On Dec 15, 2005, at 5:15 AM, Kostas Kavoussanakis wrote:
On Thu, 15 Dec 2005, Adam Maas wrote:
Godfrey DiGiorgi wrote:
This is what I find on a market search
Dell UltraSharp 2005FPW - US $799 - 4 USB 2.0 ports - US street
$490-550
- User reviews *** "good"
Apple Cinema Display 20" - US $799 - 2 USB 2.0 port/2 FireWire
400 port - US Street $720
- User reviews ***** "excellent"
You'll want to check pricing on the 2005FPW, as it lists for
$749CDN right now (On sale for $599CDN), not $799USD. Just checked
Dell's site and that panel is $549USD list and currently on sale
for $463.20. The Apple is $799USD or $999CDN. All prices from the
respective Webstores. And those are notable differences.
Godfrey listed street prices there as well.
Yes. I pulled those numbers from the manufacturers' sites,
bizrate.com and pricegrabber.com moments before posting the summary.
My conclusion (if anyone cares) is that this is another "horses for
courses" case. Sure, the Apple costs more, but were you to resell
it you would get more. Sure the Apple may have higher QC, but look
at that price. Sure, the Dell is cheap but it does not have the
street-cred of the Apple. Sure, the Apple gets 5 as opposed to 3
stars from its users but Apple is a cult and one should take user
reviews with a pinch of salt.
One should take all user reviews, and web/magazine reviews as well,
with massive dollop of skepticism. Apple is no different. I've not
found a difference in the level of inaccuracy.
I see no reason for this bizarre "if it's an Apple product, it must
be sneered at because it's an Apple product" behavior. Apple users
can use any monitor they want to (Apple monitors use standard
interface connection and protocols, sell very well into the Windows
community) and many buy alternatives for reasons similar to those
spoken (price primarily). Someone said "apple has a problem with
their pricing" ... essentially the price is too high. Well, if that
were true, they'd have trouble selling them. But the reality is that
Apple is selling every monitor it can make, which is why the price
has stayed as high as it is.
Godfrey
