Style over substance?

I've long been of the opinion that Apple products are vastly overpriced for what they actually are but that's exactly their marketing ploy. "Buy Apple and you're somehow more superior than those that don't". Fair enough, it works, nobody forces these people to shell out for overpriced product just because they look better and give a more satisfying glow of ownership.

So, I've set up a quick comparison based on the base level Mac Mini costing £339. I wanted to see how much a self built Windows machine would cost based on the same specification wherever possible. Naturally, you need to add a monitor, keyboard and mouse but they could be common for either machine.

The base level machine consists of;

Processor: 1.25GHz PowerPC G4
Memory: 256MB of PC2700 (333MHz) DDR SRAM, supports up to 1GB
Graphics: ATI Radeon 9200 with 32MB of DDR SDRAM with AGP 4X support
Hard drive: 40GB Ultra ATA1
Optical drive: Slot-loading Combo Drive (DVD-ROM/CD-RW)
Operating System: Mac OSX
Total cost including VAT and delivery: £339

As the Mac Mini is a Small Form Factor machine obviously the Windows version should be the same so I've based it on the cheapest Shuttle case I could find.

The alternative machine consists of;

Processor: 2200+ AMD Sempron (1.5Ghz clock)
Memory: 256MB of PC2700 (333MHz) DDR SRAM, supports up to 2GB
Graphics: ATI Radeon 9200 with 64MB of DDR SDRAM with AGP 8X support
Hard drive: Maxtor 40GB Ultra ATA1
Optical drive: Sony Combo Drive (DVD-ROM/CD-RW)
Operating System: WindowsXP Media Centre Edition
Case&Motherboard: Shuttle SK43G
Total cost including VAT and delivery: £340 (ebuyer)

Wow! Practically the same speced machine for the same money. Yes the Mac Mini looks a million times better, the OSX operating system is more secure and arguably better, it's quieter, smaller etc. This isn't the full story though. The base Mac Mini is woefully underspeced for the multimedia applications the OSX operating system was created for. By the time you add say 1Gb ram, the wireless option, a faster processor, the bigger hard drive, the matching keyboard and mouse, the obligatory DVD writer et al, the cost becomes obscene. A similarly speced self built Windows machine could be up to half the cost.

As a low cost introduction to the Mac OSX a base Mac Mini is perfect for Internet, e-mail, MP3, watching DVD's, general office tasks, etc as a second machine in the livingroom or bedroom. I still want one, but I'll never buy. The power of Apple's Style over Substance will and does work for many.

Category:

• Computer
• Apple