Apple Mac Pro Wheels Kit
apple.comAll founders on HN when they see this no doubt have a twinge of envy. Imagine creating a brand so successful that you could do this.
The craziest thing is they even charge $8 for non-ground shipping. I just bought from a website that did free 2 day shipping on all items over $50!
And even with that — your package could sit at Fedex for five extra days because it wasn’t “scheduled” to be delivered until Wednesday! $8 well spent.
Even crazier, Nintendo charges $5 for "UPS Mail Innovations" ground shipping (which basically uses the post office)
> which basically uses the post office
Pretty sure this isn't quite true—UPS ships it all the way to your local post office, and the post office does the last mile.
In other words, the USPS does the part that is actually difficult and expensive.
I wonder if in a long run this actually injures the brand.
Maybe demand increases as the price increases?
A Veblen good is a type of luxury good for which demand increases as the price increases, in apparent contradiction of the law of demand, resulting in an upward-sloping demand curve. A higher price may make a product desirable as a status symbol in the practices of conspicuous consumption and conspicuous leisure. A product may be a Veblen good because it is a positional good, something few others can own.
I think it does if the product isn't seen as best-in-class. I mean, whichever kind of fanboy you are, you have to agree that a late-model iPhone is an absolutely excellent phone. That's a different question from whether it's worth the money. I am guessing that these wheels are also excellent but that Apple hasn't communicated that well. They don't talk about how these wheels are great. They just say that they are wheels.
Because at the end of the day, no matter how great they are, they are just wheels.
Nothing to do with brand and everything to do with Enterprise spending.
Enterprise spending consists of obscene markups.
Perhaps studios etc are buying these, but "enterprise" spending usually shops at Dell or HP.
why?
The Mac Pros start at $6K. Choosing every max option except for the wheels is $54K. $700 for wheels isn't that crazy in relation to the product price.
Plus, if you know you want the wheels before purchasing, you can get them for $400 in the configurator
Mac Pro maxed out here in Australia is A$82,737.98
<gasp>
Remember to buy them in twos so you can keep working when that legendary Apple quality happens!
..they left out filters for the high velocity fans -hope everything is nice and grounded too, because: static.
My current Catalina MBP (and all OS since I bought that machine) apparently cannot handle multi-users well.
Constant strange bugs, flashing login screens and freezing apps (if used by multiple users). Changes to settings cause password/TouchId confirmation popups for the other user that block the system.
If I am logged into two accounts, opening the MBP will show a login screen for user A, then open the desktop for user B (didn't want to see that), then quickly flash to a login screen for user B and upon entering the password/TouchId flashing back to the main login page and voila, you can finally login as expected.
It's so strange.
Before you mock it. This is not for YOU. Just like the monitor stand. It is way more about the form than the function. You go into a big time executive/creative head/hedge funder's office and it is baller, except for that ugly ass plasticy monitor stand on their desk (Dell Circa 2002). For a $1000 that eyesore turns into a piece of art, considering they likely have art pieces on the walls worth $50-100k it is a no brainer. Same thing for the wheels. I would say I would never buy one but if $1000 wheels were the equivalent of a latte to me... sure wtf not? People whined at Apple for not making a "pro" product for awhile, then they made one that was too "pro" apparently. By pro, I mean gets PAID not gets by. Now they will whine about definitions of pro. Apple has a pretty good idea of what "rich suckers" will buy.
Why shouldn't we mock that too? Why is there suddenly a limit on the number of fingers we're allowed to point at disgusting levels of excess?
I'm not communist, I'm happy for people being fairly remunerated, but a world where $1k wheels make sense is a world that is dangerously close to not making any sense at all.
10 years ago, who would have thought a $1000 phone would be ubiquitous?
Such luxury, in our pockets.
To me, the "feet kit" is the bigger eyebrow raiser. Even though the total cost is less, the wheels actually... you know, they turn. They're wheels. They perform a function that's somewhat greater than a brick sitting on the ground.
The feet kit is half the cost, but they're feet. It's like they're designed for safe use in operating theaters or something.
Serious question - Who puts towers on wheels? If you need to move a computer don’t you normally use a cart that has eg a display and keyboard on it?
I do. My desk is small and I don't want to put the tower on the ground/carpet.
I have a cheap $20 stand with wheels. The wheels help me move it around in case I'm cleaning the area or need to disconnect/reconnect cables (which I do frequently).
The price is a marketing move. Apple couldn't care less if they sold 12 units of these wheels-kits per year, as long as it gets people talking about Apple. "There is no such thing as bad publicity"
You think the world's biggest brand and cash cow needs negative publicity. You're delusional.
This is AUD. In either case, I'm not entirely surprised.
I'm repeating what many have said before: If you're a legit pro / enterprise, the value behind the Mac Pro is probably a lot more than the minuscule amount you'd pay.
For comparison, I've made 10x from my MBP, so I'd say the value and quality was worth it.
