Apple Attempted to Censor Critical Coverage of Its $1k Monitor Stand(extremetech.com) |
Apple Attempted to Censor Critical Coverage of Its $1k Monitor Stand(extremetech.com) |
Then when it went on sale, they could have quietly added in their configuration when you buy it:
-$700 Vesa mountBut even I, who has bought half a dozen launch-day Apple items, was surprised that this price point made it through the marketing department. It came off as really tone-deaf. More than half of the Macs in my office use reams of paper as monitor stands.
Maybe iFixit will do a teardown and find out it's made from mermaid scales and unicorn farts.
The price of the Mac Pro + monitor wouldn’t even make me blink if I had a business that needed it.
But the stand is ridiculous even by Apple standards.
Also, do people really believe that Apple makes their billions by selling dongles?
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/06/05/apple_stand_copyrig...
I dont know what the exact percent is, but you're paying a significant markup on hardware for Apple vs, say a Dell, for the same hardware. Yeah, OS X is BSD based, but Dell will sell you the equivalent hardware for about half the price and guarantee it works with Linux (with support).
I'm not a Dell fan, despite most of my prior purchases being Dell, but they dont do an insane markup on Linux installs.
Tangent: I've also seen devs work on Macs have their code fail when dployed because they assume OS X is nix and Linux is nix not recognizong that by default, the MacFS is case insensitive, like Windows, but Linux is case sensitive by default.
I think it is pricy but not when compared to the kind of things apple likes to compare themselves with.
Their watch is expensive, but not compared with a Rolex.
Here it’s $1000 for two slabs of metal and a hinge...
Sorry.
"All Rights Reserved. This Broadcast and its contents are the sole property of Apple and are protected by Federal Law and International treaties. You are strictly prohibited from making a copy or modification of, or from rebroadcasting, or re-encoding, this broadcast without the prior written permission from Apple Public Relations, excepts as may be permitted by law."
The whole video is published on YouTube, they could have just linked to the timestamp of the official video on there or on Apples own website.
Anecdotally: I am looking at a 5K iMac - 6 Core I5 with 256GB SSD and 16GB of RAM for $2099. The only reputable company that I can find that sells a 5K display is LG and it’s $1300 by itself.
If I try to find an equivalent price Dell it doesn’t cost any less.
If the display in your iMac breaks, you have to spend $$$ to repair it. And maybe apple will tell you that it can't be repaired.
All-in-ones are fine as low end machines but I would never buy a premium one.
You can buy a 4K screen with the same pixel density for under 300USD, from a well-known brand.
You can buy four of those for less than that single 5K display. So I would suggest dual 4K.
Do we have to have this even on HN?
People are paying significant markup on Cars for BMW, Ferrari, Maserati, Lamborghini, Aston Martin, Bently. You could buy a Car from Toyota or Kia with Same Horsepower.
The thing is they are NOT the same. They never was.
I find this both fascinating and annoying how people can price something to zero and immediately think it offer no value to others while simultaneously think they deserve better salary or paid. Apple's products still deliver Better Build Quality, Better finishing, Better Trackpad ( I hate the new enlarged size, but still one of the best trackpad out there ) better software integration.
And if anyone wants to ask about Mac Pro price, try spec one out with Dell or HP Workstation and see how they compare. Apple isn't too far off.
The whole Workstation market operating on this margin, I have no idea why other they charge this because they can. But Apple's Mac Pro is quite competitive in its pricing. If all you are looking for is a prosumer, upgradable, Desktop Mac, the Mac Pro isn't for you.
this is kind of an interesting comment. especially since you mentioned bmw. with bmw, you literally are buying a brand. i know at least two motorcycle dealers that stopped carrying bmw because bmw required very specific, and very expensive, signage, paint scheme, flooring, etc. to just be a bmw dealer, even if the dealer carried other motorcycle brands (which were typically high-end italian brands).
the new kia stinger performance destroys the equivalent bmw car, at a significant fraction of the price. not to mention the stinger looks better (subjective) and has insane fit and finish.
my kia optima has a better fit and finish and leather than any tesla i have been in. with those companies, you are buying a brand more than anything.
> Apple's products still deliver Better Build Quality, Better finishing, Better Trackpad ( I hate the new enlarged size, but still one of the best trackpad out there ) better software integration.
every apple product i have purchased has quit working. my iPad air stopped after just two years of babied operation. it wouldn’t even turn on or charge. apple wanted $300 to “repair” it after claiming it wasn’t a battery issue. my macbook pro’s wifi card stopped after just five years, and many keys barely work due to key failure. the bluetooth never worked with speakers (a common and well documented issue). the chassis would shock me in certain scenarios (another well documented and known issue by users). again, it was babied. my macbook before that required three unsuccessful replacements of the dvd drive before they replaced the entire macbook. my brother’s iphone 7s plus stopped the day after the warranty ended. apple did nothing. another friend’s iPhone 6s plus would just barely work, less than two years in, even after a battery replacement by apple.
and better software integration? not even close. iOS has been a travesty on the iPad in terms of integration. (just try to use multiple audio, music apps and see.) hardly anything about apple’s software just works anymore. i constantly had issues with audio software breaking after basically forced os upgrades.
