Why are used Mac Pros so expensive?

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natermeister

Limp Gawd
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I've been seriously considering a Mac Pro but the excessive cost and piss-poor configuration options of the Nehalem-based Mac Pros put me off on a new one. So I looked around on ebay for an older model that I could upgrade to better performance.

Seriously, are these guys smoking crack? I saw an old, dual 2.66GHz Woodcrest box with 2GB of ram and the guy wanted $2,500 for it. That's what the damn thing would have cost NEW. Well, except his had a bigger than stock hard drive, big deal. For me to upgrade that thing with two quad cores of similar speed and 16GB of FB-DIMM I could nearly get a brand new one.

Can anyone explain this to me? I know people pay an OSX tax, but that just seems ludicrous. I'm still going to try to find one fairly cheap, but I don't think I'm going to have a whole lot of luck.
 
I gotta say it...

Because they're Macs, and the Cult demands no less...

/me dons the flame-retardant suit... :D

Apple hardware just has this weird stickiness when it comes to their pricing, it's like people never seem to think they depreciate or something. They do, of course, but... I can't account for the mentality other than perhaps something in the Kool-Aid is affecting said mentality. Makes no sense to me and many others, but, years later, there you have it: Macs that command extraordinarily high aftermarket and used prices.

I'll never figure it out... but then again I can't comprehend why someone would pay $10,000 for a damned Rolex over a $50 Timex either, silly me.
 
ya know.. there's a common joke around..

"Hi, i'm a mac... and that's all i can say for free"
 
Macs are a fashion accessory. It's like buying a $400 pair of shoes. Not physically worth the money, but you're not one of the cool people unless you have one.
 
Why are Macs so much more expensive? Because more than enough people buy them despite the high prices. Simple supply and demand economics. They're great computers, every bit as well built as the best PC machines, but hardly worth the premium. This is from a guy who loves, owns and uses Macs.

In defense of Macs, those who claim they're nothing more than over-priced "fashion accessories" are simply wrong. Macs perform as well as PCs in just about every application except gaming. Don't like the high price? Don't pay it.
 
Mr. Wolf said:
Why are Macs so much more expensive? Because more than enough people buy them despite the high prices. Simple supply and demand economics. They're great computers, every bit as well built as the best PC machines, but hardly worth the premium. This is from a guy who loves, owns and uses Macs.

In defense of Macs, those who claim they're nothing more than over-priced "fashion accessories" are simply wrong. Macs perform as well as PCs in just about every application except gaming. Don't like the high price? Don't pay it.
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And for some few things (final cut pro, anyone?) they are better.
 
I'm a new convert....and I don't get it either. My wife's new Dell M1330 has a faster CPU, same amount of RAM, bigger HDD, slot loading DVD burner, same screen size/res, better webcam, HDMI, VGA, and more USB ports, firewire, and a remote (in an expresscard slot). Her battery time matches mine. Her Dell was $850. My MacBook was $1599 base, $2199 with the upgrades, $2399 after the AppleCare.

By comparison, my Sager NP9262:
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600, 4GB of RAM, 17" 1920x1200, better webcam, 3x HDDs up to RAID-5, 2x MXM-IV modules for SLI, Dual layer DVD burner, 4x USB, Firewire, card reader, VGA, DVI, S-Video, and Component output, 7.1 audio output including mini-TOSlink

Cost $2700 brand new


I don't get it. It's nice, and I'm happy with my switch (although I still have to use Windows machines for work), but the price tag makes no sense to me.
 
It's that you'll probably be using the macbook in 4 years, but not either of the others. I"ve used... at least 8 laptops in the last 6 years. My best friend has been through THREE, and one of those was an extra that work threw in - hint, they're all Apple products (he's a developer). He'd be on the second one still if not for work giving him a new one.
 
this is why the majority of people will never have a mac. pcs have more virus because they are "out" there, every crazy computer teenager programmer wants to make a mark in the world so they make viruses. i personally think macs look very good but finally windows 7 looks good too (it's important to me).
 
lopoetve said:
It's that you'll probably be using the macbook in 4 years, but not either of the others. I"ve used... at least 8 laptops in the last 6 years. My best friend has been through THREE, and one of those was an extra that work threw in - hint, they're all Apple products (he's a developer). He'd be on the second one still if not for work giving him a new one.
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So you've been through 8 laptops because they keep breaking or you keep spilling coffee on them? I really don't see how you could have gone through that many unless you were mistreating them.
 
lathode said:
So you've been through 8 laptops because they keep breaking or you keep spilling coffee on them? I really don't see how you could have gone through that many unless you were mistreating them.
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Get bored, want more power, get beat up. Not in that order

I'm hard on my laptops - extremely hard. They go everywhere with me, in motorcycle bags, tossed in backpacks, chucked around at airports - the only ones that held up were the apples and the IBM, and a single dell. :)

