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Comment by nickm12 | Hacker News Reader

The 'nickel and diming' is definitely there, but also straight up price increase. Twelve years ago, when I was a student, I was able to buy an iBook G4 at what seemed like a very reasonable price for what you got. Now it feels like you can't get into a decent Mac for less than $1200.

I guess Apple's solution is to sell old models forever, rather than design new, low to mid-range products.

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>but also straight up price increase. Twelve years ago, when I was a student, I was able to buy an iBook G4 at what seemed like a very reasonable price for what you got. Now it feels like you can't get into a decent Mac for less than $1200.

Are you sure you're not misremembering a student discount vs retail? Because the lowest end 12" early 2004 iBook G4 launched for $1100, and the 14" launched for $1300. That's in 2004 money, that's around $1500/$1750 (respectively) after 12 years of inflation. And the iBook G4 was not quite on the relative level of the new MacBook Airs (which I assume is what you're comparing to with that $1200 number). Double thunderbolt 3 IO alone makes them far more versatile in higher power activities.

I mean your post is kind of interesting as an example of how people's memories work with regard to pricing over time anyway.

The iBook G4 started at $1100, and dropped to $1000 in 2004, for the 12-inch model. The CPI has inflated by almost exactly 25% over the last 12 years, so that's $1250 real dollars today. It would be nice if Apple drove prices down more, but for what it's worth today's machines are nicer in lots of ways.

You're ignoring inflation. The iBook G4 shipped in 2003, and the cheapest one (no wifi!) cost $1100. In today's dollars, that's over $1500. The entry level Apple laptop today costs only $1200, or 20% less in absolute terms.

For the lower cost, you get far better hardware (CPU, battery, screen, wifi included, etc) and software (10.14 vs 10.3, iWork included for free, good selection of free modern web browsers, etc).

If the iBook G4 seemed very reasonable, the 2018 MacBook Air should seem like a steal. It's not just better value (technology always does that), but lower absolute cost. The only thing they haven't done is drop prices faster than inflation, but that's a pretty arbitrary line.

Inflation doesn’t tell the whole story. My 12” PB was all the machine I needed when I got it. Now I need a cell phone for basic stuff like finding my way around town. And I still need a laptop for traditional PC use. They’ve added SKUs to my life and the sum total price of them is outrageous. That’s where people feel fleeced. Not to mention the new SKUs don’t actually fit the marks like they used to do.

> My 12" PB was all the machine I needed when I got it. Now I need a cell phone for basic stuff like finding my way around town

Back in the day, I used to write addresses on bits of papers or print out a picture of a map. Did that become illegal since the iPhone came out?

One device can still be all the machine one needs, and it can still be a notebook or even a desktop machine.

You're ignoring Moore's Law which didn't end in 2003.

This is just inflation. In 2003 when the G4 iBook was unveiled, the cheapest model started at $1099:

https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2003/10/22Apple-Unveils-New-G...

In 2018 dollars (adjusted for inflation) that is ~$1507.00. You can get a mid-level Macbook Pro for that now.

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