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I don't know where Farhad Manjoo is getting his numbers from when he talks about a $100 dollar price premium for Apple hardware versus PC hardware. I am in the market for a new notebook, my first notebook in fact, and having purchased an Apple computer back in my Stanford days (an LC II aka “The Pizza Box”) I was leaning hard in Apple's direction. However, what I discovered was not a relatively paltry $100 dollar price difference but a supreme $600 dollar price difference. Moreover, Apple notebooks have some glaring hardware deficiencies. For example, I can purchase an ASUS F3 series notebook with the exact or better hardware specs for $1400 dollars at Newegg while a comparable Apple MacBook Pro costs me $2000 dollars. And the Mac lacks the following:
1)Extended battery option
2)VGA port (don't lose/forget that DVI-to-VGA adapter on presentation day)
3)Card reader (can I at least get a basic 3-in-1?)
4)V.92 modem (wireless isn't everywhere you know)
5)S-Video
The ASUS notebook as well as almost any Dell, HP, Gateway etc... have these basic, sometimes essential hardware I/O ports. Apple forces you to buy and/or carry around adapters from them for items 2-5. This is called vendor lock-in. And anyway you slice it, there is no way that resale value is going to recoup a 43% price premium for Apple hardware at the time of purchase. And thats without adding the cost of the USB adapters for items 2-5. Look, I know that the computers are more aesthetically pleasing than most and have better hardware/software integration but that isn't worth a 43% price differential. If Apple wants my hard-earned money, they need to fix the above mentioned items AND lower their prices significantly. And don't tell me it can't be done, we all saw what happened with the iPhone.
Personally, I believe Apple is being greedy about its hardware profit margins and snobbish about its products although they lack basic features. They make up for it with eye catching design and marketing a culture instead of a product. This new revived Apple reminds me of the old Apple and why I left the platform a long time ago.