The ASUS is falling apart after 4 months. The Inspiron 9300 lasted just fine for a year and a half, but eventually started getting old. Both eMachine's (6850's) started to crack at the hinges at 6 months. The IBM lasted a couple of years, but was slow and bland. The apple lasted just fine, I sold it 'cause I needed money for the bike :) The HP was starting to crack at 5 months around the hinges, but it was cheap. ~shrug~

His held up, and were still useful for that long. :)
 
lopoetve said:
It's that you'll probably be using the macbook in 4 years, but not either of the others. I"ve used... at least 8 laptops in the last 6 years. My best friend has been through THREE, and one of those was an extra that work threw in - hint, they're all Apple products (he's a developer). He'd be on the second one still if not for work giving him a new one.
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What makes you think a Macbook will be used any longer than an equivalent laptop? Their design or OS won't make them last any longer =/

As for me.. I had a gaming machine before this. The two reasons I switched were because I stopped gaming, and I loved OS X and its apps in general.

That made it worth buying medicare hardware for an overpriced pricetag, but it was worth it to me.
 
Tylerdurdened said:
What makes you think a Macbook will be used any longer than an equivalent laptop? Their design or OS won't make them last any longer =/

As for me.. I had a gaming machine before this. The two reasons I switched were because I stopped gaming, and I loved OS X and its apps in general.

That made it worth buying medicare hardware for an overpriced pricetag, but it was worth it to me.
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The OS lasted longer and was still usable longer with new software packages, and we were both doing the same kind of work (coding/development), and the chassis was able to take quite a bit more abuse than any of my PCs did. :)

Simply put - it was still useful when mine were getting slow and/or broken.
 
Yea, Mac laptops tend to hold up longer *physically* than most other laptops. My MacBook Pro is 3 1/2 years old, and has the odd scratch here and there, but otherwise is just like brand new despite heavy use and abuse(theres a small dent on the bottom from a time I dropped it 5ft vertically, 10ft horizontally{I tripped while holding it, the dent wasn't from hitting the floor either, it was from hitting a chair cornder on the way to the floor}).

My buddy has a 4 year old IBM Thinkpad R60, and again despite from some scratches here and there, has held up like brand new despite similar abuse. Every other laptop I've seen friends own during this period(acers, toshibas, etc etc) have mostly died or fallen apart *physically*. With the exception of one buddy's Dell Vostro, most other dell(inspirions mostly) I've seen fell apart like crackers over the years.

Generally interns of longevity I put Thinkpads and Apple laptops at the very top.

As for Desktop computers I, and most of all my buddies, build them ourselves, so I can't really comment on physical build quality of most desktops.
 
It's all about the software. I started with 10.1. It sucked booty. 10.2 was the first one I could really use day in and out. Every successive version of os x has run faster on the same hardware, cept MAYBE 10.5. thats the magic. Win7 has got this same crucial element to it, and thats why the buzz is so huge.
 
lopoetve said:
The OS lasted longer and was still usable longer with new software packages, and we were both doing the same kind of work (coding/development), and the chassis was able to take quite a bit more abuse than any of my PCs did. :)

Simply put - it was still useful when mine were getting slow and/or broken.
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U are nuts man.... XP is still a VERY usable OS and it's almost 9 years old... try that with your Mac!! A nine year old Mac OS will NOT run everything on the market. My friend just got rid of a Mac that had one of the first OSX's on it(no idea which one it was) and there were a good many programs that wouldn't install because he didn't have the 'CURRENT' OSX.

Your excuse is THE lamest excuse I've heard for a PC vs. Mac debate.
 
QwertyJuan said:
U are nuts man.... XP is still a VERY usable OS and it's almost 9 years old... try that with your Mac!! A nine year old Mac OS will NOT run everything on the market. My friend just got rid of a Mac that had one of the first OSX's on it(no idea which one it was) and there were a good many programs that wouldn't install because he didn't have the 'CURRENT' OSX.

Your excuse is THE lamest excuse I've heard for a PC vs. Mac debate.
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What are you talking about :confused: ?

I'm not talking about the OS not working, I'm talking about the hardware and packages still being usable after all this time.

My system from the same era as his first laptop (a G4 powerbook) was an Inspiron 9300. His has the latest version of OSX on it, and all the development apps and stuff run great, and it gets the job done just fine (albeit a bit slow for compiling). My 9300, even with XP on it, was already getting slow with the latest development packages on it when I graduated in 06, let alone with the latest versions now!

The OS was more efficient with the limited resources it had. In 03 we ran XP with 256mb of ram - with SP3 today, it's dog slow without 1gb. His ran great then with 1.25 - and decent now.
 
QwertyJuan said:
U are nuts man.... XP is still a VERY usable OS and it's almost 9 years old... try that with your Mac!! A nine year old Mac OS will NOT run everything on the market. My friend just got rid of a Mac that had one of the first OSX's on it(no idea which one it was) and there were a good many programs that wouldn't install because he didn't have the 'CURRENT' OSX.

