Debunking The “Apple-Tax”
BY Brandon 
07. Apr, 2009 
17 Comments
Every time the fight over Mac and PC is waged, one single thing is guaranteed to come up. Price. As Apple regains momentum in the computing world, more and more people have little John Hodgmans and Justin Longs on their shoulders battling it out for the next computer purchase. Price is ultimately the biggest factor in any purchase.
Microsoft knows this. The newest additions to their panned counterattack at Apple’s spokesmen, the “I’m a PC and…” commercials are focused squarely at how much cheaper PCs are… But are they?
A favorite term of PC devotes is, “the Apple-tax”. Meaning, that Apple users pay extra money just to have a computer with the Apple brand name. Having just bought a new computer myself, I thought through the “Apple-Tax”. I even went on to dell.com to see how much a computer comparable to the iMac I had my eye on would cost and WOW was I surprised at what I found.
The Apple-Tax is a myth. And let me show you why. Using dell.com’s customize feature, I went point by point to build a computer with the same specifications of the $1799 iMac model and here’s the run-down:
I went with Apple Care, because I have had some great experiences in the past with that program (they replaced my iBook with a brand new model, rebuilt my old iMac twice, and replaced my brother’s and girlfriend’s iPhones without question. I’m a heavy user being a designer, so I am tough on my computers). Because Leopard only has one fully featured version, I had to upgrade to Vista Ultimate to be fair.
Also, all new Macs come with iLife, so I had to bundle enough software to equal that value on the dell side. The speakers and wifi are built-in to the iMac, so I had to add them too the dell. All new Macs also come with a free printer, so I had to find a similar one to add to the Dell XPS. The Dell XPS is lucky this isn’t the summer, or I would have to add a free iPod on to the iMac’s side.
The Dell XPS beats the iMac with 100gb on the hard-drive, 2 GB on the ram, a better video card. The iMac video card can be upgraded to the exact same card for $200 more, which would still not even put it close to the price of the Dell XPS.
The biggest issue PC people will probably have with my decision to go with the iMac is that aside from ram and hard-drives, the iMac can not be upgraded. Well first off, what else would be upgraded? The graphics, right? Since I saved $1,515 in buying the iMac over the XPS, in 3 years when the iMac starts to show its age, it will not be an issue to just buy another iMac.
Finally, to me there is something that is not in the above chart, which I think this old iMac ad hits perfectly…
THE WIRES! THE SPACE! A PC setup, no matter how neat it is, is still a jumble of wires and a space hog. The iMac can be as simple as just a power cord into the wall. Its a thing of beauty. Even microsoft in their newest commercial admits that Macs look superior.
There is also the design, sure Dell’s are getting better, but there is no one that can deny that their products are the best looking the business. The computer is now at the center of most households and apartments. We live at our computers now… don’t you want it to look pleasant?
That there is the core of what “PCs” call the Apple tax. You are paying for the look and the design. But look above, it seems to me that the superior design and space saving is vastly cheaper.
Oh, you say that Dell has an all-in-one too, the XPS ONE… for the same specifications of the 24″ iMac, the XPS ONE will run you, $2,704.
Finally, PC people will probably point at all the PCs that are under $1000 dollars, but those most likely do not include comprehensive service plans, full software packages, or are built with older and inferior parts. You can also build a PC on the cheap, but these are not covered if they break and require time and knowledge most people do not have.
Dell is the behemoth in the computing industry, they sell more computers than anyone, so undoubtedly there are plenty of people going to their website and building a computer just like was demonstrated in this article. They will wait 4-6 weeks for their computer to arrive and then set it up, spending hundreds of dollars on Geeksquad maintenance to keep the computer free of viruses and spyware. Meanwhile, those who bought an Apple with Applecare will have zero virus and spyware issues and if they have any problems at all, they just bring it into an Applestore and have it fixed for free.
Apple-tax? Really?!?!?
