My plans to buy an Apple Powerbook have been stalled as of now. After a lot of research on the laptops and pursuant feedback from people (including the Oohs and Aahs that I received as admiring replies when I told them that I am planning to buy an Apple notebook), I could not get it procured from the US. There were some logistics issues and further, the impending doubt of Apple coming out with G5 this year.
I have checked up the G4 1.5 GHz price here in Bombay, and the store in InOrbit at Goregaon is quoting around 1.09 lacs. This is for the standard configuration for the Powerbook 1.5 GHz model. It has a one year warranty. But this bears no comparison with the deal I was getting from US. The total cost for the laptop, if bought from US, was coming to INR 94,000. And this included additional 512 MB RAM (making it a total of 1 Gb), and three-year Apple Care International Warranty. This is a pretty neat deal compared to the prices in India.
I am wondering why there is so much margin and difference in prices for laptops and computers in India, as compared to the US. Further, there are hardly any educational discounts or company-sponsored financing schemes that I have come across till now. And on top of that, nobody wants to make an investment of 50-70k and end up with an average (mostly below average) laptop configuration, since this much amount makes a case for a long term investment in the product. I wonder when things would get cheaper here, and especially the ones which are the via media for sustaining the growth and pace of the Indian economy. The software services industry started early in India, but the growth can only be fuelled by making the tools of the trade easily accessible to people. At such high prices, people like me would need to do a double take on the buying decisions.
Prefer buying a Dell or some other laptop.. unless you’re a Apple geek!!!!