Your excuse is THE lamest excuse I've heard for a PC vs. Mac debate.
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Yeah he wasn't talking about the OS. You can't run Windows XP on a 9 year old laptop either, PC or Mac.
 
Tylerdurdened said:
Yeah he wasn't talking about the OS. You can't run Windows XP on a 9 year old laptop either, PC or Mac.
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Oh? I am running XP on a machine at work with a dual 450Mhz P3, that was originally built by ME in 1999.... care to elaborate on "you can't"???
 
QwertyJuan said:
Oh? I am running XP on a machine at work with a dual 450Mhz P3, that was originally built by ME in 1999.... care to elaborate on "you can't"???
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Yes. Upgrade to SP2/3, install Firefox and run some apps in the background such as a mail client, maybe IM. I doubt it will be usable

Ignore me previous post though. Why wouldn't you be able to run an OS on hardware from the same time it was released. I think I said it because 9 years sounds like neons ago. Hard to imagine that computers even existed :p
 
lopoetve said:
Get bored, want more power, get beat up. Not in that order

I'm hard on my laptops - extremely hard. They go everywhere with me, in motorcycle bags, tossed in backpacks, chucked around at airports - the only ones that held up were the apples and the IBM, and a single dell. :)

The ASUS is falling apart after 4 months. The Inspiron 9300 lasted just fine for a year and a half, but eventually started getting old. Both eMachine's (6850's) started to crack at the hinges at 6 months. The IBM lasted a couple of years, but was slow and bland. The apple lasted just fine, I sold it 'cause I needed money for the bike :) The HP was starting to crack at 5 months around the hinges, but it was cheap. ~shrug~

His held up, and were still useful for that long. :)
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Sounds like you just mistreat your laptops and your friend doesn't. I have an Inspiron 1501 that's 2½ years old and still in perfect condition... nary a scratch or crack. In that time, I've taken it to class nearly every day (I'm a college student) and it even came along when I studied abroad in China for 3 months.
 
also the seller of these used laptops know they paid a high price for them so when they go to sell them they want to get as much money back as possible.
 
gtg465x said:
Sounds like you just mistreat your laptops and your friend doesn't. I have an Inspiron 1501 that's 2½ years old and still in perfect condition... nary a scratch or crack. In that time, I've taken it to class nearly every day (I'm a college student) and it even came along when I studied abroad in China for 3 months.
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Wouldn't have to be that hard... my e1705 is only 1 1/2 years old and it looks like it went through the war!
 
gtg465x said:
Sounds like you just mistreat your laptops and your friend doesn't. I have an Inspiron 1501 that's 2½ years old and still in perfect condition... nary a scratch or crack. In that time, I've taken it to class nearly every day (I'm a college student) and it even came along when I studied abroad in China for 3 months.
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I treat them hard, I grant that - the Apple's simply stand up better. So do the old Dells, and the IBMs.

My sister's Inspiron 1501 only lasted 5 months - both hinges were cracked, we had to replace a dead screen, and the warranty just replaced the motherboard. :( The lcd was her fault though.

edit: He's hard on them too. Not quite as hard, but hard.
 
Tylerdurdened said:
Yes. Upgrade to SP2/3, install Firefox and run some apps in the background such as a mail client, maybe IM. I doubt it will be usable

Ignore me previous post though. Why wouldn't you be able to run an OS on hardware from the same time it was released. I think I said it because 9 years sounds like neons ago. Hard to imagine that computers even existed :p
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Exactly.
 
lopoetve said:
I treat them hard, I grant that - the Apple's simply stand up better. So do the old Dells, and the IBMs.

My sister's Inspiron 1501 only lasted 5 months - both hinges were cracked, we had to replace a dead screen, and the warranty just replaced the motherboard. :( The lcd was her fault though.

edit: He's hard on them too. Not quite as hard, but hard.
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Well that explains it... you're just too [H]ard on them :D
 
On Mac Pros, it's a fairly simple answer:

They're dual-processor Xeon workstations that run Mac OS X. That's a fairly limited market.
 
What is Mac Pro's usual job anyway?

Are they usually used as Photoshop machines pretty much? Dual Xeons sounds like a server but for that they have Xserve in blade form anyway
 
well they are used by pros that makes money with the things they produces thus the high price is a justified expenditure.
 
Tylerdurdened said:
What is Mac Pro's usual job anyway?

Are they usually used as Photoshop machines pretty much? Dual Xeons sounds like a server but for that they have Xserve in blade form anyway
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a Mac pro is really a professional workstation - video editing, 3d work, massive photoshop / rendering work, etc. It's ~not~ a desktop
 
People are still selling quad G5's, etc w/ 2-4GB of ram for $1400-2000 on ebay... it's insane--and people still buy them.

OSX tax at work... well, you could probably, ehh, nevermind.

If you don't want to pay the price, I'm sure you could find ways around it.
 
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