It's not that hardware, Alot of time hardware are nearly similiar to PC... It uses Intel and I can see why parts and hardwares are overpriced. Can't they just build cheaper iMac for anyone who are on budget.
See the difference, Many 15" wide screen Windows Laptops are selling between $300 to $700 while Apple laptops cost heckava lot more and don't have much hardwares options than Windoz laptops. Though newer technology emerge and the problem is the availability to accommodate with new hardware.
Get out of your house and meet with many people out there in real life. You can see why many people still have older desktop or laptops in use because they can't afford to buy newer pc or laptop due to cost. They'll go for cheaper one when old one no longer able to meet today's software requirements or breaks down. Also with economic situation, lot of people are out of jobs. Money are tighter.
I was always out there to help fix many people's PC and Laptops. They can't afford to send their computer to shop cuz it cost too much just little thing and several had bad experience with PC shop that ripped them off. I offer them reasonable fees to repair their computers so that they can use it to look for jobs, educations for kids, and many more. This gave me bigger pictures of their economic situation. All are middle class and some upper class citizens are asking for help to fix computer what they can afford. Retired people are in the bind and they can't afford new pc. To be honest. I've seen people still using 700mhz up to 1.6ghz pc today which is very out of date but still getting around by maximizing memory and adding better graphic card just to get by.
Noticed that many PC company are making new netbooks, smaller size desktop pc ect selling cheap while Apple still high price. That's why I was saying if Apple want to infiltrate PC market, just match the price of PC and be competitive. That would be an excellent marketing practice. In that way Apple can be back to popularity. I don't care about newest hardware that Apple bragged about. How many people would buy, few out of millions of people!! If you can afford to buy Apple, that's good cuz you're one of few out of million people.
Catty
I guess you don't bother to read the link that I send you. You should read the link first before you post. Again, hardware is not overprice for god's sake!
Custom built PC to order Matched to baseline Mac Pro
Supermicro MBD-X7DWE-O Dual LGA 771 $429.99
Intel Xeon X3360 Yorkfield 2.83GHz x 2 $1109.98
Kingston HyperX 2 GB ECC FB-DIMM $134.99
Seagate Barracuda 320 GB SATA 3.0 $79.99
Sapphire Radeon HD 2600XT 256 MB $34.99
Creative Sound Blaster Audigy SE 7.1 $27.99
Cirago BTA Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR USB $9.99
SYBA 1394a FireWire400 Controller $12.99
SYBA 1394b FireWire800 Controller $29.95 on outletpc.com
Lite-On DL-DVD Burner $23.99
Lian-Li PC-A71A Aluminum Full Tower $229.99
Thermaltake Toughpower W0155RU $319.99
Keytronic E06101USBC Keyboard $38.99
Microsoft Wheel Mouse Optical OEM $11.99
Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate $277.49
Total price $2773.33
Price difference $5.67
Tomshardware build the PC hardware that's exactly same as Apple hardware and price is only $5.67 difference. How to be overprice?!!
Cheap PC = too much issue and waste money to spend for send PC to repair.
Mac = less issue and less spend $$ for repair.
AAPL - Apple Inc. - Google Finance
MSFT - Microsoft Corporation - Google Finance
Click 5 years and you noticed WHY Apple stock went up and M$ stock went down?
I don't care about newest hardware
Yes, You done! You always want to quick boot up but too many new PC still over 40 seconds for boot up to ready unlike Apple. Also too many PC's laptop is very awful battery life and very short as 3 hours. Apple battery life over 6 hours and Apple battery life's cycles can go up to 5 years. That's mean PC's battery life's cycle only last for 2 years then spend $100 for brand new battery life. That's suck!