Pirate
not to mention the costly time wasted dealing with Windows.
I was just talking about this with a friend the other day – thanks for doing all the research for me! Haha. I think I’m officially shopping a Mac for my next computer.
Awesome deep-dive analysis. After 15 years on a PC, I switched to Mac in 2007 and have never looked back. Love it.
Let’s not forget the Apple Store and the incredible service offered at the Genius Bar for Mac customers. I’ve had a few issues with my MacBook Pro (most of which I caused). Even though my machine is out of warranty they have replaced my hard drive for free. Replaced a battery that had served me well for almost 18 months for free. Replaced my screen (I dropped it but don’t tell them) for free. That’s not a tax — that’s just incredible commitment to service and a focus on a great customer experience.
I just can’t fathom what the process would have been like had I bought another Dell.
ohh boy this article is so Crapple biased and full of shit. All this article does is proves it that the author is either (this is the very very short explanation by the way): 1. is a total dumb shit when it comes to shopping for (and comparing)computers. 2. Totally gay for Steve jobs and configured this so it looks like the apple tax does not exist. I can really go into detail if needed.
the other thing is that this was written in April 7, 2009 as of August 17, 2009 the Imac with these specs still costs just about the same while the XPS with these specs will cost a lot less.
P.S. caution Mac users attacking a persons grammar does not magically prove them wrong. you actually need real
proof.
Funny how when The PC vs mac propaganda commercials make all kinds of false claims and Microsoft instead of crying like a little baby runs the Im a PC ad’s that show that PC isn’t all about buisiness. Hell the videogame indistry alone is proof of that. Macs (OSX) can only run games if they become a pc (run Windows) and also show that PC costs less than Mac. So what does Apple do they call Microsoft and cry about it and ask them to stop running the ad’s that don’t even lie about anything.
I love how people always claim than OSX so superior yet they still have to use windows for *some stuff* and you never see a windows user that has to use OSX for anything. why when Linux is free and more secure then the freebsd based OSX that Apple claims as their own. Why woiuld I want to use a heavily modified freeBSD distro from a company that took one of the more secure operating systems and screwed with it so it can be hacked in minutes (Pwn2own). Even Vista lasted longer then OSX. Yeah any OS can be hacked, but not as fast as OSX. Yes macs do have a use. They are perfect for people that are computer illiterate. There are people that understand computers that use mac. I however have yet to hear a good reason to use a mac or OSX other than * I just prefer to use a mac* Te only competition that barely comes close is final cut pro, but not really because I can run Adobe products on a PC or I could get a Avid setup. Las time I checked CS4 will only run in 64 bit mode on windows, but that was awhile ago I am sure Apple has fixed that by now (August 17, 2009)
P.S. caution Mac users claiming that someone is: 1. long winded and can’t shut up about how Mac,OSX,Apple sucks. 2. a PC fanboy doesn’t prove them wrong either.
The article author is a complete idiot. The $200 printer and software package are unnecessary. And if you want or need a printer. You don’t have to stick with the same bran considering BestBuy and Dell offer rebates or 100% free printers with purchases.
Those computers aren’t even similar with the Dell having MUCH better specs. You bought the priciest Monitor available when most PC users already have a monitor and wouldn’t buy one anyway. Also, most people with a desktop wouldn’t need a wireless card. But if they did, they would buy one for $30-40 at Wal-Mart, Staples, Bestbuy rather than one for $70. The author has absolutely no idea how to shop around which is one of the selling points of Windows.
Not to mention the unnecessary addition of Windows Ultimate which 90% of users don’t need.
