Wednesday
Jan212009
Apple Tax Out of Control?
Wednesday, January 21, 2009 at 2:09PM 
We saw this image over on Digg and thought it was worth a quick post. We haven't check these specs ourselves, but if true the so-called Apple tax is truly out of hand. With Q109 results due today, it will be interesting to see how the poor economy and Apple's unwillingness to budge on price effected their sales.
tagged Dell, price points Permalink
Dell, price points Permalink
Reader Comments (5)
his is what's called "comparing Apples to oranges".
1) The Mac Pro has 2 quad core processors, NOT 1 like the Dell!
2) Looking at build quality and reliability, if these two computers were cars, the Mac Pro would be a BMW and the Dell would be a Ford Escort.
3) You can run any OS you want on the Mac, but you can't run Mac OS X on the Dell (without having to hack it illegally)
4) How much are your downtime & expenses due to malware worth to you using the Dell?
Well, it seems Apple's results are pretty good, all things considered.
A thing is worth what people will pay for it.
If people won't pay Apple prices for Dell products, that says more about Dell products if you ask me.
@MPR, I have to agree. I do wonder though, how many people would not pay a "tax" (perceived or real) if OS X was available on a machine by anyone else.
Incorrect comparison. Apple will not update the Mac Pro until Xeon based Core i7 CPU are available (sometime March ) until then the only Core i7 product are single socket desktop systems.
YES ...Core i7 is fast though I'm not sure how well SPEC handles 4 vs 8 cores. Core i7 will have a natural advantage over Penryn based product because of the DDR3 and no FSB.
If you need a fast home computer I suggest people buy Core i7 desktop. If you earn your bread with your computer then I suggest you wait until the Xeon Core i7 product hits and then prepare to be amazed. They have faster Quickpath Interlinks and other stuff to make your computer scream.
No real Apple tax here as Dell doesn't have access to the same chips for their workstation.
@hmurchison Thanks for shedding some light on the comparison.