Macbook pro - cost vs spec

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Hi

I was inspecting the new line of mac pros today, given an infinite budget I can see their appeal. For a 15" version I am looking at £1200 from Apple. I've been the Sony store and for an equally speced Vaio it's only £620. Now as much as I try (I'd prefer a macbook TBH) I can't see £500 of difference. Similar on support, both well made, both have excellent screens (the Vaio cost includes a screen upgrade) both that i5's and a decent amount of RAM, the Sony has a BD player, the GPU on the Vaio (also upgraded) is better.

What am I not including in the cost of the MB Pro guys? From the looks of it, I could buy two better equipped Viao's for one MB pro?
 
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Usual Apple stuff. (Slightly) Better build quality, battery life, OSX, best trackpad on the market and a warm tingly feeling you get for being so cool!

I have a macbook (a second generation Intel based model) and when I bought that, it was actually decent value, within about £100-£150 of an equally speced machine from Dell etc.. But I have to say today I was a bit surprised about the difference between a 15" mac and the alternatives. As much as I like the mac's battery life, neither is mobile in the sense of carrying it about for more than a commute to work (in which case both have adequate battery life). I think the "warming tiggly felling" applies to Viaos too (both top quality machines). The price difference is alarming though, giving the Apple a £100 head start for a decent battery life, still means Apple = £1200 Sony = £720 , that's pretty shocking.
 
Soldato
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It's running OS X.

Obviously this isn't a hardware aspect, but is a fundamental benefit over the competition for many.

Really it's down to this - and how much it impact you.

For me - well I develop mac/iPhone so I get returns on it.
 
Soldato
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the vaios are nicely made too...

its why ive held off upgrading so long. when i bought this macbook it was a bargain compared to now. everyone else is dropping prices and apple are raising them :(

i guess if people really 'need' osx then they will pay the price for it. i like it but i dont need it.
 
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the vaios are nicely made too...

its why ive held off upgrading so long. when i bought this macbook it was a bargain compared to now. everyone else is dropping prices and apple are raising them :(

i guess if people really 'need' osx then they will pay the price for it. i like it but i dont need it.

Thanks Andy, I'm just looking for a straight answer, if the truth is that the £528 price difference is down to OSX and battery life alone, if so then damn I think that's a raw deal. I can accept a 10% difference for aesthetics and OSX (like the early Intel macbooks) but the 40%+ premium for two factors, I'm not sure. What is are these Macbook Pro's actually giving me for 40%+ of the price
 
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I understand that, but is OSX worth £480?
Seems a bit like fancy ergonomic chairs. I'm sure they make a huge margin over R&D/material costs, but if the buyer is going to be spending hours and hours every day in it, the high price can still be worth paying to them.
 
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Soldato
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Seems a bit like fancy ergonomic chairs. I'm sure they make a huge margin over R&D/material costs, but if the buyer/user is going to be spending a lot of time in it, the retail price might still be worth paying.

Well as much as I see your point, I can't see that you're adding anything to saying the macbook pro is worth an extra £400+. You seem to be suggesting that there are no costs by Sony in R&D/materials, which is clearly balls. All I am looking for is a sound explanation and justification of the £400 cost on a £1200 laptop. It should be straight forward if the macbook pro is worth the cost? I'm not being anti mac, just realistic
 
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edit - removed glib question.

You seem to be suggesting that there are no costs by Sony in R&D/materials, which is clearly balls.
I was awkwardly saying the opposite, that that probably isn't the reason Macs are as expensive as they are.

I spend a ton of time on the computer so when I last bought one, I wasn't looking for the best value for money computer, but the best computer - which in my eyes was the MBP 17. I like OS X because it is unix with a beautiful UI and it attracts great quality 3rd party applications, including my favourites Things, TextMate, LaunchBar, NetNewsWire, Tweetie and Pixelmator.
 
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ill try and some it up for you

battery life
Extra life says it all

Magsafe:
unplug power lead without dropping your laptop, saved me a few times.

OSX
easy & nice to use, though windows is also nice plus OSX has cheaper upgrades than windows. (most of the time)

Case
its very nice case everything just fits nicely

Drop detection:
turns the HDD off when detect you have dropped it, unsure how it works but it seems to work.

Screen:
Very good screen, i doubt Sony is similar in quality? IPS/PVA?

Apple
Your paying for Apples great Service & support, though Sony's could be good..


Software:
There are nice software on Win7, but there also some very nice software on OSX that can be superior to win7. but also be the other way around.


GPU:
Macbook has 2, (you have to pay for this some way)

Longevity:
Macs do last a very long time, not saying PC's dont, but Mac seem to keep there speed for longer, my dad 4 year old laptop takes 4 minutes, My macbook with very simlar spec takes 20 second.

Resale value:
Price is higher on the Mac but will sell closer to your buying price, than a PC.
just look at some used prices on that, my Macbook 2006 that i bought for £800 someone offered me £650 for it the otherday

Accelerometer:
laptop senses how you move it. not much point to this other than look good with some apps.

Upgrades
Upgrades on any laptop are fairly easily however does sony allow you to upgrade manually without breaking your warranty?

General
Save money on AV/Malware
Looks Nice, it connects to a 2560x1600 display


cant think of much more, if i do will add to help you.

however im very unbiased heck, look at my sig i run all oses and use them every day :)

hope this helps
 
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Soldato
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I dont know why this question always crops up... Yes they are expensive... so what? You have plenty more options available to you, and if you're the kind of person that compares hardware specs then an apple isn't really for you.

I don't have a new unibody mac, but I do have an old powerbook. It's 5 years old and I still use it everyday. It's never let me down, I really dont think I've ever owned a piece of hardware as reliable.

One thing to mention is resale value. Being all aluminium they're surprisingly robust (as long as you dont scratch it) and very desireable. Just checked completed listings on ebay, my powerbook is still going for £350-400 which is pretty impressive.
 
Soldato
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Drop detection:
turns the HDD off when detect you have dropped it, unsure how it works but it seems to work.

Basically just an accelerometer. :)

Resale value:
Price is higher on the Mac but will sell closer to your buying price, than a PC.
just look at some used prices on that, my Macbook 2006 that i bought for £800 someone offered me £650 for it the otherday.

This is a good point.
 
Soldato
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Don't the 15" versions start at £1499, or am I missing something? :confused:

Could be mate, popped into "western" which like out local Apple shop, cheapest 15" was 1200 IIRC.

With respect to smogsy. I've have a macbook mate, and I dont really care about the magsafe power adapter, IMO it's nice but no at all necessary, for me it's a £15 bonus. On the screen the Ssony display plus is excellent I walked from the Sony store over to western (our Apple store) and compared them, and in all I preferred the Sony (and I'm trying to convince myself to buy another macbook so I am biased!, says it all really). On GPU really on this the Macbook can't compare, we can debate put the truth is even with a £50 upgrade the Sony has it (check it out for yourself). The Sony guys tell me the Vaio has drop detection. So of all the points you mention it's back to battery life?
 
Associate
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I held off on Macs for the longest time due to hardware specs vs price. After actually owning an OS X machine, the new i7 15" macbook pro is the best laptop i have owned, and due to how absolutely brilliant OS X is, i have not even thought about what if i bought another machine.

OS X is years ahead of windows, and i'm saying that is a large portion of the cost. Because for me, there is no competition - Windows is terrible, old and outdated in comparison.

Such a shame.. i'd love to use a Mac of as my main desktop - but as a PC gamer and someone who has to run their own hardware for a desktop, can't. An iMac as a secondary desktop is an option though... :p
 
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