Mac vs PC (split from Netbook thread)

[ViPER1313]

and i'm not arguing resale after a year; that's silly, why would you resell/upgrade after a year? let's assume we all do our homework before making such a large purchase and don't sell for a few years.

let's look at a dell latitude d620 versus a first gen 15" macbook pro, both machiens from early 2006:
d620 msrp: $900
d620 resale [today]: $250
d620 cost to own: $650
mbp msrp: $1700
mbp resale [today]: $1200
mbp cost to own: $500

This is a flawed comparison - I don't know where you are getting these numbers from. There are Macbook Pros all over ebay for ~$700 -> $800 buy it now, making your cost of ownership around $1000 (I am assuming $1700 is what they cost new, could have been less?)

The D620 was an older model and doesn't have the Core2Duo processor in it - a more accurate comparison is the D630, which was available at the time and which are still going for ~$400->600
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://cgi.ebay.com/Dell-D630-2-6GHz-250GB-Windows-7-DVDRW-T61-E6400-T7800_W0QQitemZ320471193784QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Computing_Laptops_EH?hash=item4a9d9258b8">http://cgi.ebay.com/Dell-D630-2-6GHz-250GB-Windows-7-DVDRW-T61-E6400-T7800_W0QQitemZ320471193784QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Computing_Laptops_EH?hash=item4a9d9258b8</a><!-- m -->

I know you could buy a D630 for under $1000 when new, making total cost of ownership ~500, give or take.

sure, dell always has deals. while not as steep as the dell deals, you can always find a mac for less than msrp as well. point? straight up math says the mac is cheaper to own. factoring in what we know about dell and the market, the dell might edge is out at the end of factoring all that, but clearly not by any large amount.

Where can you get Mac's significantly under MSRP? Thats the entire problem with Mac - you have to buy the hardware from Mac, your OS is made by Mac, and Mac tightly controls the pricing.

if you can't understand that math, i can't help you. you get something nicer for roughly the same money in the long run... the exact analogy i was making with the impala versus an accord or camry.

Once again, I will reiterate that car and computer depreciation is not the same thing. Secondly, nicer is obviously relative - for example, I would rather own a 2003 Impala over a 2003 Camry (maybe not over an Accord if both were the same price.)

Lastly, if you want to keep on this American vs Foreign car depreciation thing, you have to take into account all the special rebates, financing offers, etc when buying new that the American companies usually give on cars such as the Impala. Those usually tilt the long term ownership costs back towards neutral when comparing them to the foreign makes (unless you are an idiot and pay full price, then you will get reamed on trade in.)