Let’s try comparing two products that are, y’know, actually vaguely similar.
http://www.dell.com/us/en/home/notebooks/laptop-studio-xps-16/pd.aspx?refid=laptop-studio-xps-16&s=dhs&cs=19
Studio XPS 16
Core i5
4 gig RAM
500 gig HD
Radeon 4670
Blu-Ray
$1200
http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/shop_mac/family/macbook_pro?aid=AIC-WWW-NAUS-K2-BUYNOW-MACBOOKPRO-INDEX&cp=BUYNOW-MACBOOKPRO-INDEX
Macbook Pro 17 inch
Intel Core 2 Duo
4 gig RAM
500 gig HD
9600 GT
DVD
$2500
are the people saying “haha great article” actually reading this
at all
As an Apple-fan, this article is embarrassing and simply furthers the image of Mac Elitism. I’m going to assume this is anti-Apple meta-trolling. In which case, well done.
I’m a huge apple fan. This article blows.
And Jerad, you missed the point entirely. Unnecessary, sure, but it’s included with the apple package so you have to add it in for comparison.
Look, any pc faggot will yell ‘compatibility’ all effing day, but the fact is, people who buy imacs don’t give a crap. Gaming on a pc? yeah, no thanks.
Wow, what a terrible article; the two “comparison” models aren’t even similar. Massive fail.
This is totally untrue. There IS an apple tax.
-Steve
I remember debunking this exact article for someone like a year ago when the produced it as evidence for the NON-existence of an apple-tax. My exact response was this:
“LOL at the second link. It is so ambiguous. I was looking at the specific setups they espoused and they were comparing an i7 at 2.93 GHz vs a Core 2 Duo (not EVEN a quad) at the same clock, which is a very poor comparison. Even a i7 Quad vs Core 2 Quad at the same clock, the i7 wins by 20%-ish. No comparison vs C2D. Also a Radeon 4850 vs an Nvidia GT 120, another massive difference in processing power and an unfair comparison when attempting an apples-to-apples comparison (the Radeon performs MUCH MUCH better but also obviously costs more). Further, on the link they arbitrarily upgraded to a higher-level 24″ monitor for a much greater cost. I doubt this is warranted but the LCD of the iMac may or may not be better, but again, it seems fishy in this comparison. Also lol at including the rebate for a printer towards how much the Apple wins by. This should not count at all. Further, you could easily get a cheaper wireless and install yourself, which is of course the beauty of a PC system.”
Summary
- CPU comparison was done based upon clock rate ALONE! Dell was really sporting a quad-core i7 920 vs the paltry Core 2 Duo, a last-gen dual-core.
- GPU comparison was done between a Radeon 4850 and an Nvidia GT 120. A 4850 is comparable to a 9800 GTX+, which is well OVER 10x’s as good a graphics card as the GT 120 LITERALLY!
- The rebates are NOT fixed variables here, they are necessarily time-dependent. Two weeks from the time this was written the rebates for things like printers might have been reversed (i.e. it might have been Dell offering the rebates on printers, et cetera).
- The 24″ SUPER upgrade looks fishy, but I will ALMOST allow it since Apple displays are supposed to be impressive. Still, one could shop a better price on a separate display NO problem.
- None of this even mentions the fact that there is more RAM and hard-drive space on the PC, which costs a MUCH pretty penny on Macs for similar upgrades.
Conclusion: The writer of this article either knows precisely DICK about computers or decided to hype the Mac at the cost of his intellectual integrity. Either way, I am disappointed.
One more thing, the conclusions across the web are pretty unanimous, that an Apple-tax does in fact exist. This isn’t necessarily bad, as the hardware and software are strongly coupled in an Apple system and typically last quite some time and run OSX very efficiently. The contentious point isn’t whether or not the Apple-Tax exists (it DOES!), but whether or not it is worth it. In some cases, for some people, I would say it very likely is.
Sorry, one more thing, I accidentally stated above that it was a i7 920, when in truth it was a HIGHER model i7, as the 920 is the cheapest quadcore in the line with merely a 2.67 GHz clock (I should know, one is in my current rig). This higher one specified above (a i7 940 if I recall) cost nearly twice as much as the time this “article” (if you could call it that) was written.