For a few pounds more

Some of my friends know me as an open Mac admirer. I just love the Macintosh computer, from the way it looks to the way it operates. Not just beautiful to look at, but well thought out too (the latter is more important to me). But I've never owned a Mac all my life. Not an iMac / eMac, not a MacBook. Heck, I have never even purchased the omnipresent iPod, opting for a more feature-rich, but relatively obscure, iRiver instead. Why do I love products that I'll not buy? Or, to put it another way, why do I not buy products that I appear to admire so much? My reason is pretty simple: I'm not convinced that the premium I pay for an Apple product is worth the difference in quality and features. Call me a feature-junkie or a cheapskate, but I'll perhaps never buy an electronic gadget that's overpriced simply because it's cuter than all its competitors.

Case in point: a MacBook Pro. At a quick glance, a MacBook Pro (MBP for short) has more or less the same features as a MacBook, but is priced about £150 more. When you look closer to see why, you'll realise that it boils down to the following differences:

1. 2 GB RAM
2. FireWire 800
3. SD card reader

(see the Related Article link at the bottom of this post for more details). The first of these - the extra 2 GB RAM is easily got for about £46 pounds from Crucial. I honestly don't care much about a FireWire port (though you may), and a portable, reliable USB SD card reader costs just a few £s. Oh, and the MBP also weighs a few grams less. About 90, to be precise.

There! Notice how Apple indulges in obscene profiteering? What's really surprising is the number of people who see enough value in its products to plonk down 50% or more (than a comparable PC) to buy them. Is it then any wonder that Apple's profits are increasing every year? I mean, every quarter?

This is why I'll never, ever, buy an Apple product! Not while I can't afford to throw away money, anyway ;-)

UPDATE: A few friends have questioned my sanity after reading this post. Well, not quite; let's say they have questioned my rationale <g> To them, I say: an iMac (the "basic" 21.5" version @ GBP 969) makes more sense to me