Apple raises prices of MacBooks, iPads • Hacker News Board

Re: Apple raises prices of MacBooks, iPads

#351

Post by betaby » Thu, Jun 25, 2026, 4:40 PM UTC

mysterydip wrote: post #304

jacobgold wrote: post #274

Some unc perspective: I paid ~$6,000 in inflation-adjusted dollars for a computer in 1996. Today, I can get the same power in a $6 single board computer. A powerful modern mini PC starts at ~$600. However painful these price hikes are, and they are painful, it is worth remembering that computing has become incredibly ubiquitous and cheap.

The computing power available today is such a double-edged sword. We can do so much more so much faster, but then we (including myself in this) waste so many cycles on abstractions and frameworks and layers of libraries to make our development jobs easier.

"What Andy Giveth, Bill Taketh Away"

Re: Apple raises prices of MacBooks, iPads

#352

Post by sscaryterry » Thu, Jun 25, 2026, 4:40 PM UTC

russfink wrote: post #328

kylec wrote: post #309

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And yet in some ways, modern computers feel slower than those from decades ago. Software today is so, so much less efficient than it was back then.

Until recently, it was always cheaper to forego software architecture optimizations and rely on faster hardware, but now with AI I think this changes that calculus.

Yes and no. Faster hardware doesn’t solve pathologically broken algorithms :)

Re: Apple raises prices of MacBooks, iPads

#353

Post by porridgeraisin » Thu, Jun 25, 2026, 4:40 PM UTC

HPsquared wrote: post #247

hodder wrote: post #232

Forgive me because I do not understand the supply chain for memory. With Micron et al effectively scalping their customers with an oligopoly on probably the lowest intellectual IP in the chain, does this not guarantee 10 years from now a) We are either overbuilt as hyperscalers cut capex, or b) hyperscalers vertically integrate. Or is it truly that hard to make memory? And if that is not true, perhaps it isn't really…

It all depends on how much they're investing in increasing capacity.

https://www.wsj.com/tech/apple-raises-prices-on-macs-ipads-b...

Micron executives, who typically offer cautious projections about the boom-bust memory business, said on their earnings call that “tight conditions” will persist beyond 2027. Just three months ago, they had projected tight conditions going only beyond this year.

In an interview Wednesday night, Micron Chief Business Officer Sumit Sadana said the company couldn’t make investments during the memory market’s last downturn, when Micron’s gross profits went negative, in part because certain customers took advantage to pay rock-bottom prices.

“We told a couple of the customers who were being very aggressive with pricing at that time that this is not constructive,” he said, without naming Apple, adding that low prices discouraged capital investments. “A lot of the industry investments got shut down in 2023 because of really poor pricing and really poor margins.”

The iPhone-maker is well known for using its huge memory and storage purchases as leverage to secure the lowest prices, say analysts and former memory company executives.

Re: Apple raises prices of MacBooks, iPads

#354

Post by panarky » Thu, Jun 25, 2026, 4:41 PM UTC

hodder wrote: post #232

Forgive me because I do not understand the supply chain for memory. With Micron et al effectively scalping their customers with an oligopoly on probably the lowest intellectual IP in the chain, does this not guarantee 10 years from now a) We are either overbuilt as hyperscalers cut capex, or b) hyperscalers vertically integrate. Or is it truly that hard to make memory? And if that is not true, perhaps it isn't really…

Good luck applying your US antitrust law against Samsung and SK Hynix which have 75% of the market.

Maybe instead of antitrust the US could go back to tariffs, the universal cure for high prices.

Re: Apple raises prices of MacBooks, iPads

#355

Post by alex7o » Thu, Jun 25, 2026, 4:41 PM UTC

baron816 wrote: post #333

mysterydip wrote: post #304

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The computing power available today is such a double-edged sword. We can do so much more so much faster, but then we (including myself in this) waste so many cycles on abstractions and frameworks and layers of libraries to make our development jobs easier.

The tradeoff isn’t dev job easy vs better performance. The abstractions allow devs to build faster or work on things users care about instead of unobservably better performance.

The problem Is when the performance problems becomes observable. Only after a specific scenario like low power mode for example

Re: Apple raises prices of MacBooks, iPads

#356

Post by NichoPaolucci » Thu, Jun 25, 2026, 4:41 PM UTC

I bought an M4 Air about a year ago for under 1000$, it beat out my 2019 Intel MBP by quite a lot.

I fully expect the air to last me at least another 6 years or so for my use case. The thing is a beast.

Compare this to a Dell laptop I bought when I started college, that thing was 850 dollars and died on me within 3 years. For Apple, I could justify spending more (maybe even 20% more) considering both Apple computers I’ve had feel extremely fast. The only reason I dropped the 2019 MBP was battery fatigue (and I probably could have repaired it for 100$ and gotten another 3-4 years out of it. But the new air was just too attractive).

Re: Apple raises prices of MacBooks, iPads

#357

Post by asveikau » Thu, Jun 25, 2026, 4:42 PM UTC

With all the inflation going on and the AI boom affecting things like memory prices, I was surprised that eg. MacBook neo was priced where it was.

Re: Apple raises prices of MacBooks, iPads

#358

Post by LeFantome » Thu, Jun 25, 2026, 4:42 PM UTC

hamburglar wrote: post #311

SoftTalker wrote: post #287

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm still using ~10 year old PCs at both work and home. Running linux, still doing fine.

Same. And my current daily driver laptop cost me $400 9 years ago. You can still do a lot for incredibly cheap.

I bought a 2013 MacBook Air for $50 two years ago to take on a backpacking trip. It runs Linux and I use it all the time. I had a video meeting on it this morning.

You run OpenCode with Big Pickle on it with decent performance. So you can even vibe code on it for free.

Re: Apple raises prices of MacBooks, iPads

#359

Post by azan_ » Thu, Jun 25, 2026, 4:42 PM UTC

greenleafone7 wrote: post #327

jacobgold wrote: post #274

Some unc perspective: I paid ~$6,000 in inflation-adjusted dollars for a computer in 1996. Today, I can get the same power in a $6 single board computer. A powerful modern mini PC starts at ~$600. However painful these price hikes are, and they are painful, it is worth remembering that computing has become incredibly ubiquitous and cheap.

I agree. But also back then you could buy a house and support a family with one salary as a trash truck driver. Today we spend years investing in masters and PhD-s to still live with roommates and consider buying food a luxury. Especially after the COVID hikes. So even though chasing trends and always 'needing to buy' whatever new model Apple pumps out is idiotic, let's also not shill for big corporations.

> I agree. But also back then you could buy a house and support a family with one salary as a trash truck driver. Today we spend years investing in masters and PhD-s to still live with roommates and consider buying food a luxury. Especially after the COVID hikes.

Are you sure you are not comparing top 10% back in time vs median worker now? Because people make much, much more nowadays in real terms across all deciles.

Re: Apple raises prices of MacBooks, iPads

#360

Post by vlan0 » Thu, Jun 25, 2026, 4:42 PM UTC

baron816 wrote: post #333

mysterydip wrote: post #304

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The computing power available today is such a double-edged sword. We can do so much more so much faster, but then we (including myself in this) waste so many cycles on abstractions and frameworks and layers of libraries to make our development jobs easier.

The tradeoff isn’t dev job easy vs better performance. The abstractions allow devs to build faster or work on things users care about instead of unobservably better performance.

Which is such a capitalist lens to look at things through. Optimizing for a very small window of reality.

It's the same sort of optimization that drives behaviors where corporations feel no need to contribute to open-source projects. The same projects that enabled those very corporations to exist.