[citation][nom]HHSilentSpectre[/nom]Oh where to start?"Is it the pricing?"Nah, doesn't bug me."Is it the software?"Anything but..."Is it the operating system?"I think this can safely fall under the same category as software for the purposes of my answer..."Is it the compatibility?"In the day and age of virtualization you probably should slap yourself for even including this one as a potential gripe. This hasn't applied to Macs for a few years now, but considering the limited hardware choices Hackintosh users have."Is it Mac users?"Some of them are annoying, but less so than rabid, underinformed/misinformed hacks."Or is it simply that it's Apple?"See above.As for claims of Apple charging more for upgrades such as a 1TB hard drive, welcome to the real world. For reference let's take a pair of comparable machines from HP and Dell:HP IQ800t seriesNice 25.5" screenStarts at just under $1800No 8GB option offered at any price (void that warranty, and hold your breath b/c HP is not well known for quality)1TB storage will run you another $180.For a machine running a 9600M GS (Yeah, not even the GT) graphics option (add $40), and the best CPU this thing will take (T8400 [2.26GHz, 3MB) you have to add another $100.The net result is that the base price is really much closer to $2000.For the same price you could just get the iMac 24" 2.96GHz and I'd probably upgrade the video for $150 or $200 (depending on which upgrade you choose). Mac tax...hardly. The net result is a much faster machine with the option to upgrade to twice the memory down the road.Now let's see what Dell is offering: The XPS ONE 24" Starts at *gasp* just under $1900 if you don't want intel graphics. Again, this thing features laptop graphics, though a reasonably modern 9600GT.Dell made an interesting call and went with a 2.33GHz Quad-Core lappy chip, which is really nice for multi-taskers and people who run software that is well threaded. Kudos Dell, but a choice to go to a higher-clocked dual-core would have been nice. Speaking of no choices, you're again left with 4GB as the only memory choice.So here's my ideas:1) For anyone who's ever watched Star Trek, you know what a 'Holodeck' episode is, but for those that don't it's essential a device that can be summed up as a virtual reality room. It essential was a lazy writer's dream because they could just dream up any scenario for any genre and take their characters their via this device. In tech journalism (or hackery in this case) the equivalent is Mac hate and Mac tax.2) It's no big secret that vendors mark up the prices of hardware upgrades. Apple's 1TB upgrade (from 640GB found on all but the lowest iMac) is much less than HP's, and Dell doesn't even offer choices here! Both companies are getting away with murder as presently newegg.com shows 1TB drives at ~$90 and up. Imagine what quantity discounts get Apple/HP/Dell.3) As for giving you guys some click-through by looking via your store, I'll pass.[/citation]
Oops, guess I can't stand the users too..
No choice for RAM, yeah, that sucks, but I don't consider adding 1200 freakin dollars for 8GB of RAM a choice.
But if we're going to get into choice, what about standard desktops? Sure the all-in-ones are neat to look at, but an unnecessary expense. Yet when I look at Apple's site for a mac pro, the cheapest is 2900 (CDN). Oh, but that doesn't include a display. thats an extra 999$ for a 24" (your only option other than the $2100 30"). Want a decent videocard? cough up $240 more for the 4870. That's expensive even for buying that GPU on its own at NCIX or Newegg. Oh you wanted to hook up dual LCDs? Cough up 34$ for an adaptor.
Note that you only get a quad core Xeon at 2.66 (or an extra 300mhz for 600$! thats $2 a mhz!), 3x1GB of the *slowest* DDR3, and one 640GB HD.
I'd be happy to see you say anything positive about that.. you can pick out a model to argue for the price of macs vs any other vendor, then so will I.