Apple’s Pricing Premiums Never Cease to Impress

Apple updated both its MacBook and iMac line-ups yesterday, and though I have little interest in the company’s products, I decided to head on over to its site and see what was new. At the same time, I also wanted to see what kind of “Apple tax” these new machines had, and whether or not the situation is as extreme as before. Well, I didn’t have to look too far to get an answer. In this case, my answer laid with the 21.5″ iMac’s.

As is typical of Apple, there are two models per size. One retails for $1,199, while the upgraded version sells for $1,499. Prices like these don’t seem so bad for an all-in-one machine, especially the $1,199 model, but when you consider the hardware under the hood, you might think twice. In both models, the CPU included is a 3.06GHz Core 2 Duo. Yes, that’s a dual-core, not a quad. Oh, but you can upgrade it to a 3.33GHz for only $200 (give me the quad-core Q8200 at $150 any day).

The fact that Apple, and others, charge insane premiums on hardware is nothing new, but Apple takes things to the next level. I noted two different models, with the “higher-end” costing $300 more. After meticulously looking over the specs pages for both, I found only two differences. That $300 will get you an upgrade from a 500GB hard drive to a 1TB offering, and also upgrade the integrated graphics from the NVIDIA 9400M to an ATI HD 4670 256MB.

I use bold there because the 256MB version of the card isn’t even for sale anymore on any e-tailer I checked. Only the 512MB version is, and it sells for $60. The premium on the hard drive? Going from a 500GB to 1TB in the real marketplace is a $25 – $30 premium. So overall, Apple is charging $300 for $90 “upgrades”. I use the term upgrades loosely, because the HD 4670 is hardly a stellar GPU. For that premium, you’d expect to at least get a decent mid-range card capable of actually pushing graphics with the display’s native resolution of 1080p.

Yes, I’m aware that the iMac is an all-in-one, and that in itself rules out certain GPUs, but there are better options than the HD 4670. Even ATI’s brand-new HD 5750 would be a perfect drop-in. It not only uses less power and runs cool, it offers far better performance. Since those retail for just $109 to the end-consumer, Apple could have used it and still made a healthy profit.

The new iMac features stunning LED-backlit displays with a 16:9 aspect ratio, ideal for watching high definition movies and TV shows from iTunes, or editing and watching your own videos or photos using iLife. The new 21.5-inch iMac features a high resolution 1920-by-1080 pixel display. The 27-inch iMac features a beautiful 2560-by-1440 pixel display that offers 60 percent more pixels than the previous 24-inch model. Both 21.5 and 27-inch displays use IPS technology to deliver consistent color across an ultra wide 178 degree viewing angle.