Why won't Apple let me buy a Mac without a Keyboard???

L

lnoelstorr

Registered
I want to buy a G5.

I already own a mouse and keyboard (that I use with my iBook).

Why won't Apple let me buy a PowerMac from the store without a keyboard and mouse?


(feel free to move this if it's in the wrong folder)
 
Keyboard and mouse are essential devices and should be bundled. If I follow your argument, ppl could also ask: why can't I buy my Mac without a harddisc, or graphic card or ram? I already have these..
You could just get your G5 and the keyboard and sell it on ebay or so.
 
Guess the eBay note could be helpful... Back in the days of the early PCI PowerMacs (9500, 8500, 7500, 7200 etc.), Apple sold some machines 'naked' (without drives, RAM, graphics card), too. However, it has stopped doing that, mainly because it can make more money. (And those, I believe, still included a keyboard and mouse...)
 
It is weird but that is pretty much industry wide. We bought a Dell for work about two weeks ago, totally stripped down and they sent us keyboard and mouse with it. It's like getting a car without a steering wheel. The ebay thing is a great deal since after you sell your keyboard and mouse it's as if Apple gave you a $50 plus rebate
 
So if you want a G5, and either:
a) you're keeping your ibook. What's to say you wont want to be able to use a keyboard/mouse with both the 'book and the g5 at the same time?
or:
b) you're selling your ibook. sell the keyboard/mouse with it. or hang onto the apple ones, in case you need them. for the $100 it's going to cost for the two, i dont think it's worth the hassle. just leave them in the box if you dont want to use them.
 
Pengu said:
So if you want a G5, and either:
a) you're keeping your ibook. What's to say you wont want to be able to use a keyboard/mouse with both the 'book and the g5 at the same time?
Click to expand...

I don't have space on my desk for two keyboards. Plus, I can only type on one at once.

I have a USB switch which I can use to share a single keyboard and mouse between the two devices if I want to.


I guess eBay is the best option.
 
am I guessing right it's not a german keyboard? Otherwise you would have found a buyer. I am actually look for an apple usb keyboard.
 
Zammy-Sam said:
am I guessing right it's not a german keyboard? Otherwise you would have found a buyer. I am actually look for an apple usb keyboard.
Click to expand...
then by your earlier post, if a keyboard is that essential, buy another mac... right? :p

heck, I got two keyboards, three pro mice, and for once, I won't include my spare monitors... and last I checked, a keyboard isn't all that essential. especially when I have more spares than I'd care for.
 
Zammy-Sam said:
Keyboard and mouse are essential devices and should be bundled. If I follow your argument, ppl could also ask: why can't I buy my Mac without a harddisc, or graphic card or ram? I already have these..
You could just get your G5 and the keyboard and sell it on ebay or so.
Click to expand...

It's not really the same though, as Apple sell keyboards and mice separately.

They don't sell separate hard disks or graphics cards, or ram (at least I don't think they do).



Oh - and I could order a German keyboard with the PowerMac if you were interested (the UK store seems to offer me this option).
 
Total speculation on my part, but I could see a situation where, say, it costs Apple $5 to make a keyboard and bundle it, but $10 per keyboard to set up an infrastructure to custom remove it from the order.
 
gerbick said:
then by your earlier post, if a keyboard is that essential, buy another mac... right?.[/size]
Click to expand...
I have few books as you can see and on work I want to have a full size keyboard plugged to my book. Not that essential as you can see ;)
And right now I have 5 harddiscs, few memory sticks which are not installed anywhere and 3 graphic cards. Does that mean harddiscs, memory and graphic cards are not essential?
You should understand a computer should work right away when you buy it. And for that you will need cpu, graphic card, memory, harddisc AND keyboard + mouse! Easy like that.
 
lnoelstorr said:
It's not really the same though, as Apple sell keyboards and mice separately.

They don't sell separate hard disks or graphics cards, or ram (at least I don't think they do).



Oh - and I could order a German keyboard with the PowerMac if you were interested (the UK store seems to offer me this option).
Click to expand...
Good point.
But don't you think you should except apple to give you a ready system? When you buy a car, you don't want to pay for the steering wheel as well, right?

I would spare 30Euro for the keyboard. Does that sound acceptable? And how much would the delivery be?
 
Zammy-Sam said:
Good point.
But don't you think you should except apple to give you a ready system? When you buy a car, you don't want to pay for the steering wheel as well, right?
Click to expand...

