News - Price war: Mac OS X Snow Leopard vs Windows 7

[HEXUS]

With Apple slashing the upgrade cost of Snow Leopard, we revisit rumours hinting at the retail cost of Microsoft's Windows 7.

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[DeludedGuy]

This can only be good news, as it will drive the price down further

[aidanjt]

Now, if Apple reduced the price of their hardware by that much, we might be getting somewhere.

[TheBloodyNine]

A price war seems pretty pointless seen as you need apple hardware to run OSX and people with apple hardware not likely going to buy W7. Its not as if they both operate in the same market really.

[Irien]

If Apple really wanted to deal a blow to MS, they'd de-couple it from the locked hardware, and sell it as a retail product for anyone. At that kind of pricing (or even 49$) it'd be a nice little shockwave.

As it is, MS can realisitically ignore it, since the only people who can take advantage of the price have already locked themselves into Apple hardware/software-wise, and are therefore not MS customers in the first place (I know boot-camp affects that a bit). A low priced OS upgrade for expensive hardware doesn't really impact MS who are largely selling to the sub-500$ brigade.

[Whiternoise]

Either way it's good news, i'd happily pay under $100 to upgrade both my desktop and my macbook

Oh, and i have the Win 7 beta on my macbook, it's great to have a safetynet for when i need to run Office 2007 properly - the Apple version is fine, but you can't input equations easily. Remember that a lot of people are in the situation i am, they have a laptop and a desktop and went for OS X on the move and a windows desktop for things like 3D work (i.e. 3DS Max/Autocad) and gaming with a proper graphics card.

The thing to bear in mind is that Apple is ramping up their market base, macbooks are becoming more common with people going to University/College and the offer of a free iPod Touch in the states isn't something to sniff at (works out to something like a $200 rebate). Yes, they're nowhere near as large as Microsoft, and once again - Microsoft does not care about it's profits from consumers, they make their money from business and large scale contracts and that is probably why they dropped their price. If you are a corporation with 2000 computers to upgrade, do you want to be paying $100 for Vista per machine? With a potential $50 tag (probably reasonable for a large license cost per machine) it's much more palatable.

Apple have never really made very expensive operating systems - OS X Leopard has been consistently under £80 for a new disc and of course they tout that there's only one version (none of this home, business, ultimate nonsense). Snow Leopard is somewhere between a new operating system and a glorified service pack. It's not got quite enough new to be called a complete overhaul (it's all about tweaks, not about features), but it's got more than enough to qualify for a reasonably priced download.

[shaithis]

IMO, the full 64bit-ness of Snow Leopard fully justifies it as a new OS.......and that's one feature alone.

I forsee a huge spike in downtimes and cries for help this autumn as millions re-install their operating systems

[tickedon]

Now, if Apple reduced the price of their hardware by that much, we might be getting somewhere.

Apple announced hardware discounts of up to $700 yesterday on their laptop line. So yes, they've not only met the $100 software discount, but, exceeded it quite a bit on the hardware side

[Ramedge]

Now, if Apple reduced the price of their hardware by that much, we might be getting somewhere.

I think this statement is so wrong and may have been true a few years ago.

When I bought my Mac Pro you could not build it yourself for the price it cost. The processors alone where over £400 each.

I think a lot of people don't realize there are ways with Apple to get the price down quite a bit.

[Ramedge]

since the only people who can take advantage of the price have already locked themselves into Apple hardware/software-wise, and are therefore not MS customers in the first place (I know boot-camp affects that a bit).

Untrue, take a look inside a Mac, no mac user is locking them selves down Mac specific hardware.
you have more options with a Mac.

I am sure you may have seen some of the many reviews in the past were Apple machines running Windows faster than PC's. I am not saying this is always true but it is documented.

I am not sure how old EFI technology is and the true advantages are of it but its newer technology than the antique BIOS which every PC is running on & maybe it has some performance value.

[[GSV]Trig]

A price war seems pretty pointless seen as you need apple hardware to run OSX and people with apple hardware not likely going to buy W7. Its not as if they both operate in the same market really.

Saves me a post, thats exactly what I was thinking..

[chrism]

Apple announced hardware discounts of up to $700 yesterday on their laptop line. So yes, they've not only met the $100 software discount, but, exceeded it quite a bit on the hardware side

Unfortunately not on the 15" or 13" Macbooks though :/
And the Air is still overpriced.

[Kato-2]

Uh this seems a silly story since when can you install OSX (legally supported) on a PC ?

Oh that's right you cant its tied to a closed Apple computer.

I am not sure how old EFI technology is and the true advantages are of it but its newer technology than the antique BIOS which every PC is running on & maybe it has some performance value.

Ramedge EFI doesn't have anything terribly useful over bios (it was conceived as a bios replacement) but no one really cares enough to use it because the bios works just fine and continues to do so. Apple only went with it so they could lock down their computers and try to keep OSX in their walled garden.

Untrue, take a look inside a Mac, no mac user is locking them selves down Mac specific hardware.
you have more options with a Mac.

Please direct me to AMD CPU equipped Mac's and Apple systems with PCI-e graphics cards other than the ones sanctioned by Apple. Apple deliberately limit the choice of hardware on their computer and their special graphics cards are so special you can flash one intended for a PC with its firmware and have it work in a Mac.

[TheVoice]

Windows 7 is a far bigger upgrade than Snow Leopard is though, so I don't think anyone can expect MS to offer similar pricing. Also, bear in mind that the $29 price only applies to people using Leopard already, not to those on any other version. Anyone still on Tiger or older will have to get the full version.

[aidanjt]

I think this statement is so wrong and may have been true a few years ago.

No, it's as true now, as it was many moons ago. Their cheapest 'bargain basement' Mac is the mini, at $600, their cheapest 'bargain basement' laptop is the Macbook, $1000. And both are lackluster performers compared to their generic counterparts at the same pricing point.

Add on any hardware upgrades when you order your Mac, and the price explodes something shocking. Seriously, you could buy separate components yourself, and save money, and you get to keep the old parts, which you could recycle for use with another machine, or sell on, and get even more money back.

When I bought my Mac Pro you could not build it yourself for the price it cost. The processors alone where over £400 each.

You probably didn't shop around that much then.

I think a lot of people don't realize there are ways with Apple to get the price down quite a bit.

With fairy dust?

[aidanjt]

Apple announced hardware discounts of up to $700 yesterday on their laptop line. So yes, they've not only met the $100 software discount, but, exceeded it quite a bit on the hardware side

Where's this $700 discount you're talking about?.. Show me which product has been reduced by $700.