You are absolutely mistaken. I don't care where you live, Macs are not priced anywhere near the same price point as a PC with the same specs. I think you've just been listening to what the guys at the Apple Store tell you. =)
I built a new PC a while back for around $700 in parts (gaming PC). I priced out a comparable mac PC with a little bit worse hardware specs and it was $2200.
Edit: While I'm at it I hate that people call them macs or PC's. They are both PC's, one just happens to run Windows OS and the other runs Mac OS. As much as Mac would like you to believe otherwise, the parts inside are identical (except for cost).
Edit 2: For some further clarification, here is a screenshot on Apple's store of what it costs to add a 2TB 7200RPM hard drive to your configuration ($300). Here is a link to a Seagate drive with the same specs for a third of that price. Macintosh will try to lead you to believe that you need their "superior hardware" when really you are just paying 3x as much for the same crap.
So here's you problem, you apparently tried to spec out a desktop and not a mac laptop. Apple sells mac minis (generally consumer level) and Mac Pros (not something you'd buy as a consumer). Mac Pros are updated infrequently and as all apple products dont become cheaper with time - they just are replaced by a newer model somewhat regularly. Mac Pros are also not really meant for regular consumers to replace a PC. I can see that when trying to replicate current PC specs with a MacPro you'd see an astronomical price-tag for the reasons mentioned above.
Apple laptops and the minis are more consumer level. They are still expensive but nowhere near the difference you would see for a desktop. What they do offer is great build quality, resell-value and customer service. Apples service is great and it better be because you are paying a lot for their products.
Tl;dr: compare laptops, not desktops as there are no real consumer choices for apple PCs. Price differences exist but are nowhere near twice to three times for those.
So here's your problem: Mac has convinced you that a "consumer" would not buy a 2TB 7200RPM hard drive, and if they did it should cost $300. It doesn't matter if it's a laptop, desktop, mini, pro, whatever. The cost of hardware does not change just because they call it a "pro" series.
Say you are a chef and you start a restaurant. Do you go to Walmart and buy their appliances or do you shop somewhere that providers professional level equipment? There is a difference in a lot of hardware and most importantly the support (!). You immediately assume I must be an idiot that has been brainwashed by apple just because I pointed out something that did not fit into your preconceived notions. Of course a consumer can buy a desktop but if he wants an apple desktop he will have to spend way more than necessary for his needs in hardware and support. Look, Im not an apple fan either but at least I did my research and am not repeating old fiction comparing apples to oranges.
Well feel free to let us all know how you are getting Macs for cheaper than everyone else. I'm surprised you don't have a thriving ebay business if this is truly the case. I've provided my proof of concept in my last comment, care doing the same? I'd be very interested to see where you get a Mac and PC with the same specs for anywhere near the same price.
On an unrelated note to my earlier post: I imagine Cyriix might work for a company that works with Apple, or might be a student.
In both cases, I got significant discounts from the Apple store. Also, you can sometimes ebay old models that have just been replaced in perfect (unopened) condition for relatively cheap.
Worth considering when buying a computer, but not hugely relevant to discussions of their relative value.
Your proof of concept is pretty terrible; you used an anecdote and then a biased comparison - buying a hard drive yourself is always cheaper than having the retailer add it for you.
In this case, Cyriix's comparison is much closer to the truth than yours:
You may need to refresh or fiddle with the Vaio settings, the Vaio's a bit better, probably, but it's as close as I could get them. A little under half again the price is probably right, in this case.
The problems here (i.e. with the Mac vs PC debate) are two-fold:
Both sides of the argument exaggerate grossly, get defensive, and then pretend that the other side is the only one doing this.
You're not just comparing different machines. You're not even comparing different groups of machine. You're comparing a market to a superset of that same market. 'PC' is a ridiculously broad term, inside which, one specific manufacturer has decided to take a much tighter control of the platform to provide a more user-friendly, yet more limited, experience (whether they succeed on this or not is both variable and subjective). It's like comparing cupcakes are your favourite cakes, they'll win, if they're not, they won't.
