Apple 2019 iMac BTO Pricing Messed Up?

ScottW

Founder
Staff member
Not identical machines, but the same price?

If upgrade the middle offering, you get less for the same price as upgrading the top offering.


Screen Shot 2019-03-29 at 11.52.50 AM.png
 
I know, but they are the same price. One is 575x with 4GB and the other 580x 8GB. Yet, the same price.
 
I just read my Tidbits email:
"a TidBITS reader pointed out that you could pay more or less for the same configuration, depending on how you started.

In short, for certain configurations, starting with the high-end options will give you a better Radeon Pro graphics processor than if you start with a less-capable configuration and beef it up to be otherwise identical.

For details, read the full article at “2017 iMac Configuration Quirks: Don’t Get Burned!” (12 June 2017), and note that the first two sections about the Radeon Pro options are still true of the new models."
 
Same thing applies when you buy a car... the bundle that you use as a starting point influences the final price/feature point.
 
The mid-range line starts with a CPU that retails for around $259.
The high-range line starts with a CPU that retails for around $279.

To upgrade the mid-range line to the CPU spec'd above, they want $500.
To upgrade the high-range line to the CPU spec'd above, they want $400.

The upgraded CPU is $549 retail.

There is around a $50-$100 price retail price difference between the video card configurations, with the more expensive being the higher one included in the high-range.

If the mid-range CPU upgrade price was $400, to match the upgrade price to the same chip on the high-range, then you would have a $100 price difference which would be explained by the graphics card differences. But that $500 upgrade charge seems a little suspicious.
 
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