What did the Surface Studio and MacBook Pro release teach us? The good desktop PCs we used so much in the past were exclusively expensive machines. With the launch of laptops as a mass commodity market, more and more began to use them as they could afford it.
This week, however, the companies that set up personal computers, Microsoft and Apple (MacBook Pro) gave us a taste for the future that looks like a return to the past:
Computers will become expensive machines again.
Ignore high resolution screens and promo video presentation, the metal chassis of the new Surface Studio and MacBook Pro. Concentrate a little on prices.
Microsoft has Surface Studio 2,999 dollars, and the price can reach up to 4199 dollars if one chooses 32GB RAM and stores up to 2TB. Redmond also has the updated Surface Book with up to 16 hours of battery life at an initial price that reaches 2399 dollars. The same laptop can reach 3.299 dollars by adding storage space and more RAM.
So buying the Surface Studio along with a MacBook Pro will cost you only 8498 dollars.
Here, to buy a MacBook Pro with a Touch Bar, the least you'll need to pay is 1.799 dollars, and if you want something bigger than the inch, the 15-inch MacBook Pro starts with 2.399 dollars. Now upgrade the processor and graphics card, select 2TB and 4.299 dollars.
Is the phenomenon interpreted?
Apple and Microsoft have come to terms with the fact that people just will never buy these computers (desktop or laptop) with the convenience they were buying old. Computers today are many and most users have at least one. We know that with the release of smartphones and tablets the purchase of PCs is inevitably shrinking.
If you can not increase sales, you increase the profit per sale
So if a company can not achieve an increase in total sales, the logical move is to try and improve another multiplier in the calculation of the profit: the unit price and the embedded profit margin. This is Apple's approach for a long time, and as seems Microsoft has decided to follow.
Hardware companies like Intel, Acer and Asus can't escape the "we sell more" logic, but Apple and Microsoft are in control of the software. This gives them the opportunity to sell holistic experiences and solutions.
The same thing happened with the cameras.
Digital SLR cameras were sometimes very expensive. After a while the demand required a faster commercialization cycle and the SLRs were found in the neck of every tourist. Then the mobile cameras brought high-quality mirrorless cameras and the DSLR sales cameras resumed the scale they were when they started.
Today's DSLR cameras cost from 1.999 for a Nikon D500 for example. But those who need a Nikon D500 are not many, as they can now do their work without it.
Thus, the path to the future, besides interesting, is expected to be much more expensive, but with too many planning and development challenges.
George is still wondering what he is doing here….
