Mac Tax Repealed: New MacBook Meets or Beats Windows 7 PCs

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October 20th, 2009 by K. T. Bradford  

 Comments (26 Responses) 

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Tags: Apple MacBook, Mac Tax, Apple, Apple Mac

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26 Responses to “Mac Tax Repealed: New MacBook Meets or Beats Windows 7 PCs”

1. Nitesh Says:
   October 20th, 2009 at 6:31 pm

   Fair enough. The problem is that while most PC makers add new hardware as it becomes available, Apple sticks with their release cycles. So at launch, a new apple product may be price-competitive, but a few months in they are overtaken.

2. Smart Shopper Says:
   October 20th, 2009 at 6:49 pm

   You have to be kidding me. Go to HP’s website and configure a 13 inch laptop with a 9 cell batter(equals about 8 hours), LED display, 4GB of ram, 7200RPM 250GB hard drive, and all the inputs/outputs you could ever want all for $733. I would say there is still an Apple tax. Plus I know if 5 years I’ll be able to run the next version of Windows on it. Add a BluRay drive, larger hard drive, faster processor and it’s still under $999.

   Components
   • Espresso Black
   • Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium with Service Pack 1 (64-bit)
   • Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo Processor T6500 (2.1GHz, 2MB L2 Cache, 800MHz FSB)
   • FREE Upgrade to 4GB DDR2 System Memory (2 Dimm) from 2GB DDR2 System Memory (2 Dimm)
   • 250GB 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive with HP ProtectSmart Hard Drive Protection
   • 512MB NVIDIA GeForce G 105M
   • 13.3″ diagonal WXGA High-Definition HP LED BrightView Widescreen Display (1280 x 800)
   • LightScribe SuperMulti 8X DVD+/-RW with Double Layer Support
   • Webcam Only
   • Wireless-N Card
   • HP Backlight Keyboard
   • 9 Cell Lithium Ion Battery

3. Mark Spoonauer Says:
   October 20th, 2009 at 6:57 pm

   Hi smart shopper. You make some valid points. But what’s the weight of that HP when you add the extended battery? Is it still under 5 pounds? The beauty of the new MacBook (so far, we need to test it) is that it promises long endurance without adding extra bulk.

4. Renzo Says:
   October 20th, 2009 at 6:59 pm

   Just look at the hardware, the mac tax is alive and kicking. On the cheaper models it has always been a smaller amount than in the pros. The Samsung has a better processor, video card, hard drive and ram; in addition to ESATA and more USB ports. Lets be serious, the Macbook is a pretty weak machine to be competing, the upgrade options are abysmal and overpriced as hell.

5. John Appleseed Says:
   October 20th, 2009 at 7:08 pm

   K.T. Bradford has clearly been blinded by his/her macbook screen .

   The Samsung provides much better value for money.

   Sadly, sense of value is not something image conscious, dismorphophobic mac owners possess.

6. Biggy Boy Says:
   October 20th, 2009 at 7:10 pm

   LOL @Smart Shopper. You must also wear gold chains and drive a Trans-Am with a Screaming Chicken on the hood. And you think you’re cool.

7. Jason Says:
   October 20th, 2009 at 7:12 pm

   Hmm… that’s not the Studio XPS 13 I see when I go to Dell’s site today. I see a $1049 model and a $1099 model. The $1049 model has 4 gigs of RAM, a 500GB hard drive, and a GeForce 9500M (that’s a discrete GPU with 256MB).
   http://www.dell.com/home/laptops#subcats=laptop-studio-xps&navla=&a=

   That’s a pretty substantial improvement in RAM, hard disk space, and GPU for $50.

8. Bruce Dumes Says:
   October 20th, 2009 at 7:19 pm

   What these comparisons do not show is the operating system that comes with them. It’s part of the package and it’s the elephant in the room. With a MAC, you can run windows if you *really* need to, but with a PC, all you can run is Windows or Linux. People – the OS ain’t free! It’s part of the package. OS X is so far ahead of the game, that it’s not even worth trying to compare the OS.

9. Renzo Says:
   October 20th, 2009 at 7:46 pm

   Bruce, I hate to be the one to point it out but, not everyone likes OSX. I for one think that OSX babies me. It restricts essential functionality and limits it to the command line only, rather than in the gui. Besides, OSX itself has been shown at several CANSECWEST to be less secure than a typical windows box.
   Additionally one can run OSX on a PC. Google OSX86 and you can see what i mean.

   Your opinion than OSX is ahead of the game is not one shared by the majority of people, remember being prettier is not the same as being better.

10. LTMP Says:
    October 20th, 2009 at 7:54 pm

    I’m an Apple fan, but I have to admit that once these PCs ship with W7, OS X MIGHT not have the comparable value that it did with Vista. Still, you do get a lot of great bundled software with OS X. Plus iTunes is great on a MAC, not so great on Windows.

