HP and EKWB bring real wood to their wares

[HEXUS]

HP Envy laptops feature wood veneers. EK intros Lignum walnut water blocks and accessories.

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[Ttaskmaster]

And charging an absolute fortune for it.... Jeezy, that's a rip-off!!

[MrRobot]

And charging an absolute fortune for it.... Jeezy, that's a rip-off!!

Clearly you're not the intended market for it

[Ttaskmaster]

Clearly you're not the intended market for it

Knowing a few professional woodworkers and dabbling in such things myself, I know how much these things would cost to make, even as one-off custom jobs... so you're darn right I'm not the target market!

[Xlucine]

A wood veneer touchpad, and it lines up with the veneer around it? Dead srubbishrubbishrubbishrubbishy

[OilSheikh]

Da fuq ?

[[GSV]Trig]

Did they not try this about 3 years ago with leather/wood?

[Strawb77]

i can remember when people got excited about being able to buy things made out of real plastic..

[Saracen999]

I guess this just re-emphasaises the point that different people like different things ..... and will pay differing amounts of money for it. On the latter point, it's because, first, peopke have differing levels of disposal income, and because they value things differently.

I mean, personally, there's no way I'd pay £100 (or a lot more) for designer jeans. Or, designer pretty much anything (clothes-wise) for that matter. My personal opinion is that walking around displaying such designer logos is fatuous and I wouldn't do it if they gave me the clothes for free. Much the same can be said of gold-plated iphones and, yes, wood-veneered laptops, etc.

But, I'm sure there are things I'd spend relatively large sums of money on that others, including those proudly wearing designer labels, would regard as daft.

So .... each to his/her own.

Would I buy a veneered laptop? No. I might snigger a bit at anyone that did but, if that's what floats their boat .... well, it's their money. And why would they care if I, or anyone else, thinks it's naff and tacky.

I have this much in common with many that would buy wood laptops, or £100+ jeans, .... I spend my money on what pleases me and don't give a left-handed flying fig what anybody else thinks. So why would they care what people, like me, that wouldn't, think.

Putting all that another way, if HP make 'em, no doubt someone will buy them. But it sure as hell won't be me.

[Ttaskmaster]

And why would they care if I, or anyone else, thinks it's naff and tacky.

It's not really that that bothers me, so much as the corporate mentality that thought charging this much for something you could do yourself for £10 was a good idea.... or specifically, what impact any degree of success in such an arena would have on future products.

To put it another way - It was once sniggered at when RGB lights were all over the PC scene, because who in their right mind would every buy that, right? Enough people jumped on the tacky, poorly implemented wagon and threw money at it, that we got the ubiquitous RGB results of today.

[Saracen999]

It's not really that that bothers me, so much as the corporate mentality that thought charging this much for something you could do yourself for £10 was a good idea.... or specifically, what impact any degree of success in such an arena would have on future products.

To put it another way - It was once sniggered at when RGB lights were all over the PC scene, because who in their right mind would every buy that, right? Enough people jumped on the tacky, poorly implemented wagon and threw money at it, that we got the ubiquitous RGB results of today.

You might be able to do it for €10, but I certainly wouldn't be messing about with laminates and glue on my new laptop .... and I have done a fair bit of marquetry in the past.

I could also buy a gold-plating system and gold-plate my phone but wouldn't, and not just because I don't want a gold-plated phone.

People supplying a product are entitled to charge what they think is the best market price, and if people don't like it, don't buy it.

Put it this way. As someone running my own business (mostly, but not exclusively, that means just me) for several decades, I always worked to a "revenue maximising" logic, not to making things as cheap as possible for the customer. Why? Because my major "product" was my time, and I only had 24 hours in a day, and overheads like sleeping, eating, tine off, etc, eroded that down to between 8 and, in exremis, 16 hours. So why charge £25/hour if I can charge £50 (or more) per hour and still "sell" my entire stkck of hours? If customer A won't pay my rate, soneone in B through Z will.

After all, I'm not a social service. I'm a business.

Other 'niche' products may be limited in market size, either by the appeal of the product, or as a deliberate strategy. I can think of quite a few companies that charge distinctly premium prices, in no small part to keep them "exclusive".

Suppose you manufactured designer widgets. Would you rather sell 10 a week, taking you one day to make, for £500 each, or would you sell 50 a week, taking you 5 days a week to make, at £100 each?

But be aware, you have a limited market prepared to pay £500 each, snd if you start knocking 'em out at £100 a go, the £500 market will evaporate overnight as those custoners buy because the masses are priced out.

Or consider a room in a really high-end hotel? They can only sell each room once per night, snd can fill it every night at £8k oer night. Why on earth would they lower their price.

[Ttaskmaster]

People supplying a product are entitled to charge what they think is the best market price, and if people don't like it, don't buy it.

Can I quote this every time an RGB-hating post appears on the forum, then?

[Saracen999]

Can I quote this every time an RGB-hating post appears on the forum, then?

Sure. Not that you need my permission. It's certsinly never worried you before.

For reference, my objection to RGB isn't about cost. It's about just not personally wanting it, or wanting the ability to turn it off. I'd even gladly pay a few quid extra for a switch. Far more irritating that RGB is cases with windows, as I can't turn the window off with a switch. Also for reference, the ONLY case I have with a window is one I was given by someone that no longer wanted/needed it. Had I been buying it, I'd have bought a no-window version, or a different case, but aboyt £150 seemed a bit much to avoid a window ..... so I knocked up a cover.

But window or not, RGB or not, the supplier is entitldd to set their product price wherever they like, just as I'm entitled to buy, or not if the price is too high.

Product pricing is, for sure, partly about the cost of production. I doubt RGB or not makes uch difference. But after costs are taken into account, the rest of the pricing decisionbis about marketing strategy - simplistically put, high-volume and low-margin, or pricing for exclusivity by making it expensive. Some products are high-priced because of high cost levels, while others are just a matketing strategy. And yet others, both.

So sure, quote that if you want. I don't like RGBA cases, etc, butvit's nothing to to with cost. Or very little, anyway. I just think it's naff. But if it floats other's boats, why would I care?