MacBook Pro 15The number one reason for not purchasing a Mac that I hear the Mac hating crowd is that Apple products are outrageously expensive. The mere proclamation of spending over $1000 on a simple MacBook rather than $499 on a netbook is the basic mantra most of the haters live by. Rather than competing on a level playing field by comparing the features of each laptop, haters lock in solely on the price and use the higher price point to their illogical advantage.

Are Mac laptops really that much more expensive than similar Wintel laptops? If you look at the prices at face value then the answer is a resounding YES. It is only when you delve in to a deeper contrast that you find the answer to not be so cut and dry.

I work in an environment which is resoundingly Windows oriented. From the System Engineers to mid-level-management to upper-management, our entire office centers around Microsoft Windows products. There is a certain bias towards Windows, both because it has been the operating system of choice for many years and because DoD prefers to work with a standard architecture. People are completely averse to change, so trying to get leadership to inject some defense-in-depth on the desktop operating system side of the house is a hugely tough sell these days.

Every day I try and advocate Apple products but run face first in to a brick wall when trying to sell people on the pluses. The brick wall is always price point – why would anyone consider spending an extra $800+ for an Apple laptop when there are inexpensive yet quite capable laptops sitting on the same shelf?

But isn’t comparing a $1299 MacBook to a $499 netbook or a $699 Dell laptop like comparing Apples to Oranges (no pun intended)? Think about the logic behind evaluating such products – is this truly an accurate comparison?

To truly comprehend the pricing Apple has chosen for their products you have to select similarly featured competing products. Otherwise what’s the point? It is simply not possible to compete solely on price – if price were the solitary deciding factor then why bother buying anything but one of those so-called netbook?

To demonstrate the price comparison I’ve chosen similarly spec’d products from Apple, Dell and HP. While the specifications on each of the following are not completely identical to the MacBook Pro, I’ve taken care to ensure the products are as similar as possible, based on the available online custom configuration options.

  • MacBook Pro 15”
    Intel Core 2 Duo 2.53GHz
    4GB RAM
    320GB HDD
    NVIDIA GeForce 9400M + 9600M GT with 512MB
    15.4” display
  • HP dv6t
    Intel Core 2 Duo T9400 (2.53 GHz)
    16.0″ diagonal High Definition HP Brightview Display (1366×768)
    4GB DDR2 System Memory (2 Dimm)
    512MB NVIDIA GeForce 9200M GS
    320GB 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive
    16” display
  • Dell XPS M1730
    Intel Core 2 Duo T9300 (2.5GHz/800Mhz FSB/6MB cache)
    4GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz
    320GB SATA Hard Drive (7200RPM)
    NVIDIA®SLI™Dual GeForce®8700MGT with 512MB GDDR3 Memory
    15.4” display

As you can see above, I only list the basic underlying hardware for each system – processor, RAM, HDD, video card and display size. Although important, the operating system and additional software offered are not part of the comparison. My goal is to merely point out the pricing based on a comparison of the fundamental hardware components of each laptop. The semantics of these additional features are purely subjective and difficult to quantify.

Without further ado, here is the price of each of the three previously configured products, from most expensive to least expensive.

  • Apple MacBook Pro 15” – $2499
  • Dell XPS M1730 – $2394
  • HP dv6t – $1519

Just as everyone probably expected, the Apple product comes out as the most expensive of the three. However, notice the price of the Dell XPS laptop is not terribly different from the Apple. The HP dv6t is considerably less expensive than the competition – almost $1000 cheaper!

I could sit here and explain why the HP is so much less expensive than the Apple and Dell products, or how the Dell does X, Y or Z better or why I prefer the Apple MacBook Pro 15” but I refuse to do so – the haters consciously choose to block logic from such comparisons so there is no reason to inject it at this juncture.

The mere demonstration of price point should be enough to reveal that Apple products are not as outrageously priced as thought, or even overpriced for that matter. In my experience, you get what you pay for.

Either way, I find it fascinating the lengths both sides of this argument will go to prove their points, even though Captain Obvious is staring them directly in the face.

Are you an Apple hater who knowingly despises the company’s products because of their price point? If so, I would love to have a logical conversation on this topic. What are your thoughts?