Posted 07/30/2008 at 06:52:01pm

My point with the last paragraph is that because M$ does not make it's hardware, it does not make it's money that way; so they need to charge a lot for their OS.  Apple does make it's own harware, so they make their money that way and as a result can charge less for their OS/  If Appke were to license OS X to other companies, they would not sell as many computers; and as a result- charge more for OS X.  Yes they could charge OEMs a fee, but MacOS X would be more commen on BitToren; that;s why M$ has you enter 20 codes jst to install windoze and another 20 on first boot :-) but with all this protection, hackers still find ways aound all this...

Posted 07/27/2008 at 10:27:22pm

Apples hardware in not overpriced; think about it-- you may pay over $1800 USD for a really good iMac, but just look what you get-  a good procesor, a high resulutionn monitoor, a computer that looks a lot better than any generic x86 box out there.  In a way, the limited selectioon of Apple hardware does make it expensive though; th mac mini does not have a monityor, so you can keep using the same one; but since the mac mini is limited in power, most consumers need to get an iMac, and since it comes with a high resoolution internal monitor, it cost a lot more; the MacPro is very expensive and beyond the reach of many peoples budgets. 

So, if you look at the price of an iMac, then look at the price of a comprable display; the subtract the price of the display from the iMac, you will find that it is priced competetively.  So, Apple dosen't really need to lower it's prices; it just needs to make the component of an iMac minus the screen, and assemble it as an expandable MacMiniTower. Apple should also make all of there hardware more customizably.

Also, you need to keep in mind the fact that because apple doesn't license their OS to other computer manufacturers applle is able to keep the price of OS X at $129 USD.   If apple did license theirOS to 3rd parties, it would cost as much as a new copy of XP or Vista