Mac vs. PC Average Retail Selling Price

by Anand on December 2nd, 2009 Share on    

Last week, I had written about the average revenue share held by Apple and Microsoft in the desktop and laptop market. So, what is the average selling price of these? Here’s the data

Computer Oct '09 Oct '08
Windows PC $491 $556
Mac Desktop $1,338 $1,581
Windows Laptop $519 $659
Mac Laptop $1,410 $1,575

Whatever justifies this extreme disparity in pricing, I am not convinced.

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3 comments

1 Justin { 12.02.09 at 10:45 pm }

I’m not sure of your point here. I have always considered Macs to be a higher end machines than most PC’s out there. So because of that, they will be pricier than PC’s. Both are computers and mainly do the same things. One’s just nicer than the other.

Very similar to cars. The average Mercedes cost $64,000 while the average Ford cost $24,700 (I got these numbers by looking at both sites and doing averages based on all of their vehicles at their stock prices.) There’s a discrepancy there too, why don’t you point that out?

2 Anand { 12.03.09 at 3:38 am }

Hi Justin

I agree with your point here. Maybe it is just a difference in perspective. Personally, I have always chosen utility over classiness, and so have always found Macs overpriced.

You could apply the same to cars as well. I find Mercedes expensive too. And yes, there are a lot of people who are ready to pay for the extra-classiness that come with Mercs, but maybe not me..

Thanks for your comment.

3 paul { 02.12.10 at 4:20 pm }

I dont see the original commenter’s point. The difference between a Ford and a Mercedes has many factors. First off Mercedes is a high end performance luxery manufactuer of cars. Ford is clearly not and has a market demographic that is aimed at the middle class consumer. This analogy doesnt fit this argument as Apple is aiming at the exact same demographic as the pc but charges over twice the amount. The question is then are you getting so much more for your dollar when you buy a mac and to me the answer to that question is clearly no. A pc running either M$ or Linux/Unix can do all the same things a mac can do and in my opinion even more than a mac for much less money.

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