Apple upgrade pricing makes no sense?

eckingecking
Posted:
in Current Mac Hardware edited January 2014
I was looking at the price of upgrades between a mini and a macbook and found something interesting look:



RAM



Mac Mini

512MB 667 DDR2 SDRAM - 2x256

1GB 667 DDR2 SDRAM - 2x512 [Add $100]

2GB 667 DDR2 SDRAM - 2x1GB [Add $300]

--------------------------------------

MacBook

512MB 667 DDR2 SDRAM - 2x256

1GB 667 DDR2 SDRAM - 2x512 [Add $100]

2GB 667 DDR2 SDRAM - 2x1GB [Add $500]



HARD DRIVE

-------------------------

If machine has 60GB standard

-------------------------



1.5GHz Core Solo Mac mini

60GB Serial ATA drive

80GB Serial ATA drive [Add $50]

100GB Serial ATA drive [Add $100]

120GB Serial ATA drive [Add $175]

------------------------------

1.83GHz MacBook

60GB Serial ATA drive

80GB Serial ATA drive [Add $50]

100GB Serial ATA drive [Add $150]

120GB Serial ATA drive [Add $250]



-------------------------

If machine has 80GB standard

-------------------------



1.66GHz Mac mini

80GB Serial ATA drive

100GB Serial ATA drive [Add $50]

120GB Serial ATA drive [Add $125]

------------------------------

2.0GHz Black MacBook

80GB Serial ATA drive

100GB Serial ATA drive [Add $100]

120GB Serial ATA drive [Add $200]







What the hell is going on? If they both use the exact same components why does it cost more for the macbook?

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 14
    archstudentarchstudent Posts: 262member
    notebooks use different RAM (so dimms) which is way more expensive than regular RAM for 1 gb sticks. Also possible that the notebooks are using different HDs
  • Reply 2 of 14
    eckingecking Posts: 1,588member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Archstudent

    notebooks use different RAM (so dimms) which is way more expensive than regular RAM for 1 gb sticks. Also possible that the notebooks are using different HDs



    I think all intel macs use the same so-dimms even the imac.

    The HDs are the same all 2.5 5400rpm drives.
  • Reply 3 of 14
    archstudentarchstudent Posts: 262member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by ecking

    I think all intel macs use the same so-dimms even the imac.





    I'm pretty sure they use different RAM, but otherwise thats crazy
  • Reply 4 of 14
    eckingecking Posts: 1,588member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Archstudent

    "I think" isn't good enough.. Basically you are wrong. Laptop RAM is tiny afaik



    Go ahead and prove that the mini (which is based entirely on a laptop and uses laptop parts) for some reason uses full size ram.
  • Reply 5 of 14
    trendannoyertrendannoyer Posts: 776member
    the the lack of I THINK in your post makes you RIGHT... must remember that





  • Reply 6 of 14
    archstudentarchstudent Posts: 262member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by ecking

    Go ahead and prove that the mini (which is based entirely on a laptop and uses laptop parts) for some reason uses full size ram.



    well my mac mini uses normal size RAM, I did the upgrade myself last week...ALTHOUGH mine is PPC mini
  • Reply 7 of 14
    archstudentarchstudent Posts: 262member
    hmm I have to admit it looks like you were right.. in which case I am very confused by this as well.. I guess we can just buy 3rd party ram
  • Reply 8 of 14
    netdognetdog Posts: 244member
    When I bought my MacBook yesterday in London, The Apple Store told me that if I upgraded myself, I would void my warranty.



    Once I got home, when I went to cancel my previous order with The Apple Store (online store), I saw that there my new computer was some £50 more than the computer I had ordered even though its drive was 20GB smaller.



    They had charged me £420 for an unpgrade to 2GB, and had not even included my 256MB sims in the box as they said they would. At no time did they tell me either that I was paying a premium.



    A) Are we allowed to upgrade RAM ourselves without voiding the warranty?



    B) Has anyone heard of Apple pulling this stunt with charging more to upgrade a new unit than it would cost by buying it online?



    As you can imagine, I am none too happy about this, but am waiting to hear from a manager at Regent Street in the hope that we can quickly and easily resolve this.
  • Reply 9 of 14
    drnatdrnat Posts: 142member
    I wonder if the margin on the Mac Mini is higher & therefore this is partly offset agains the upgrades.



    In base spec the MB looks much better value than the Mac Mini
  • Reply 10 of 14
    jpenningtonjpennington Posts: 476member
    Basic principles of supply and demand. If people will pay, they will charge more.
  • Reply 11 of 14
    copsecopse Posts: 64member
    All Intel Macs uses SO-DIMMs 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM. That´s laptop type memory.



    As far as I can tell from the specs the hard drive is of the same type, size and RPM in every Intel Mac, except for the iMac.



    source:



    http://store.apple.com/Catalog/US/Im...son_chart.html



    http://www.apple.com/macmini/specs.html



    http://www.macworld.com/weblogs/macw...icsi/index.php



    http://www.apple.com/imac/whatsinside.html#store
  • Reply 12 of 14
    netdognetdog Posts: 244member
    The Genius Bar in London confirms that the RAM sticks are identical across the Core Duo Yonah line -- iMac, Mini, MacBook & MacBook Pro.
  • Reply 13 of 14
    mr. hmr. h Posts: 4,870member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by netdog

    A) Are we allowed to upgrade RAM ourselves without voiding the warranty?



    That depend on what exactly you mean. Upgrading the RAM yourself does not void the warranty. However, if you break something whilst installing the RAM yourself, this will not be covered by the warranty.
  • Reply 14 of 14
    eckingecking Posts: 1,588member
    That store guy is wrong the ram and hd are user upgradable.



    Even the apple site has diagrams showing people how it's done.





    ---------

    But on the original topic is sucks that the components are all the same but prices differ.
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