I know people talk about how a PC is cheaper, and it is, but you have to do so much more to justify it being cheaper. It's a false economy.
To start with you have to build it yourself, which immediately means it's not a true comparison because most people can't do that with a pc and you can't (Hakintosh excused) do that with a Mac. So, excepting that, it's then only fair to compare high-spec off the shelf, with serious build quality where the prices are very close. You also don't get the after sales care Applecare provides, Knowhow isn't even comparable.
I haven't got a clue what a similar spec laptop to my Macbook Pro would cost, mainly as I've never seen another laptop brand with the same level of quality. I guess maybe some of the Sony are in the ballpark but they aren't cheap.
Does anyone else use aluminium? It makes a real difference - light but still feels as solid as a lump of metal.
I used to have a Vaio and the quality doesn't even come close. (It also cost more than my MBP.) I also still own a Thinkpad and that's the closest in build quality I've seen to a Macbook, but still isn't really a patch on it.
On that basis I just went to Lenovo and built an i7 Thinkpad, similar to my MBP and it was actually more expensive. Applecare for 3 years is £199 and 3 years with Lenovo, that seems comparable is £127.
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I just couldn't be doing with them insisting on doing upgrades and repairs themselves and charging me a fortune for doing it.
Upgrading a Mac is almost the same as a PC. My last one I did the Ram and HD myself and my brand new, or near as brand new Mac, I also upgraded myself. (It doesn't void the warranty unless the upgrade you performed is deemed responsible for the fault and the parts you've changed are no longer under warranty.)