Edit: Ok, yes obviously you shouldn't be comparing the price of your work with your laptop of choice: but the experience and quality was definitely worth it more than the Dell XPS. I mostly ssh/use sublime into bigger servers, but the quality of Macs in general are so good that I don't put much focus on performance.
You can make an argument that the Mac Pro provides real value over competing systems. These $700 wheels look pretty, but you can't argue that they provide real value over $20 alternatives like this [1].
[1] - https://www.staples.com/Mount-It-CPU-Wheeled-Floor-Mount-Com...
Sure they do, they provide a clear status symbol which people at every level above subsistence value more than "real value" (whatever that is) Also its one of those silly signals that they "only buy the best" or "only use the best tools" or something equally pointless. People aren't buying rolexes to check the time...
I don't think that is deep enough for the mac pro to be stable front-to-back-wise, and it also only holds 60lb which is a little weak for a 40lb machine. Can't imagine it would last long if ever rolled around on carpet.
They're arguably worse than the $20 alternative since the Apple wheels don't even have locks.
It's not about whether you've made more revenue/profit than the cost of the equipment. It's about whether you've made more than you would have with a competing option - a HEDT Linux or Windows workstation, plus an old Mac Mini build server if your business absolutely needs to run xCode.
If you’re talking about revenue which is likely well into 6 figures for a random developer working for multiple years then the price difference between a Mac and another workstation is all but a rounding error.
Genuine question -- how does adding wheels to the Mac Pro add value? I figured most people would just plop it on a desk.
I worked with a guy who had a DIY walking desk. Part of his setup involved leashing his tower like a dog and taking the whole mess around the block to work out tricky problems.
Poor guy would’ve been bound to his desk without the wheels.
I doubt you would want to be dragging a $50k Mac Pro around the block.
The guy was a 10x engineer. He was looking into medical tourism to have a feeding tube put in so he could fuel w/ Soylent.
Management would consider a $1k set of wheels a bargain to keep him happy.
??? He doesn’t sound right to me
This was a funny bit, ...right?
This comment is excellent.
If you work on set or Back stage or on tour. Not all editing and design work is done in an office.
I've worked in sound/lighting and we rack mount some machines in wheeled racks so they can be used to test/control/mix on any larger AV rack.
Thanks, that makes sense. If you don't mind me asking, what's your take on the cost of the wheels? As someone who has worked in sound/lighting, are they something you wouldn't have thought twice about buying?
Not automatically. It depends on what you do. I see Mac Pros specced where a fast PC might even be more productive, without the ridiculous premium on RAM and storage.
When Dell charges $200 for a $2 stamped metal server rail no one bats an eye
A new set of wheels for your average Honda or Toyota costs just about as much. I want these and I don’t even own a Mac Pro. ;)
Don’t complain about the price. This isn’t for you. It’s for pros who need the best rolling performance to do their jobs. I mean, when the pros’ time costs $$$$/hr, are they really going to buy some knock off wheels for $500 and risk getting octagonal ones made in China instead? At least you know these will be perfect circles.
I wonder if they have locks. Seems like you can just pop em off, put em in a bag. Pretty expensive accessory.
There are no locks. It will roll away if your floor isn't flat, as demonstrated here: https://twitter.com/MKBHD/status/1232708514625310721
Next up, $500 machined aluminum wheel blocks.
My first thought was... why not just wheel the computer out?
My second thought was... comes back to find computer up on cinder blocks, wheels gone.
Yeah, and if you buy the Mac on credit and fall behind, you may find the wheels in a wheel clamp…
You can't just pop them off, they're screwed on from inside the case.
No mention of locks. This first iteration is obsolete by design and will eventually be replaced with a new version with locks in another Apple line up. Who knows on what the price that would be.
The lesson here is to not purchase the very first iteration of Apple products. Sometimes it can turn out to be an expensive sunken cost.
...and they continued to pay it, despite it being an obvious rip-off. Until one day they didn't.
That’s a BIG difference
The link in the story is $1,049 in AUD which is roughly equal to $699 in USD — the link in the post you replied to.
The Mac Pro starts at $6,000. You can build a better PC for less than half that.
In my opinion, the Mac Pro and its relevant accessories are targeting a luxury customer that doesn't really care how much it costs.
No, you can’t. You might be able to build a pc that meets your specific needs for half that, sure.
They use the cheapest ram available:
Depends on what you are measuring when you say beter. Flops, USB ports, design...
I believe it is similarly priced to the HP z series. Which incidentally has a 10/10 iFixit rating. But.... that HP support though.
Apples & oranges.
I'm sure that Apple is conducting a social experiment to see how much money people are willing to pay for their products.
Still no brakes?
So this is why everyone in the valley needs mega pay checks. Likely Made in PRC made casters, $700 USD + shipping and tax. If there were ever a sign that Apple is charging too much for their products (as if the signs weren't already there over and over)...
Actually no, it's so they can afford a 500sf apartment.
Sounds like another crappy market deal, kind of like these overpriced casters
wow
Uh huh...