A Veblen good is a type of luxury good for which demand increases as the price increases, in apparent contradiction of the law of demand, resulting in an upward-sloping demand curve. A higher price may make a product desirable as a status symbol in the practices of conspicuous consumption and conspicuous leisure. A product may be a Veblen good because it is a positional good, something few others can own.
I think it does if the product isn't seen as best-in-class. I mean, whichever kind of fanboy you are, you have to agree that a late-model iPhone is an absolutely excellent phone. That's a different question from whether it's worth the money. I am guessing that these wheels are also excellent but that Apple hasn't communicated that well. They don't talk about how these wheels are great. They just say that they are wheels.
My current Catalina MBP (and all OS since I bought that machine) apparently cannot handle multi-users well.
Constant strange bugs, flashing login screens and freezing apps (if used by multiple users). Changes to settings cause password/TouchId confirmation popups for the other user that block the system.
If I am logged into two accounts, opening the MBP will show a login screen for user A, then open the desktop for user B (didn't want to see that), then quickly flash to a login screen for user B and upon entering the password/TouchId flashing back to the main login page and voila, you can finally login as expected.
Before you mock it. This is not for YOU. Just like the monitor stand. It is way more about the form than the function. You go into a big time executive/creative head/hedge funder's office and it is baller, except for that ugly ass plasticy monitor stand on their desk (Dell Circa 2002). For a $1000 that eyesore turns into a piece of art, considering they likely have art pieces on the walls worth $50-100k it is a no brainer. Same thing for the wheels. I would say I would never buy one but if $1000 wheels were the equivalent of a latte to me... sure wtf not? People whined at Apple for not making a "pro" product for awhile, then they made one that was too "pro" apparently. By pro, I mean gets PAID not gets by. Now they will whine about definitions of pro. Apple has a pretty good idea of what "rich suckers" will buy.
Why shouldn't we mock that too? Why is there suddenly a limit on the number of fingers we're allowed to point at disgusting levels of excess?
I'm not communist, I'm happy for people being fairly remunerated, but a world where $1k wheels make sense is a world that is dangerously close to not making any sense at all.
To me, the "feet kit" is the bigger eyebrow raiser. Even though the total cost is less, the wheels actually... you know, they turn. They're wheels. They perform a function that's somewhat greater than a brick sitting on the ground.
The feet kit is half the cost, but they're feet. It's like they're designed for safe use in operating theaters or something.
I do. My desk is small and I don't want to put the tower on the ground/carpet.
I have a cheap $20 stand with wheels. The wheels help me move it around in case I'm cleaning the area or need to disconnect/reconnect cables (which I do frequently).
The price is a marketing move. Apple couldn't care less if they sold 12 units of these wheels-kits per year, as long as it gets people talking about Apple. "There is no such thing as bad publicity"
This is AUD. In either case, I'm not entirely surprised.
I'm repeating what many have said before: If you're a legit pro / enterprise, the value behind the Mac Pro is probably a lot more than the minuscule amount you'd pay.
For comparison, I've made 10x from my MBP, so I'd say the value and quality was worth it.
Edit: Ok, yes obviously you shouldn't be comparing the price of your work with your laptop of choice: but the experience and quality was definitely worth it more than the Dell XPS. I mostly ssh/use sublime into bigger servers, but the quality of Macs in general are so good that I don't put much focus on performance.
You can make an argument that the Mac Pro provides real value over competing systems. These $700 wheels look pretty, but you can't argue that they provide real value over $20 alternatives like this [1].
Sure they do, they provide a clear status symbol which people at every level above subsistence value more than "real value" (whatever that is) Also its one of those silly signals that they "only buy the best" or "only use the best tools" or something equally pointless. People aren't buying rolexes to check the time...
I don't think that is deep enough for the mac pro to be stable front-to-back-wise, and it also only holds 60lb which is a little weak for a 40lb machine. Can't imagine it would last long if ever rolled around on carpet.
It's not about whether you've made more revenue/profit than the cost of the equipment. It's about whether you've made more than you would have with a competing option - a HEDT Linux or Windows workstation, plus an old Mac Mini build server if your business absolutely needs to run xCode.
If you’re talking about revenue which is likely well into 6 figures for a random developer working for multiple years then the price difference between a Mac and another workstation is all but a rounding error.
I worked with a guy who had a DIY walking desk. Part of his setup involved leashing his tower like a dog and taking the whole mess around the block to work out tricky problems.
Poor guy would’ve been bound to his desk without the wheels.
Thanks, that makes sense. If you don't mind me asking, what's your take on the cost of the wheels? As someone who has worked in sound/lighting, are they something you wouldn't have thought twice about buying?
Not automatically. It depends on what you do. I see Mac Pros specced where a fast PC might even be more productive, without the ridiculous premium on RAM and storage.
Don’t complain about the price. This isn’t for you. It’s for pros who need the best rolling performance to do their jobs. I mean, when the pros’ time costs $$$$/hr, are they really going to buy some knock off wheels for $500 and risk getting octagonal ones made in China instead? At least you know these will be perfect circles.
No mention of locks. This first iteration is obsolete by design and will eventually be replaced with a new version with locks in another Apple line up. Who knows on what the price that would be.
The lesson here is to not purchase the very first iteration of Apple products. Sometimes it can turn out to be an expensive sunken cost.
So this is why everyone in the valley needs mega pay checks. Likely Made in PRC made casters, $700 USD + shipping and tax. If there were ever a sign that Apple is charging too much for their products (as if the signs weren't already there over and over)...