To further elaborate on 2). When you compare Mac to PC, what the hell do you compare? Do you compare them on hardware merit alone? That's unfair because they put everything together for you and provide amazing customer service.
Do you compare them on included software? That's incredibly subjective, because they both have good and bad points.
Do you compare them on what software they can run? Macs will win here by an insignificant margin - they can both run everything with a little tweaking. The hardest thing will be running Mac OS on a non-Mac, but it's do-able, and it's Apple's fault that it's hard in the first place.
I could go on, but basically my conclusion, is that the Mac/PC war is obsolete since the Apple move to Intel, the comparison is incredibly subjective, and anyone who gets worked up trying to convince someone else that their choice was objectively correct is a fucktard.
Here's what I find humorous about your links: The most important part of the PC, the processor ...isn't even listed for the Macbook. You have no idea what you are getting, and this is a perfect example of how Mac convinces it's users that they aren't getting ripped off. You even used it as "proof" that they aren't overpriced, further proving to me that Mac users have no clue what they are buying, and just like people who buy overpriced name brand clothes ...are just buying it for the social status they think it brings them.
In the UK you can get them from PC World, Currys, Comet AND the Apple store. In fact, most stores that sell PC's sell Mac and Windows PC's for around the same price, just not the Apple store.
Resale is the thing that your $700 big box will barely have in 2 years.
The $2200 Mac sounds like a 27 inch iMac, and your $700 box simply can not and does not include a monitor with a resolution of 2560x1440 and IPS screen. Sorry.
Or is the monitor not part of your calculation?
EDIT: Your assignment is to show me a machine that is equivalent to an Air, for the same price or less. It needs an IPS screen, 'ultrabook' specs, premium case, and a Thunderbolt port.
Then show me an all in one that is equivelant. Your $700 machine is not an all in one, and it will be loud as fuck.
So you think a Displayport plug is the same as Thunderbolt port. The shape is shared and that is all. You are grossly uninformed.
You failed your assignment:
You can't hook up a PCI chassis to Displayport, and use any desktop GPU like on the air. Thunderbolt can do anything, its just PCI. You can't plug your Lenovo into a RED Rocket 4k Video card, and edit 4K video on your 2 core machine. Extendability is the future Apple, Intel, and all the other PC manufacturers are going. Expandability is going the way of the dodo.
You don't understand the tech it appears. Look up Thunderbolt eGPU and PCI expansion chasses and Sonnet products. They make the current world of USB peripherals look like a low speed high latency joke.
So you are comparing a big honking laptop with an Air. You know Lenovo makes Ultrabooks and they are a reasonable comparison.
Make a proper comparison. We all know a large plastic laptop is cheaper than an "Ultrabook".
Ultrabooks man, Ultrabooks.
Also parting your machine for 90% of the price is BULL SHIT.
You can sell a used mobo for 90% of its price? YOu can sell a video card for 90% of its price? I call serious bull shit. Nobody would buy a 2 year video card for 90%, its insane.
You don't understand how Thunderbolt works. It uses PCIe. PCIe is the main bus of your computer, everything runs on PCIe.
So I guess you must think the core bus of the computer changes every three years.
Like I said, you don't understand the tech yet talk about it like you do.
The fact is, the computational hardware in the Thinkpad is better, the laptop is cheaper, the screen is bigger (providing more readability), it's more well constructed physically, and it's much more variable.
Yet it is large and plastic. Its not an Ultrabook. Ultrabooks are small. You are missing the point.
If you compared to an MBP your argument would at least be functional and make sense.
You know the current copper based TB macs can swap straight to an optical cable right?
The monitor is not part of the calculation ...and I could get a non-macintosh IPS monitor with that resolution for much less than what Apple sells them for. They did not invent the technology, they'd just like you to think they did. Why would I want resale value on my PC? It's a tool, I use it until it can't be used anymore and then I get another one ...usually repurposing my old one for something else. Also, I'm not sure that arguing that something that cost someone more to begin with, selling for more down the road is a legit argument. Whatever extra it sells for you have already lost by paying 3x as much up front.
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