Tom's Hardware says Apple and PC prices are equivalent

I picked the windows PC that I would buy if I were to buy a laptop right now, and I chose the Apple laptop that I would get if I were to get a laptop right now. I tried to be as fair as possible.

PC: Sony VAIO FW190
Apple: Macbook Pro 2.4ghz

Specs in common: 250gb 5400 rpm hard drive, 2gb RAM, 256mb discrete graphics card, 2.4ghz dual-core processor, DVD write and read drive.

VAIO only: 17-inch 16:9 1600x900 resolution hi-color screen, Microsoft Office Professional 2007

Macbook Pro only: 15-inch 16:10 1440x900 resolution screen, iWork '08 preinstalled



Total price: of VAIO: $1,789.99

Total price of Apple: $2,178.00

about a $400 difference. Honestly, I would take the VAIO. maybe it's the 16:9 screen, or maybe it's because of the cool design, or maybe, like the new Mac commercial says, i'm just afraid to switch to Mac, I don't know.

Pretty lame article. In some cases an Apple computer is the same price range as a PC, but for the most part the PC will be cheaper.

Really, whatever. Just like the 2 OSes. Really they are so similar. I switch back and forth all the time. My Vista-64bit workstation is rock solid and I try and remember to reboot once a week (often forgetting). My main workstation Mac is not quite as stable. It has a few more crashes. BUT on my laptops, well, lately the PC laptops running Vista-32 have a few more crashes than the Mac laptops.

Use the tool you feel comfortable with.

How about if you're a photographer and need some storage space, the cheapest Apple desktop with a chassis is $2700. Ridiculous. I don't care how many cores it has, I certainly don't need 2 processors, but Apple makes me have them if I want to have a photo machine. I can build a fine PC for under $1200.

Here's another quick point on the difference in PC hardware and Apple.

http://www.hugolarge.com/2008/08/apple-vs-dell/

Not only did the author take a beating, he's since written an article saying that Macs cost 2x what PCs cost.

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/apple-mac-windows,6071.html

Let's face it -- Macs cost more. They are probably worth it. My $2000 MacBook Pro is a fine machine. It's so much nicer than most PC laptops. But there are plenty of PC laptops that I could get with equivalent specs that cost much less. I could get a 1680x1050 or 1920x1200 15" screen. But it wouldn't look as nice, feel as nice, or run OS X. My mom's $599 Dell laptop is a total piece of plastic crap, but it runs, and for most people, it's probably fine. I know it's crap, but then again, it cost $1400 less than mine.

Not only did the author take a beating, he's since written an article saying that Macs cost 2x what PCs cost.

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/apple-mac-windows,6071.html

Let's face it -- Macs cost more. They are probably worth it. My $2000 MacBook Pro is a fine machine. It's so much nicer than most PC laptops. But there are plenty of PC laptops that I could get with equivalent specs that cost much less. I could get a 1680x1050 or 1920x1200 15" screen. But it wouldn't look as nice, feel as nice, or run OS X. My mom's $599 Dell laptop is a total piece of plastic crap, but it runs, and for most people, it's probably fine. I know it's crap, but then again, it cost $1400 less than mine.

I almost felt bad for the writer based on the comment abuse. He took a beating worthy of a rented mule from his normal readers.

The argument breaks down when you look at Apple prices in other countries. I'm from Australia, and here are the retail prices of the three Macbook Pro models in AUD:

$ 2,699.00
$ 3,399.00
$ 3,799.00

Compared to the USD price, with AUD conversions (current as at time of posting) in brackets:

$1,999.00 ($2,244)
$2,499.00 ($2,805)
$2,799.00 ($3,142)

GST in Australia is 10%, but that doesn't make up the difference... there's import duties as well I'm sure, but still there is a big disparity in price which has always been there, and which doesn't fluctuate in line with the strength of the Aussie dollar against the US dollar.

Tom's Hardware should do localised versions of these to investigate whether the argument holds up in other territories as well.

I think most people are missing the point. It is hard enough to compare pc's to pc's let alone a pc to a mac. Just go into your local computer store and look at the specs of the pc's. You can get a P4 Duo Core 2 for around $399.00. Oh wait a minute, you can also get a P4 Duo Core 2 for $2499.00. You can take 2 machines with the exact same hard drive size, ram, cpu size etc and have hundreds, to thousands of dollars difference. It comes down to how well the parts are built. Ever buy a 300 watt power supply? Prices range from $25.00 to $500.00 for 300 watt power supplies. You can't tell me they are the same. That is why you can't compare mac's to pc's because the hardware is not using 100% the same components. I have been a pc builder for 15 years. Cheap pc's (can you say HP, compaq and Dell inpsiron) will not last as long as a mac. I have several customers that replace their machines every 18-24 months due to failure, however the ones that have mac's (or bought very high end pc's) have been running them for 6+ years.

As for windows haters and mac haters, well.....I use to be a mac hater just because of what I heard about them. However, ever since I bought my first one I have no need for a pc running an unreliable system (yes I am an MCSE that is not a fan of Microsoft's O/S...don't get me started on Vista).

The thing is, people will spend what they can and want to spend, regardless of feature parity.

Macs do cost more when you look at the receipt - and that's all 75% of the computer-buying public look at when making their purchase decision.