theducks | (no subject)

Damn those macs are expensive

	Intel iMac	Handbuilt PC
Screen	Built in 20 inch	Dell 2005FPW ($959)
Memory	2GB (2 x 1GB)	2 x 1GB (@$107ea)
Hard Drive	250GB SATA	250GB WD SATA ($159)
DVD	SuperDrive	Pioneer DVR110D ($60)
Case	iMac G5	CoolerMaster Centurion 531 380W PSU ($180)
OS	MacOS X 10.4.4	Windows XP Pro OEM ($290)
Graphics	256MB Radeon X1600	256MB Radeon X1600 ($189)
Internal components	Intel Dual Core 2.0ghz	Intel Pentium D 820 2.8Ghz CPU 2Mb; Dual Core ($358) Intel D945 PSNLK ($229)
Subtotal:	$2479.30	$2638
Other items	Apple keyboard, Apple Mighty mouse, built in wifi, bluetooth, iSight	Apple keyboard + Mighty mouse ($113), iSight ($205), PCI 802.11g card ($46), Bluetooth USB dongle ($29.70)
Total cost:	$2797.30	$3021.70

(Disclaimer: Apple prices are educational prices, but the PC is using a faster desktop processor and motherboard.. the iMac is probably using a laptop one, since it's only 2ghz.. a 2.0ghz laptop CPU + motherboard for the PC would be $251 more)

I invite a better priced PC spec, but it must match the iMac in all ways possible, must be PCI-E, have the same video card type, hard drive size, etc :)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

But d00d, the ROI on Windows is lower! All the studies paid for by microsoft say so! ;)

Seriously, amen to that brother, but a lot of people will go "I'm a geek, I can look after my windows box so I don't need to worry about that!" But as those prices show, you can't match an iMac G5 on terms of hardware price (and quality).

w00t!

okay, well, I am a geek, and I could look after a windows box, but that's time away from other stuff. pretty expensive time if you calculate it in contracting pay rates.

and I admit i'm drinking the koolaid a bit here, since I support the stuff, but dude, ilife is worth $400 in pc software.

ROI? well, the resale values of macs versus PCs (excepting some oddities like fujitsu P series notebook and thinkpads) is pretty stunning :) subtract that from the total cost of ownership- more than makes up for the cost of applecare (and as far as I can tell, MS has NOT got anything approaching that level of phone support)