Retina Mac Apps: Not a Review, But a Site

theindustry.cc

16 points·jarederondu··3 comments

I've been a Linux user for a long time. But I'm switching. I have a MacBook Retina on order, so I looked these apps over. I am astounded by their high prices. $49 seems to be the average; that's probably more than I've spent on software (not bundled with hardware) in the last three years.

I guess we Mac users are so cash-flush, we're just itching to give some away.

The site, Retina Mac Apps, is a good 'un. Thank you.

To be honest, I was shocked at the prices when compiling the initial list.

I think it can partly be attributed to the higher-end software dev/design teams being first to the punch with Retina, and partly because most of these apps are productivity / media apps. Aperture, Coda, etc. are definitely worth the price of admission – they're fantastic software.

Prices of apps made by independent developers are often higher than on Windows, simply because of less competition (at least it used to be that way but at least in the consumer space I feel that it's shifting). App quality is often higher however.

It's not really comparable to Linux packages. GPL software is nice, but it's usually also a lot of work until it works the way you want - paid apps are there to do that for you. You could still install most Linux tools using Macports / Homebrew. At some point you will recognize that sometimes spending 20-30$ instead of investing hours of your time is worth it.

Now concerning Apple's own software: IF they fit your needs they are usually a total no-brainer. Pages/Numbers/Keynote give you 90% of the power of MS Office, in a more consistent way and at 1/4 of the price. Similar things can be said about Aperture and Final Cut X, Logic Pro even being the industry leader from what I hear. Apple certainly doesn't make a profit on those alone.

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