Wow.  I have seen some really sad attempts at making an argument about Apple costing more.  But this one might take the cake.  So the argument is owning a mac desktop and laptop is $3,367 more expensive over a 5 year period.  Now, there are plenty of things the person ignores and makes some seriously strange assumptions along the way so I was curious, how close is it. 

Some things I'm going to change.  First, I'm going to select an iMac as my home machine and not a Mac Pro - since this is a home purchase and not a business purchase.  I'm doing this before I looked up the prices so we will see.  I'm guessing Apple will be more in the end but who knows.

Here is my table:

* So there is a instant rebate right now $300 so the price is actually $1949.98.  I have also selected Windows Vista Ultimate since there is only one "ultimate" version of OSX.  Memory and processor is the same as the iMac.  Same graphics card in the HP but it has 1GB of memory vs 512MB.  23 Inch Monitor for HP / 24 for iMac.

So there we go.  Only a difference $1,198.  So why is my number so damn different?  First, I'm using an iMac which is a consumer model and not a pro machine.  Second, I'm actually including the cost of anti-virus that is needed on the PC.  Third, I'm dropping software on his list that he doesn't include on the PC list.

Other things to keep in mine.  Video card in the MacBook is better than the Dell and it also has a newer processor.  Apple's machines also include iLife which there isn't anything close to compare to on the PC side of the world included.  So that number goes down when you take into account those items.  There are tons of other intangables but at least we try to be more accurate.

So there we go a slighty more accurate "apple tax" argument.