnection.com/
ProductDetail sku=6323206&SourceID=k22350
From an economic standpoint, there are two things that may be
keeping the price of the iMac higher than your average beige box.
The internals of the iMac are based on a mobile Intel motherboard, and
this coupled with the integrated flat panel give the iMac more in common
with a laptop computer than a desktop.
The other thing I’ve noticed is a lack of desktop machines based on the
Intel Core Duo from other hardware makers. I did find one system from FIC in
a small form factor case and no display for $999, which is comparable in
terms of cost (with a display) to the iMac. These high prices are probably due
to the fact that Intel keeps the prices high on new CPU/motherboard designs
for a while.