Since When Did A Nice Case Cost $300?
This jumped out at me while browsing the Apple Store today. The two 13″ Macbooks are practically identical on the inside. The new aluminum version’s hard drive is 40GB larger and it contains the newer DDR3 memory. However they have the same video card and the same CPU. These changes may seem of consequence, but with the falling price of memory components Apple is likely paying the same price or less for the DDR3 memory and 160GB hard drive than they were for the corresponding parts in the white Macbook a year ago. Making the internal enhancements essentially a free upgrade for Apple.
All that remains is the case. Which means buyers are paying $300 for the upgrade from plastic to aluminum. That unibody case is nice but that is outrageous! It is easy to see where Apple’s high profit margins are. And I thought it was bad when they put a $150 premium on the black macbook casing two years ago.
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2 Responses to “Since When Did A Nice Case Cost $300?”
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I agree it’s outrageous, but it’s part of the marketing strategy that has made Apple so successful. If the prices were closer, then the two products wouldn’t be in different categories and would more directly compete with each other.
Basically, it’s the same reason why the different versions of Vista (a blight of its own) are priced so differently.
You forgot the absence of a mouse button :)