thoughts on the Apple Tax

I keep on hearing about the Apple Tax again, and I keep on hearing people on both sides of the issue getting quite upset about it. The thing is: both sides are right.

The Apple fanboys say that if you take a Mac and then go to Dell (or Sony, or Lenovo, or whoever) and configure a machine that's as close to identical as you can make it, then the cost of the Mac and the cost of the Dell are just about the same, and the Mac is sometimes cheaper. This is true, and takes no more than five minutes on some hardware manufacturer's website to verify. The PC fanboys respond to this by saying that their hardware is cheaper. This is also true, and takes no more than five seconds at Best Buy to verify.

At this point, where both sides of the argument have made completely accurate statements that really can't be argued, they find other things to argue about. They argue about what reasons people should buy hardware for, and say that anyone who is buying on other criteria is either dishonest or an idiot. They argue about the applications included with purchase. They throw potshots about the operating systems, or the number of buttons on the mice, or a hundred other points.

If you read my blog, you know that I'm an Apple fangirl. I've got two Macs sitting on my desk here at in my office at Microsoft, and a WinXP box that gets used maybe a couple of times per week. At home, there's a total of four Macs and no PCs. I've got an iPhone that I bought on launch day. My fangirl cred is pretty strong here.

But let's not pretend that Apple hardware is, or should be, everything to everyone. If you've only got $300 to spend, you've got the option of some great little netbooks and some pretty reasonable desktops, and all of those options only run Windows. You have to get up to a grand before you can reasonably start to consider a Mac, and that only gives you a single purchase option. (Sorry, while I love the Mini, I don't think that it's a good choice for most buyers.)

I think that it's fair to say that there's an Apple Tax, given that the starting point for buying a Mac is so much higher than the starting point for buying a PC. Arguing about whether the tax is one that's worth paying is a valid discussion, if we can manage to have it without turning it into some kind of holy war. So far, I'm not seeing anyone being terribly willing to have the discussion without getting rabid about it.

Comments

• Anonymous
  April 07, 2009
  There is no tax.  A tax is levied by a government.  Apple sells one product while other vendors sell another.  They are different products with different strengths.  To refer to a tax is a red herring meant only to stir emotions. Secondly, I wish people would stop calling Intel-based computers "PCs" when meaning specifically to distinguish them from Apple hardware.  An Apple computer is a personal computer as much as a Dell or an HP is.  If you mean generic Windows computer, say "generic Windows computer". Finally, it's irrelevant to your argument how many Apple products you personally own.  I own a bunch myself, but I'm sure none of your readers cares. :) b

• Anonymous
  April 08, 2009
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  April 08, 2009
  I don't think Tax is the right word either---that really does imply something extra paid on top of the cost of manufacture. So we need an different catchy phrase to replace it, that more accurately expresses, "no, you can't buy a cheap mac." (Kinda like Ivy League expresses "no, not everyone can get into this school")

• Anonymous
  April 10, 2009
  The unfortunate thing is that Apple started the whole I'm a Mac and I'm a PC distintion in their advertisments to put Windows down. They did attacked the Winodws ecosystem to gain market share. All Microsoft is doing is answering back.

• Anonymous
  April 11, 2009
  The irony is that Microsoft's ads (responding to Apple's satirical spots) seem to be as relatively awkward and clunky as their operating system. I think the points that MS seek to make could have been done much more effectively and with more credibility too. There is a modicum of truth in all of the Apple and Microsoft ads, but it's up to the viewer to obtain educated preferences, informed by what is most important to their computing needs.