What do you think is the best value in the Apple lineup right now, be it new, refurbished, or used. It’s somewhat subjective, of course, but there’s an ebb and flow to where you get the best bang for your buck, so where are you seeing it now? I’m not sure, since it seems everything is going up in price.
What are you looking for? I think the Mac Mini is still a good deal at its current $800 price, although you can get a refurbished MacBook Air for $1100 with an upgraded SSD (512 GB). That’s basically the $800 Mini + $200 for the SSD + $100 extra for a monitor. Not a bad deal at all, if it’s useful to you.
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Thanks for your response, not looking for anything particular, just wondering with all the recent price increases if perceived value has shifted.
Price is related to your budget. Value realates directly to your needs.
Value is what the product enables for you, in combination with how long it performs these tasks.
The two are related, but not the same.
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Also, Apple (like most consumer electronics) is heavily focused on “value pricing”. They don’t base prices as much on their internal economics as they do on brand status and what their data about users says about user perception of value. When they said they raised prices because of chip cost increases, they weren’t passing through their internal cost. Value pricers figure out what the market will bear and add premiums accordingly.
Katie
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All interesting points… I may not be exact enough in saying the word value but I think of it as best bang for the buck. I’m just thinking not far back to when Stephen Hackett said on MPU what an insane value a (certain model of) Mac mini was. And then not too long ago on Snazzy Labs Quinn Nelson was talking about how Apple hardware was now a good value because RAM and storage everywhere else had gone up… the Apple tax had disappeared (alas, those days quickly left). So I just wondered what folks think is the best bang for the buck now, whether new, refurb, or used?
People can assess these things based:
- on cost to make versus cost to buy
- comparison with similar products
- comparison with previous versions of the same product
It’s always general
My perception of the value of the Apple Watch is different to someone who buys one solely for fall protection (potentially life saving), someone who buys one as a Siri AI conduit (convenience), or someone who buys one as a health tracker.
The MacBook Air 15” may be better value for a designer who needs the better screen than the 13” despite the increased price.
Ultimately, value is determined by the buyer in whatever criteria are important to them.
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