The Apple Tax: Do Macs Cost More Than PCs?

Yes, it’s politics as usual this year in the U.S. Politicians make my head hurt and my eyes burn by slinging dirt and mud on their opponents.

Unfortunately, it must be the way people deal with conflict. Republicans vs. Democrats. Windows PCs, vs. Macs. What caught my hair on fire this time is another wade through the Apple Tax Trough, this time by a Microsoftie.

Surprise, huh? Alright, we all know what the Apple Tax is, right? We’ve talked about it on Mac360 for years. It’s that little extra Mac users pay to get the latest and greatest for our Macs.

Some would call the Apple Tax the extra that we pay for Macs vs. run-of-the-mill PCs. Fair enough. Some would call the Tax the nearly annual upgrades, and I use that term loosely, for software like iLife, though it’s free with every new Mac.

So, at a very general level, I’ll acknowledge that being a Mac owner, a zealous, fun-loving, credit-card-toting member of the Apple Clan, is not free. Apple Tax is merely a humorous euphemism for the extra chocolate dip on the Mac ice cream cone we know and love.

Apparently not. Apparently the Apple Tax is very real, and we just didn’t know it. Thank you, Microsoft hack, for setting the record straight. No, wait. That’s not right. Microsoft cannot set a record straight, right?

Brad Brooks, vice president of Windows Consumer Product Marketing, says the Apple Tax is real, it’s a choice tax, a technology tax, an upgrade tax, a software tax.

He failed to mention the higher IQ tax that Mac users pay that Windows PCs users don’t.

What gives? Is Brad for real, or merely practicing for a run at a congressional seat somewhere? Talking about Mac users, Brad says, “if you want the same type of application experience on your Mac versus Windows, you’re going to be purchasing a lot of software.”

What? Windows PCs come with a Microsoft version of iLife now? Microsoft Office costs more than iWork? Who knew? Why don’t they advertise this stuff?

There seems to be a Mac upgrade tax, too, since the only Mac that’s upgradable is the MacPro, according to Brad, who needs to spend more time browsing the Mac line on the Apple Store. I suspect that competitive product research is verboten at Microsoft. Sort of like common sense, which died back in the early 80s in Redmond.

Brad continues to push the envelope of his political babblespeak skills: “There’s a technology tax—Apple still doesn’t have HDMI, doesn’t have Blu-ray offerings, doesn’t have e-SATA external disk drives that work at twice the speed of FireWire. And so you’ve got all of these things that are truly taxes.”

Oh, and there at $1,000 Windows-based PCs that have all that? I mean, one with a brand name that people actually would buy, assuming they knew what those things were in the first place?

Guess what? My Mac is not invulnerable to viruses, spyware, malware. Brad says so, despite the fact that there are no viruses, spyware, or malware on the Mac. It’s comforting to know that Brad knows his math, “based on our own data that you’re 60 percent less likely to get any type of virus…if you’re running Windows Vista versus Windows XP SP2.”

What is it on the Mac? Zero percent or something close to that. But compare Mac history with Windows history, Brad.

What do you say? “You know, it’s hard to get a direct comparison.”

Arrrgh!! My hair is on fire again. Alright, Alex. Calm down. Take a deep breath. Ok. Uh, Brad, Mac market share is growing up to 10 times faster than PCs, and Mac customer satisfaction surveys put Windows PCs to shame. What gives?

“The question is, or the argument is, that understanding what the true value is of Windows and the choices that they make every day, really is not about Apple. It’s really about what is Windows, and understanding having customers understand the different things that Windows brings in terms of compatibility and choice to their everyday lives.”

Brad, where were you when John McCain needed you? Sigh. Brad goes on to describe the Windows version of Office as being superior and more feature complete than the Mac version (which, according to Microsoft, is selling in record numbers). It all makes me want to cry.

Read the full interview with Brad Brooks and then try to convince me that he would not make an attractive political candidate for the party soon to be out of power, out of favor, and out of money.

Alright. Apple Tax? Macs cost more than PCs? Brad, if that’s the case, where are the numbers? Show me the money. What’s the math to back up your wonderfully crafted political phrases?

Show me the money, Brad. Otherwise, don’t blather on during political season. It makes it seem as you’re keeping the wrong kind of company. What do other Mac users say about this? More commentary in the Mac360 forums.