11. K. T. Bradford Says:
    October 20th, 2009 at 8:15 pm

    Jason, this is the config I used: XPS 13

    John Appleseed, the Samsung does have better specs for the price, I agree. If I searched more, I could probably find many other PCs that cost a bit more and have slightly lesser hardware. This chart shows that the new MacBook isn’t completely out of line with the PC market at this price. It may not be the very best value at this price, but we didn’t claim that

12. dan the man Says:
    October 20th, 2009 at 9:01 pm

    They may be price comparable now but the problem with Apple is the price will stay the same for the next 6-12 months until they update it. All along the way the other laptops will increase their specs and options and their price will decrease leaving another Apple tax.

13. Ha Says:
    October 20th, 2009 at 9:06 pm

    Just saying, but ah… @LTMP LISTEN TO WALT MOSSBERG- HE IS YOUR SAVIOR, and yes he says windows 7 is good. LOL. Oh and the thing about iTunes is that its a flaming double bladed sword. Yes you can use it for your ipod, but if you don’t have an ipod, you can use many other windows friendly music managers like Songbird.

14. Fanfoot Says:
    October 20th, 2009 at 9:14 pm

    Nice job. Glad to see some balanced reporting on something like this.

    Obviously its still a judgement call for individuals when it comes down to it. How do you compare the extra battery life of the Apple to the better CPU/GPU/RAM specs of the Samsung.

    Is the enhanced trackpad or better industrial design of the Apple worth more than the extra ports of the Windows laptops?

    Etc.

    As far as I’m concerned you’ve shown that some SIMILAR laptops are priced similarly. Which is all that can be accomplished really, as long as you try and stay objective. Beyond that people still have to make their own decisions.

15. Jonas Says:
    October 20th, 2009 at 10:20 pm

    Of course, what is never included in these comparisons are things like build quality & design, the multi-touch trackpad (though in this one it is), backlit keyboard, iLife, customer service, boot camp, ease of use out of the box, integration between software and hardware… and yes, even OS X.

    If you are strictly comparing hardware then apple may be more expensive versus the lower end PCs. But, of course, you’re not just buying a hard drive, RAM and a battery. All the intangibles add up. Maybe not to everyone, but clearly to a lot of people. Apple doesn’t have a quarter like this last one just by selling to fanboys.

16. Aurrin Says:
    October 21st, 2009 at 2:49 am

    @ Jonas:

    What’s also not being included in the comparison is the hardware lockout. Want to change your battery? Void the warranty or get out your wallet. Want to upgrade the RAM? Sorry. Want to get your hard drive out (even for a backup) before you send it in the mail to get it serviced? Sucks to be you. The mac tax isn’t gone, they’re just playing a shell game to shift it to where it doesn’t show up on the sticker, and you pay in more ways than one.

17. DRH Says:
    October 21st, 2009 at 4:55 am

    The PC fanboys that start spouting this “Apple Tax” rubbish ALWAYS miss the bigger picture.

    What ever savings they think they can make on walking into the store are all eroded when they walk out of the store.

    Being an old git (41) I used PC hardware since the beginning and switched to Mac a few years ago. Where-as my old PC kit was always pretty worthless when it came to upgrade time or significantly less than its original price, you just don’t get that with Mac Hardware. I purchased a 24″ Aluminum Mac when they first came out and it cost me £1200, 2 years later, second hand value was £878, a £322 deficit. My Dell Latitude in a similar scenario years ago costing nearly £2k was worth £600 at a push.

18. Sbell Says:
    October 21st, 2009 at 8:32 am

    Although I generally agree with the premise, I question the prices used for the PCs. You’d have to be a real sucker to pay full list price for any PC – the marketing strategy is for them to almost always be on “sale” at a significant markdown. It’s not at all uncommon, for example, for Dell to offer 15 – 25% off of the XPS line. Apples, on the other hand, tend to rarely be marked down.

19. asktemi Says:
    October 21st, 2009 at 8:39 am

    I am always keen in reading stuff like this anytime I go through a review. Seeing people fight over a none issue. The world is over populated with about 6 billion people in it.

    A middle class family in the USA, can afford to buy a MAC worth $2000 without complaining at all. In Africa it is not so. Here in Africa or you think of India for instance, $300 may be too much for a family to afford this simply means that many people in that part of the world are living in 21st century without a computer system and this is going to continues till the nest millennium.

    However, most of your argument is limited to the USA, without considering the poor nations of the world. I just bought a Desktop Compaq Evo D510 I could not remember what year this was manufactured. Since I lost my Dell XPS 1330 with full options and I wouldn’t want to spend so much on a system.

    It is good to know that I can still load windows 7 on this system.

    Apple is doing a great job as well as Microsoft. This is not windows against Mac OSx but Apple Mac against the rest computer manufacturers.

    Whatever the case, it all depends on what you can afford and leave the rest.

    How many people are using Mac outside the USA and how many are using Windows base PC, the Difference is much.

20. K. T. Bradford Says:
    October 21st, 2009 at 9:46 am

    Sbell: the Dell price I used is the final after Instant Savings and represents what a consumer would pay for that system if they wanted to buy it now.

21. Sbell Says:
    October 21st, 2009 at 1:26 pm

    I understand that’s the current price for the system you linked. As someone pointed out earlier, however, the higher up model that Dell is currently promoting has significant upgrades for just $50 more ($369 off the list price). Google for Dell coupons and you’ll find promotional codes that could be entered at checkout for even more savings. Next week, there’ll be another promotion where a different build is deeply discounted.

