Brand Allegiance

I've been a reader and otherwise a fan of John Gruber for a while now, and I enjoy his podcast every week.  I often appreciate his candor and bullishness when someone is being silly about Apple products.  I do take issue with his recent post around the new iMacs and their proprietary hard drives.  To sum it up:

• Previous iMac models could be upgraded with new hard drives using some torx screwdrivers and suction cups.
• Previous models had a standard SATA hard drive, with some hardwired with a 2-pin temperature sensor plugged into the hard drive or a sensor taped to the hard drive.
• The sensor could either be moved to a new hard drive or jumpered to bypass it.

Essentially, the old iMacs could be opened up with a very simple but delicate procedure.  This means that 10 minutes of research can save you $150 on Apple's site.  Apple routinely makes large margins of profit off hard drive and memory upgrades.  Right now:

• Upgrading an iMac hard drive from a 1TB to a 2TB drive costs $150 more.
• Upgrading an iMac's memory from 4GB to 8GB costs $200 more.

The only problem is that the hardware costs at Newegg about $79 for a 2TB drive, and $88 for the 8GB memory kit.

Marco.org contends Apple's in their rights to make these machines more reliable or because of a design decision.  I fault OWC for creating a business that relies on a one-way relationship with Apple.  Apple has no interest in supporting OWC.  Marco is off-base for suggesting that a proprietary hard drive somehow makes the machine more reliable, or that they save money by using custom machines.  Are we really to believe that mavens at Apple can't handle hard drive cooling using stock parts?

Gruber takes it one step further and contends that an iMac is somehow just like a large iPad or iPhone, because we don't open those.  Apple gets some credit for creating some new verticals around devices.  But it's silly to think that an iMac with an Intel chipset, Intel CPU, standard memory, essentially a standard hard drive, etc.

This is the same old Apple.  They are great designers, great programmers and marketers too.  But Apple makes a boatload of money convincing people you need to buy Apple stuff all the time.  Don't get me wrong, Apple's within their rights and does well by their shareholders to try and sell parts this way.

I do think there's a limit to how far out on a limb you should go to defend a brand.

Update on Monday, May 16, 2011 at 12:39PM by polyideas admin

I just listened to the latest Talk Show podcast, and I think a message is clear.  I don't fault an Apple-oriented podcast for leaving this sentiment out, but it certainly bears repeating.  If you happen to make money off Apple in a way other than what they intend for you to do- Gruber calls this the "middle man" in the subject on the podcast- then it's your own fault when Apple changes course.

The iMac hard drive change is silly though, and while I don't have much pity for OWC, I do think this was an aggressive move by Apple to keep people from going elsewhere to buy hard drive upgrades.

Update on Wednesday, May 25, 2011 at 04:53PM by polyideas admin

Again Dan is trying to have it both ways.  Yes, Apple makes great hardware.  Yes, they make strange, impossible to upgrade, nearly impossible to open products too.  From the folks that brought you the runaway hits MiniDin 3, 4, 8, Apple Digital Connector (ADC) and more.

Better often requires proprietary, proprietary is rarely better.