re: Apple Tax?

Phil — Thu, 21 May 2009 21:25:33 GMT

This is not a benchmark, Andy. If it were, you'd be right. But it's not. He's making a case for the Mac Tax.

Have you ever shopped for a laptop? You get the best deal by looking at what's out there and determining which ones will do what you want (OR MORE because MORE is just fine) and of that crowd, you get the one with the lowest price. That's what the author did. Do you really pick a CPU and then compare prices on the other machines with identical specs, eliminating the possibility of any superior machine despite its price? Of course not.

Besides, he already acknowledged the weight issue on the Dell vs. MacBook Air. Maybe you'll notice that he did call the MacBook Air the superior machine in that case (and ignored the price tag, which would otherwise further prove his point). He also stated that he might get better comparisons with other venders such as Acer. But it was simply unnecessary. There are 50 vendors that might have further fortified his argument, but he stuck with 2 of the more popular venders and that was all he needed to make his point.

Additionally, I disagree with your argument that you save money by customizing. Economics 101 should back me up on that. If I can convince readers of that, they may also realize that the customizations the author noted probably increased the price of the PCs, further illustrating his point as they still came in with a lower price tag.

re: Apple Tax?

Andy Behm — Tue, 19 May 2009 20:54:06 GMT

If you are going to try to demonstrate a 'mac tax' then stay within the specs. Match processors as exactly as you can (VM instruction capability included)screen size, overall computer dimensions and weight(your model from Dell weighs 1/3rd more than the Air). While I understand it's hard, that's why we need someone to actually do it. Once you've matched it as closely as possible (not Over configured - just match it) then you can make the additional argument that by customizing a PC to your actual desires, you can save even more.

Reading through your examples, it's too easy to dismiss the whole analysis because it's not clear exactly what is being compared, or you've chosen compromises that others wouldn't agree with.