I don't really understand your point. Are you saying Apple should be selling cheap computers just because some people can't afford them? Last time I looked it wasn't a registered charity.

Absolutely, but some grounding in reality would be a nice touch!

The problem is, the competition cost 2 grand then as well, the competition now costs around 500 quid...

Reality is overrated! Last time I looked they were in rude health ignoring the bottom end of the market. The generic box-shifting PC manufacturers, on the other hand, weren't having such a good time.

I agree with your statement but I have to say that if Apple saw this and thought "Right, let's make a budget iMac for £400" then it would end up being like the PC World "bargains".

They would cut corners to cut cost and in so doing you would have a computer that was probably already out of date.

The only reason I have a MBP is because I sold my house and made some money from it. LOL!

Yes, but look at the speed it's moving at.

Jon

This is true, to a degree. Apple enjoy very good profit margins on the machines they produce. Much better than the industry as a whole does. However there is a middle ground between 'prestige' and 'bargain basement' and they could drop their margins by a bit without having to build crappy machines. Apple could also make a mini tower with a similar spec to the iMac but with a better processor (because you need to worry less about heat) for a reasonable sum - say 20% more than the Mac Mini. However they don't seem to think it's worth it, or they don't want to cannibalise their existing buyers - they may assume there are few people budget wise between the top end Mac Mini and the bottom end iMac, so building a 'Mac Pro mini' wouldn't serve a very large market sector.

It's always the way with companies with a very distinct umm.. ethos (not quite the word I'm after but anyway). They could do things that logically would make them money but choose not to. You just kind of have to shrug and walk away. That company doesn't want to serve your needs so you find another than does. I had a small budget to buy a laptop and Apple's even basic macbook was too expensive so I ended up buying a very nice Samsung NC10 netbook. Throw in a 30 quid crucial memory upgrade and it runs windows 7 fine and does all I could ask of it. Would I have preferred an Mac OS X based machine? yes. Do I bitch about it? No, not really. I just made the best compromise given the constraints on the decision.

Jon

Thing is, now is a great time to give people a carrot to switch over - MS are still smarting from Vista and I'm sure they will from the diabolical Windows 7 when people realise that it is just Vista but uglier. Get people onto Snow Leopard for a reasonable price, get them investing in mac-only software and then they are locked in for good!

I'm not talking about charity. Other manufacturer manage to build reliable, well specified machines for a fraction of the price. There sort of people struggle to use Windows, don't know about AV software - or think that the 3 month free trial they got when they bought the machine will still protect them 8 years later - and would really benefit from the way OS X works.

If other manufacturers can get a quad core machine with 4GB RAM and 500-1000GB hard drive out the door for €400, which will last 10 years, including a €120 Vista licence, Apple should be able to get something of an iMac spec (without monitor) out the door for the same price...

Yes but what has previously been said in this thread, and you don't seem to want to acknowledge is that those companies aren't making enough money!!

^ What he said.