Do car dealers tend to sell separate stearing wheels?

I understand what you're saying, but it would surely be VERY easy for Apple to give you the option to remove the keyboard from your order. You can alter the memory, hard-drive, graphics card. You can choose to have a French, German or English keyboard, all either USB or BlueTooth. Why can't they just give you the option to buy it without a keyboard??

I'd argue that you also need a display to use a computer, but Apple allow you to buy a computer without a display (and I know you could also argue that you don't need a display because you could just access it remotely - but then you don't need a keyboard either!).
 
OK, yes they COULD do it. Microsoft COULD also offer windows without IE/OE/MSN/WMP/bugs, but they dont. Ford could offer a car without a radio because people who actually like to hear the music the way it was intended, change the factory unit. IBM/HP/Dell/etc could offer a PC without a floppy drive because they are pointess and unreliable.

The question is. Of all these things. Which is the MOST likely to be a necessary component. Just remember. The first thing you have to do on OSX, is LOG IN. that requires TYPING A PASSWORD. Kinda hard to do without a frickin keyboard. quit whining and get over it already.
 
Pengu said:
Of all these things. Which is the MOST likely to be a necessary component. Just remember. The first thing you have to do on OSX, is LOG IN. that requires TYPING A PASSWORD. Kinda hard to do without a frickin keyboard.
Click to expand...

Yeah, but completely bloody pointless without a display WHICH YOU DON'T HAVE TO BUY WITH YOUR MAC.

and Christ, what is the point of listing all those other things that people could offer you to do. Not the point. Different things. Just because 10 other companies are crap it doesn't mean Apple should be to.


oh - and I'm not whining, it just think it's really dumb/lazy/greedy of Apple not to offer this option.
 
You convinced me, lnoelstorr. The comparison to screens did it.
Maybe apple should have keyboard and mouse bundled on default, but allow users to deselect it, if wanted (like deselecting a superdrive)
 
Hum. I don't care much about this, as like others have mentioned, it won't make much of a price difference. And Apple would have to totally rethink their pricing structure if they would allow you to buy systems from naked to full featured, since they of course _count_ on making the money of the keyboard right now. Selling it to you without the keyboard, they'd probably reduce the price by much less than you'd actually pay for a separate mouse/keyboard combo.

I also _don't_ like that Mercedes thing, where every little bit that you need _anyway_ is added to the base price you see in the catalogues... "Hey, you can get a PowerMac now for 999$, but you'll of course _need_ the motherboard, too." ;-)
 
fryke said:
And Apple would have to totally rethink their pricing structure if they would allow you to buy systems from naked to full featured
Click to expand...

nonesense!

1) Nobody is asking to be able to build a system from naked.
2) They already let you add/modify/remove MANY components.
3) It would take them about a minute to come up with a price to knock off if you didn't want a keyboard and/or mouse with the Mac.
 
you don't have to buy an apple display because the cheapest one is $700. an apple keyboard/mouse cost $49 each. thats $100. INCLUDING two lots of shipping and handling. so its probably more like $35 each.

A display is going to have a big impact on how you work. There are so many different types, values, qualities, etc. A keyboard is basically just a keyboard. Ok, a mouse is a little different, but who's gonna ship a keyboard an no mouse?

i think it comes down to this: I looked at the three "big" PC makers, and Apple.
Apple: default is a keyboard & optical mouse. $99 option for bluetooth.

HP: default is an "internet" keyboard, scroll mouse. $10 option for optical mouse, $50 option for wireless (doesn't specify what type) keyboard + wireless optical mouse.

Dell: You get no options. Standard dell mouse & keyboard. thats it.

IBM: default is a usb two-button scroll-wheel optical mouse, and "ibm preferred pro full-size keyboard". options: various combos of usb, optical, wheel for varying prices (i couldnt quite see the difference my self) various combos of pro, black, full-size & p/s2 keyboards. one "space-saver" model. again, differences not clear.

funny that. Not a single one offered an option not to have a keyboard or mouse. and all three companies are doing quite well. and all three no doubt have companies doing market research. im guessing they get very few people asking for the option to not have any sort of input devices at all.

at the end of the day, you could always go to some shonky PC shop, buy a $200 pc with no keyboard, but then you'd just come back and whine some more about how it won't run any of the cool software that apple makes, or runs on osx.
 
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