The Reason Apple's products are so Expensive
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Wednesday, July 22, 2020

There's no need in explaining the fact that Apple's products are so expensive. The memes going around about the $6000 monitor and the $999 stand, the MacBook Air with a cooling fan that doesn't cool the CPU, and the Mac Pro that probably costs just as much as your car when fully kitted out. The memes, to my opinion, are oblivious to the REAL reason why Apple charges what seems like an stupidly high amount of money to customers.

From many, many reviewers both on YouTube and in the media, it has come down to several reasons. I will credit the $999 stand to LTT, the MacBook Air cooling problem to LTT as well, and the Mac Pro to MKBHD and LTT.

First things first: the Pro Display XDR with the $5999 price tag and $999 stand. There's actually 2 very comparable reasons why Apple charges so much. I was considering one until I found out about the price. The 2 reasons are these; 1: They actually don't cost much at all if you think about it, and 2: Apple wants to define itself as a luxury brand so people don't think of it as a “peasant brand”. You might say that $5999 is too much for ANY monitor! Well, you're wrong. Large studios use monitors that cost tens of thousands of dollars. Just look at this monitor! It costs 40,000 dollars. It is a 4K HDR monitor used in movie production and more. With the Pro Display XDR with its 6K HDR monitor, it seems surprisingly cheap. Obviously it's not as HDR and not as bright as the 40,000 dollar monitor, but it seems to be good enough for the general public. In conclusion, it's actually really cheap considering that there's 40,000 dollar monitors with lower resolution than the Pro Display XDR. Secondly, Apple wants to define itself as a luxury brand. It's not surprising that not too many financially deprived people buy MacBooks. People buy Apple laptops and other Apple products because everyone else has them. When I say everyone else, just look at everyone's phones at school I dare say that +50% own some Apple-branded product. When you look at everyone's phones and laptops, you go and say: well, it seems like a GREAT choice, that Apple. That's what I thought when I purchased my laptop. Now, as I learn more and more about computers and consumer tech, I realize that maybe this particular laptop wasn't exactly the BEST choice. Don't get me wrong, I'm not a spoiled brat who wants 40,000 dollar monitors and the BEST of the BEST laptops. I just have some regrets about it that I found out about until now. Back to the topic. Many people buy Apple products not because they are the fastest phones/tablets in the world, rather, they buy them for their “luxury”. It's hard to explain, just like why you probably have a iPhone lying around in your house or something.

MacBook Air cooling issue: Ok, this one's pretty easy if I go with LTT's “conspiracy theory” So the A12Z SoC in the iPad Pro 2020 generates around 4-5 watts of heat per core, and only one core can really be at full potential due to cooling/thermal limitations. There are 4 high performing cores and (I believe) 12 energy saving cores. As Apple has said, they are transitioning to their own custom silicon over the next 2 years. They probably will somewhat use the A12Z's structure and just kinda overclock it and put it to its fullest potential. How much heat would that generate, if the A12Z is at full potential? 16 Watts. How much does the tiny heatsink on Apple's MacBook Air absorb? Around 16 Watts. Does this make sense? Maybe. What Linus is trying to say is that the MBA might just have a CPU change and nothing much else done. Hmmmm…………………………

Lastly, the Mac Pro. Fully kitted out, it costs a measly $52,447.98. I mean, who can't afford that, right? It only costs 10,000 dollars more than an Audi TT. WHY IN THE WORLD DOES APPLE DO THAT??? To answer this question, we need to look at WHY it costs $52,000. What I mean is fact of what component costs the most. All the memes make fun at the Mac Pro as an whole, but that might not be exactly accurate. The RAM in the Mac Pro costs 25,000 dollars if the 1.5 TB choice is selected. If you upgrade it by yourself, which is probably what many people will do, it only costs $12,499.99, which is half the price of the RAM Apple offers. The 28 core Xeon CPU in the Mac Pro costs $2999.00, which is the recommended sales price on intel.com. So, actually, there are many things Apple can't control, such as the price of RAM and the price of Intel CPUs (They do overprice the RAM). Intel actually rips off customers a lot, with their not-so-good performance at a high price. That's one factor. There are things Apple can't control. The other is that not many people are going to buy the Mac Pro in the first place, and the people that want to buy one probably has the money to. An editor who is accomplished enough to even think of buying a Mac Pro probably has the money to. Lastly, it's not about what Apple wants to offer to people. Yes, it's an amazingly well done machine. However, it's not really meant for the general public, unlike a MacBook Pro or an iPhone. It's meant for others, who know what they are getting into and know exactly what they need.