As you know, I have been comparing prices of pre-built high spec PCs with their Apple counterparts. Unfortunately I have yet to find a PC with high enough specs to match the top of the range Mac Pro, which has 12 cores powered by Intel Xeon clocked at over 3GHz a piece (24 cores if you allow for Hyper-Threading), 64GB RAM, 8TB HDD, 2 Superdrives, Two ATI Radeon HD 5770 powered by 1GB memory each and a Quad-channel 4GB Fibre Channel PCI Express card. VERY pricey, but so far, no pre-built PC equivalent. Note that this is a consumer desktop, not a server (which are also available but at a cheaper price.) Looks like custom made is the only way to go.

Blue Peter have awarded Apple designer Jonathan Ive a gold Blue Peter badge for his pioneering efforts in the field of design and for inspiring a generation of designers to follow. Reciprocating, Ive awarded Blue Peter with a cut aluminium Blue Peter crest by way of a thank you!

This is not the same time Apple’s design prowess has been honoured. The fabled G4 Cube has been immortalised in The New York Museum of Modern Art along with it’s custom sound system.

Now, I don’t give much weight to this opinion, but given that it’s from Valve founder Gabe Newell, it is if nothing else interesting.

Apple, if it chooses to do so, will simply kill Playstation, Wii-U and xBox by introducing an open 30%-cut app/game ecosystem for Apple-TV. I already make a lot of money on iOS – I will be the first to write apps for Apple-TV when I can, and I know I’ll make money. I would for xBox if I could and I knew I would make money. Maybe a “console-capable” Apple-TV isn’t $99, maybe it’s $199, and add another $79 for a controller. The current numbers already say a lot, even with Apple-TV not already an open console: 5.3M sold units in 2012, 90% year-over-year growth — vs. xBox 360 — about 9M units in 2012, 60% YoY decline.

Smart phones and tablets post and prior to their Apple counterparts…

Ho hum.

Although it is true that it is possible to easily create a PC from scratch that is less expensive than a Mac, it is false to claim that all PCs out there of similar spec and design – slash – build are cheaper than their Mac counterparts.

In the past, a system of the following specs:

2 x 2.66 GHz Xeon
1 GB RAM
NVIDIA GeForce 7300GT
250GB HDD
16 X Superdrive

was priced at £2,499 for a Mac build and £3,448 for a Dell build.

Modern prices also hold up.

A Dell all in one with a 27″ screen and a dual core i5 processor will set you back $1599.99. Additional specs include 6GB RAM, 1TB HDD, Super Drive and Intel® HD Integrated Graphics.

A 27″ iMac with a quad core i5 processor will set you back $1,799.99. Additional specs include 8GB RAM, 1TB HDD, Super Drive and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660M graphics processor with 512MB of GDDR5 memory.

That makes the Mac more expensive by $200. For this you get the design, a faster processor, more RAM, a more powerful graphics chip and a superior OS.

Just to continue with the comparison, an HP all in one design PC similar to the iMac will cost $1,860.22. For that you get an i5 processor, a superior Integrated NVIDIA GeForce 610M (1GB), 4GB RAM and 1TB HDD – placing it very similar to the iMac but ever so slightly more expensive. It also sports an inferior 23″ screen.

Next, an Acer with the following specs:

Dual Core i5;
8GB RAM;
1TB HDD;
27″ Monitor;
Super Drive

will set you back $1899.99. That’s more than the Mac and will deliver the same all in one design, again sporting Windows 8. One perk is a BluRay drive, which levels the playing field.

Considering Pro setups, prices are similar once again. The following specs:

Intel Xeon 4 core processor of about the same clock speed;
16GB RAM;
No monitor or peripherals;

will set you back £2,349 for a Mac setup and £2,982 for a Dell setup. PLUS the Mac sports a considerably larger HDD than the Dell.

Finally, from PC World, UK:

An iMac with an i5 processor, 21″ screen, 1TB HDD and 8GB RAM will set you back £1,249.00

A Sony VAIO all-in-one desktop with a slower i5 processor, 1TB HDD, slightly larger 24″ screen and 8GB RAM will set you back… £1,249.00.

Just as a sub text, MacBook Pros are pretty much more expensive than their PC counterparts, it is true, but when it comes to UltraBooks, the playing field is levelled once more.

A similar UltraBook to the MacBook Air, an ASUS U500VZ-CN032H, is very similar (same HDD, i7 processor and so on) and is in fact about the same price to boot. True, the screen is two inches larger, but that’s only a dinky difference.

[UPDATE 2]

A refurbished iMac with identical specs to the one above will set you back $1,269.00 and comes with a one year warranty – that’s just over $300 less than the Dell and is still of the highest quality when it comes to design and reliability.

Macs are always more expensive?

MYTH DEBUNKED.

Recent polls suggest that Internet Explorer only accounts for 14.7% of the browser market share. Firefox pitches in at 31.1% and Google Chrome at 46.9%. Excellent news from a web developer’s point of view as the latter two browsers are more standards compliant