    If Dells aren’t your thing, last weekend HP and Bing teamed up to offer 25% cashback on top of HP’s instant discounts. Open any weekend flier for your local electronics store and you’ll find similar discounts on various PC models.

    Part of the PC buying experience is comparison shopping and bargain hunting. Not every model will be on sale every week, but with a little patience and homework you’ll find significant savings. Sure some people pay full price (like that Dell you linked) – just like how some people pay full sticker price for their cars without shopping around or haggling.

    For better or worse, you’re pretty much going to pay Apple’s asking price regardless of where or when you make your purchase. In my mind then, the “Apple Tax” is the difference between Apples flat price and what I’d actually spend by buying a PC when it’s on sale (minus the premium I’d be willing to pay for Apple’s additional software and superior build quality). It’s shrinking every refresh, but it’s definitely still there.

22. Jonas Says:
    October 21st, 2009 at 7:47 pm

    @ Aurrin

    If you’re the kind of person that needs to carry around spare batteries, then you are the kind of person that can easily take out the new apple battery and install new RAM. It’s not as hard as you would think. Check out the teardowns over at iFixit. The RAM and battery are actually pretty accessible. Most consumers, however, won’t ever buy a second battery let alone buy and install RAM on their own. That’s why Apple decided to go with these batteries. They sacrifice some of the ease in battery removal because they know most consumers won’t buy an extra battery and a 7hr charge will be a bigger selling point. Which brings me back to my original point above. Look at the battery life for the PC laptops up there. If you want to match the macbook’s you’ll need a second battery anyway. Which means you need to spend more money on top of the original list price for the laptop. With the macbook consumers get a 7hr life right out of the box and don’t have to worry about buying another battery. I fail to see the benefit of being able to swap out batteries if all it lets you do is match what the macbook already offers.

23. Andrew Says:
    October 22nd, 2009 at 7:13 am

    Renzo –

    It’s known (but unspoken) that OS X is superior – which is why the Dell mini 9 (I think) is such a high-selling netbook.

24. Adrian H Says:
    October 22nd, 2009 at 9:13 am

    OSX superior? You got to be kidding… No ASLR (address space layout randomization) which “randomly assigns data to memory to make it tougher for attackers to determine the location of critical operating system functions, and thus make it harder for them to craft reliable exploits.” Apple has yet to patch this hole in their new OS.

    Guest accounts that kill user profiles without warning? Windows needs a virus or a really stupid user with a format command to do that one.

    Safari more secure that IE? Hardly, sure the problems seem to be in different places, and we won’t mention IE’s completly ignoring CSS and other web standards, but a far as security holes, they seem to be peg for peg if you read when it comes to browser vulnerabilities, too.

    It’s a matter of when, not if, large numbers of Apple users will be affected with an outbreak. The when being dependant on one or more of the hacker teams deciding that a small percentage of the potential targets is worth an attack over the larger group of windows users. So at the end of the day, are Macs more secure than Windows? No, it appears they are not. They’re just not attacked as much.

25. JB Says:
    October 23rd, 2009 at 1:54 pm

    I disagree with the entire Mac Tax theory. It never was a tax, it is a price point. Instead of charging more for software (which is what Steve Jobs always said Apple really was) they charge less for the software by shifting more expense into the hardware.

    You are not paying a premium for the hardware, you are paying a premium for the software which is subsidized by the hardware.

    That is just my opinion…

    JB

26. Tim Says:
    November 7th, 2009 at 8:49 pm

    I’m late to this article, but just bought a new white macbook after much deliberation (it’s my first Mac purchase since I got the original Mac luggable back in 1992).

    Sure, you can buy ‘Core 2 Duo’ powered machines with more RAM, HDD and bigger screens for less. But don’t miss the quality of the components.

    Just as an example, the CPU in the Macbook is the P7550. NOT a T4300, T6600 or the like you’ll find in almost every sub-$1000 Windows laptop. Check out similarly configured Windows laptops with P class Intel CPU’s in them and you’ll see how they stack up.

    Bottom line is Apple builds $1000+ laptops that compare quite well with Windows $1000+ laptops. Sure you pay extra for the Apple brand, engineering (the unibody housing is something else), quality of materials, design, support etc. but it’s not a ton more. I’d say 10-15% premium. This is a small, well built, light, powerful laptop that does indeed compare just fine with similarly priced Windows machines.

    I don’t use either Windows 7 or OS X to any extent that allows me to judge one better than the other. I like them both just fine and don’t think one OS is worth any more than another.

    Again – yes – if you’re in the market for a $600 laptop, you can go get a 17″ monster with huge drive, Core 2 Duo at 2+ ghz (T4300) 4GB RAM etc. I’ve seen ‘em. They’re great bang for the buck and Apple doesn’t have a competing product. They don’t pretend to operate in this penny-pinching cut-every-cost-possible market.

    I was happy to spend the extra $400 on my Macbook when comparing it to other high-quality high-end Windows machines that also cost in the $800-$1100 range.

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