Don’t forget that the 5K monitor by itself is $1300.
Also try configuring a workstation for $3000 with the specs of the Mac Pro.
On the lower end, try configuring a desktop for much less than the $2100 iMac 5K.
Sub $300 4k displays are TN panels, or cheap IPS panels with sRGB color gamut, horrible viewing angles, poor calibration, contrast ratio, etc.
If you want to compare, compare it with something like Dell UP2718Q which costs a whopping $1500.
I am not a graphic designer, I don't really need the best of the best. But what percentage of the market do??
If you haven’t noticed, Apple doesn’t sell low end products. You’re not going to find a Mac with an “Intel® Pentium® Gold Processor G5400” with 4GB OF RAM for $349.
2. macbook pro’s wifi card stopped. - I've had WiFi cards that never shipped drivers for the latest Windows OS, after just a year.
3. key failure - Valid, and pretty inexcusable by Apple
4. bluetooth never worked with speakers. - Bluetooth (below v4) never worked correctly between different brands, always had issues no matter what combo I used.
5. audio software breaking... well Windows are insanely great on backwards compability for apps, I'll give you that.
My point is that there will be issues wherever you go. I have a Macbook that is working after 10 years. I had a Toshiba that broke after just one year (soundcard). My family members have had two Dells that broke before reaching 2 years.
The only ones that have data points on this I assume are insurance companies.
and you are missing the point as well that many of these issues on the apple products are long standing issues across multiple iterations of them. just search bluetooth audio not working on macbook pro’s (iPads and iPhones have been fine in my experience). it is specific to them. and again, i have never had a single issue with other bluetooth devices and audio. (there’s an interesting issue too with bluetooth headphones. for certain bluetooth headphones, mac os x will automatically open itunes upon connect, and there’s nothing you can do other than having to go through a convoluted process to basically rename itunes so that it doesn’t get launched. this isn’t “just works”. and again, pointing other issues with other brands is irrelevant because it is apple that is being claimed as robust and always working.)
and the branding thing is still not addressed. my lg v35 is every bit as good as my girlfriend’s and brother’s iPhone xs max and even has major features the iPhone doesn’t have, and yet, it was almost half the price. you can’t explain that any other way than people pay apple for the brand.
My experience with PC:s and Bluetooth has been very different from yours. One time I even remember buying a Bluetooth dongle even though the motherboard had it built in, just to make it connect. But to be honest it more than a decade ago.
I'm actually in process of upgrading from iPhone SE to LG V30 or Xiaomi Mi, though I really don't like switching from Apples ecosystem especially now when they are getting even more privacy-focused. I can understand why the iPhone XR and the likes are so expensive from the spec-sheet, but I really don't need those specs (especially if you factor in non-linearity of pricing, so a 10% "better" camera might mean a 40% more expensive camera chip). LG V30 has a lot of cool features so it's still a massive upgrade for me. End-to-end screen, good battery life and wireless charging.
So much this, not saying Apple's product are perfect ( Far from it ), they are just comparatively ( Not selectively comparing, but over all ) better. And yes I think by Numbers BMW might even be less reliable than the Toyota, but people still buy BMW, for quality that is hard to quantify in numbers.
It is one reason I really wish SurfaceBook and Chrome Book could do better. Apple need some competition to keep them sane.
It's the same with Microsofts 40" Surface machines. If you let that define "The workstation" then no one has a real alternative to that.
- An Apple product
- a 32 inch monitor with a 6K display for $6000
- that will probably be sold with a $5000 computer that is expandable to 1.5TB of RAM and a 28 core workstation class processor.
Which part of this discussion is not about a niche product?
On the other hand, the entire desktop market is a niche market. Most PCs being sold today are laptops.
If my iMac with a 5K display breaks and Apple can’t fix it. I’m out of $2100.
But, Apple usually will offer (non free) repairs for 7 years after a product has been discontinued.
But that still didn’t answer the question, where can you spec out a similar PC much cheaper?
So define “significant” and I’m Not building a computer myself like it’s the 90s flipping through Computer Shopper.
I would happily pay more money for an ATX case with standard components and a separate display. It saves money in the long term because you can do repairs yourself and buy standard replacement parts. This also means if something goes wrong my computer can be repaired on the same day.
If you want the iMac, or you want MacOS, then go ahead and buy it. Just remember to budget for the cost of repairs and the impossibility of upgrades later on.
This is a poor argument against something that will just sit on your desk without moving it for months if not years.
Plus, all of the design related breaks mentioned in the article.
It is like comparing and shopping for a car based on whether it will accidentally catch fire. Unlikely and there more things to worry about than breaking your monitor screen.
Of course if you’re doing iOS/Mac development the situation is different.
Maybe off topic, but...
What's wrong with researching the market and making more edcudated purchases?