Are the new Mac Book Pro's worth the money?

pkcable

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Rene,

Funny story when I was a kid, around 7, and my friends at playground and in school were telling me there was no Santa Claus, I started to feel some kind of way and I wanted the truth! So I went to my mom and asked her to level with me, "Is there a Santa? Or do you and Dad get us the gifts?" She then told me a lovely story about Santa being the spirit of giving, and that yes her and Dad DID get the gifts, but by doing so they were Santa, and that I too could be Santa when I got gifts for my brother and sisters and friends, etc. But yes, it WAS them.

Anyways I'm hearing so many stories right now that these new Mac Book Pro's are not a good value. That Apple has raised the price too much. They don't bring enough to the table to make it worth the cost! etc etc. I still kind of want one! So who is right? My friends? The YouTubers (lol) who do reviews, or Santa Tim Cook? All kidding aside, what's your take on the new Mac Book Pro's the non touchbar and touchbar models. Of COURSE please feel free to post links to your and your staff's reviews, BUT I want your own words, just a quick personal opinion. Did they over price these things?

Rich
 
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anon(9602380)

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I think they're overpriced. Now this is only my opinion. I believe they did not bring enough to the table to justify the price. I won't even consider one at the moment. And yes I could use a newer one. But I personally think the 2015 models are a far better deal. I am a power user of my Macs. To me the touch bar is a gimmick. I have learned so many keyboard shortcuts which I find much quicker than having to scroll through a touch bar. I am a believer of new tech but it must offer better productivity to justify the price.
 

Rene Ritchie

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Rene,

Funny story when I was a kid, around 7, and my friends at playground and in school were telling me there was no Santa Claus, I started to feel some kind of way and I wanted the truth! So I went to my mom and asked her to level with me, "Is there a Santa? Or do you and Dad get us the gifts?" She then told me a lovely story about Santa being the spirit of giving, and that yes her and Dad DID get the gifts, but by doing so they were Santa, and that I too could be Santa when I got gifts for my brother and sisters and friends, etc. But yes, it WAS them.

Anyways I'm hearing so many stories right now that these new Mac Book Pro's are not a good value. That Apple has raised the price too much. They don't bring enough to the table to make it worth the cost! etc etc. I still kind of want one! So who is right? My friends? The YouTubers (lol) who do reviews, or Santa Tim Cook? All kidding aside, what's your take on the new Mac Book Pro's the non touchbar and touchbar models. Of COURSE please feel free to post links to your and your staff's reviews, BUT I want your own words, just a quick personal opinion. Did they over price these things?

Rich

It depends on what you need. Apple prices are always similar: cost + ~35% margin. Sometimes Apple takes a hit on margin to make prices more attractive, but usually Wall Street punishes them for that, so it's not too often.

Also, many people, including reviewers, don't understand pricing. For example, they'll say "AirPods are over priced!" because they're comparing them to $15 wired earbuds. They're not understanding the technology, which includes two W1 computer chips, accelerometer, proximity detector, etc. is costly. For tiny ear computers, they're not that expensive. (Apple would have sold them for less if they could — though not at a loss.)

MacBook Pro is the same thing. The price reflects, almost exactly, old MacBook Pro + embedded iOS device above the keyboard. Essentially, MacBook Pro + Apple Watch = new pricing. That'll go down over time, but adding a second screen (with capacitive touch), plus a S1 computer-on-a-chip, plus Touch ID boosted the price for now.

To address that, Apple kept last year's models around as well. Those, though, I wish they'd dropped the price a little bit more. Maybe they were worried that would hurt the sale of the new ones, but it's worked for iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch in the past.

So yeah, no, they're not over priced, but that doesn't mean you'll find value in them. If you don't need something, or it doesn't fit what you need, it's 100% overpriced.