PSA: Apple Memory is Expensive

[Modeps]

I knew memory sold by Apple was more expensive than it really needed to be, but I never really compared prices until today.

I picked up an iMac for my wife for the holiday. All the models except for the most expensive come with 1gb of ram. I know that OSX is a hog when it comes to ram, so I decided that I'd only buy one extra gig instead of bothering with the hassle of getting it from somewhere else. They gave it to me and I was on my way.... $150 for 1GB 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM - educational discount ($10).

Now, I haven't been in the market for ram in a long time, but that seemed a bit TOO expensive to me. Still, in order to have it for the holiday, I just bought it. It came in a sealed Apple box. I hopped on newegg and looked up the same ram and came across this: mushkin 4GB (2 x 2GB) 200-Pin DDR2 SO-DIMM DDR2 667 for $90 AR (and it comes with a free tee shirt).

Lets do the math here:
Apple memory: $140 a gig.
Mushkin memory: $23 a gig.
Markup: 609%

I didn't open apple's ram yet thankfully, its going back.

 

[ForumMaster]

what did you expect really? apple always take more then an item is worth. how mych were they making on the iphone? 50% profit? no sorry. it was 55%. still ridiculous.

 

[LuckyTaxi]

i know a friend who bought memory from dell because the CS rep told her no other memory would work. i blasted the person but they still made Michael Dell rich.

 

[erikistired]

Originally posted by: ForumMaster
what did you expect really? apple always take more then an item is worth. how mych were they making on the iphone? 50% profit? no sorry. it was 55%. still ridiculous.

drink up the hatorade!

anyway, back to reality. yeah just like most big companies their memory prices are way high. i put crucial in my powerbook and it worked great, my mbp came with 2gb so i didn't need to upgrade it. the only thing i might get from apple is mac pro memory, but i think the aftermarket scene has that covered these days (with those crazy heatsinks).

 

[MrTransistorm]

Upon releasing new hardware, the price that Apple charges is usually quite reasonable. I think the problem is that Apple almost never lowers their prices over time. When the SR MBP came out there were only a couple of other comparable laptops out there, and the MBP was actually cheaper. Now there are several other comparable laptops that are much cheaper than the MBP. Apple's price never changed. The same goes for most of the other hardware that they sell.

While I do think that the higher cost of Apple's computers is worth it, their upgrade (RAM, hard drives, etc.) prices are ridiculous. If you know where to find cheaper upgrades then that means you are a smart consumer. There must be people who are blindly accepting those prices; otherwise Apple would be forced to lower them.

 

[randomlinh]

Originally posted by: ForumMaster
what did you expect really? apple always take more then an item is worth. how mych were they making on the iphone? 50% profit? no sorry. it was 55%. still ridiculous.

that's pure hardware. you fail to factor in R&D, logistics, and the non-physical costs. Granted, they still make a profit, but I hate how iSupply always does this, and everyone gets into a frenzy.

with that said, MrTransistorm has a point, the hardware itself is usually decently priced, but you are paying for the look. upgrades are treated like accessories at best buy.. $30 gold plated cable anyone?

I just upgraded my imac to max it out, which kinda sucks since it's only 3GB. to which I have extra memory that I can't even get rid of.. haha

 

[TheStu]

In other news, water still wet, Sun still hot, Earth still big, and the Moon... still not made of cheese.

How is this surprising? As had been mentioned, Apple, just like every other OEM, charges more for upgrades than if you got them yourself. And since Apple (just like everybody else) makes it pretty easy to replace the RAM in a computer (haven't tried the Mini, but that could be a little worrisome) then instead of bitching about how expensive the RAM is, instead, revel in how much money you are saving. "Well, if I had gotten 4GB of RAM, this MacBook would have been almost $2000 instead of $1200. But, by being smart and a non-whiner, I can spin the situation into that I saved $700 on the purchase by getting the RAM elsewhere"

 

[hiromizu]

Yes but it guarantees compatibility and support from Apple. That's what you're paying for.

 

[umrigar]

If you buy 3rd party, you get lifetime warranty (in most cases).
Apple RAM? 1 year or 3 years, max. And yes, RAM can fail over time.

 

[secretanchitman]

i just bought some ocz 2x2GB ddr2-800 for $100 on newegg today.

and WOW apple charges $700 to upgrade to 2x2GB ddr2-667? no thank you.

 

[aphex]

i've never really heard anyone say that OSX was a ram hog, quite the opposite actually.

 

[SoundTheSurrender]

My guess is Apple charges so much to deter from people to buy it. It takes time out of getting to the customer.

 

[programmer]

I am using some Crucial memory in my MacBook Pro. It was about $35 for one additional 1GB stick at the time. No problems at all.

 

[texascrazy88s]

directron has the corsair made for mac ram. 2gb for under 100 bucks - expensive but what the hell?!