New Macs and Price Rises
Apple announced a range of new Macs yesterday - usually a cause for excitement among Apple fans (and sadly I'd have to include myself in that group). I was particularly pleased to see a new Mac Mini - it looked like these may been abandoned.
But...
Wow! Look at the prices! £649 for a decent Mac Mini - no keyboard, monitor etc! £949 for an entry level iMac! They are really high, a big increase over previous models. OK, the specs are increased, but still, we've all grown used to better specs for more money. I believe Apple are blaming the (lack of) value of the pound, and, to be fair, this is probably correct - we are seeing big price increases on other manufactures products as well.
Still, this does make me question the viability of the iMac as a basic desktop computer for those that just need access to email/Internet/office. Before these price rises there was only a small premium for our Macs over our standard PCs, but not now.
It's also worth reminding all staff and students who are thinking of making a purchase that you can get a good educational discount that make the prices a little more palatable:
http://promo.euro.apple.com/edu/hed/routing/uk/index.php
Let's hope this is only a temporary problem!