Digital Home Thoughts: Average Mac Costs at Least 2x Average PC

"While obviously it’s comparing apples and oranges, and the products appeal to different markets, it’s interesting to look at how Mac prices have changed versus PC prices. Macs have gone from an average price of $1,432 and $1,574, for desktops and laptops respectively in June '06 to $1,543 and $1,515 respectively in June '08. While much lower to start, PCs are now even lower in average sale price. The average PC notebook went from $877 to $700, while the average desktop dipped just barely from $559 to $550. Vista PCs have reached a sweet point with pricing that is appealing not just to the high end crowd, but to the masses. And while prices are staying constant, hardware features are increasing, which is good for the consumer. As Mr. Baker puts it, "Of course there is feature creep—there always is.""

This article brings up an interesting point. No matter how great you think the Mac OS is, is it really worth a 100%+ premium in the purchase price of a computer?