RSSIntel iMac Costs Apple $899 to Build
By Ed Oswald | Published January 19, 2006, 5:47 PM
Apple's cost to build the new Intel-based iMac likely costs about $873, research firm iSuppli said on Thursday. The most expensive part in the computer is the Intel Core Duo processor that powers it, on which the firm placed a value of $265.
Additionally, the firm estimates it costs Apple $25 to build and test every iMac, making the total cost $899. This does not include the cost of including a keyboard and mouse, as well as documentation with each system.
Based on the core iMac's retail price, the profit margins for Apple are approximately 44 percent, which is in line with the margins for other products in its lineup. A previous dissection of an 2GB iPod Nano by iSuppli yielded a 50 percent profit margin, a 512MB iPod Shuffle 55 percent, and 43 percent for the Mac Mini.
Combined with the Intel mobile 945 core-logic chipset, the processing unit makes up 35 percent of the device's bill of materials, says iSuppli's teardown head and analyst Andrew Rassweiler. He noted that while the chip inside of the iMac is intended for use in laptop computers, there is a reason for Apple's actions.
"Users want quiet and powerful machines," he said in a statement. "Intel is very focused on designing microprocessors that deliver the maximum performance without generating excessive heat or consuming huge amounts of power. For now, the Intel Core Duo fits that bill perfectly."
The ATI graphics card made up $30 of the total cost, while memory from Samsung added another $20. Details on the cost of the LG-manufactured LCD or Maxtor 160GB hard drive were only available to iSuppli clients.
Let's look at Apple's latest financial results for the last quarter. "Apple posted revenue of $5.75 billion and a net quarterly profit of $565 million". That's shows us a profit of 10.17% for the whole company.
Does those numbers tell us more? Me, I just don't know. What's your guess?
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|Good move on the laptop processor. iMacs are so thin anyway it figures that they would need one. Still too expensive though. I haven't paid that much for a desktop pc in a while and don't plan on it.
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|Nice work if you can get it.
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|over 40% profit margin, and they are complaining?
did dell get 15% from their computer? doubt it
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|what a powerfull computer!!!!
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|Know what's really cool? While that beast may be deadly on video encoding, for games I'd bet it's less than 30% faster than my cheap $300 comp! :P
Then you apply the natural OSX multitasking factor, and my $300 self-built machine outperforms a wonderous $1200 computer. Ain't it beautiful?
But hey...if everyone built their own computers from scratch, we wouldn't exactly have large companies out there helping create newbie-friendly software.
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|iSuppli? omg, was iSupply taken or something?
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|Marketers said not enough i's. i is the new e, which was the new y. Watch out to x and z, making a comzback.
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|iAgree wyth ye.
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|About the same. 30-50% margins are common from the big manufacturers. Dell might be closer to 30%, on account of cheaper systems in general that are sold like they're something from a supermarket. ;)
But no, seems about on par.
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|Dell gets less on their Dimension and Inspiron models, but they make up the difference with subsidies from ISPs and ISVs for preloading worthless crap like AOL, QuickBooks Trial Edition, and 90-day trials of antivirus products.
One reason that Dell's Optiplex and Latitude lines cost more is that they aren't subsidized by all that garbage. Therefore, Dell needs to get more margin on the sale.
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|Heh, I figured Dell wouldn't make much on Inspirons, when mine shipped with a littered desktop I had to spend forever cleaning :P
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|Reformat any computer you buy.
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|Make sure you have an OS Installation CD before doing that. Many, *many* systems do not ship with restore/installation CDs and you may find yourself up a crick.
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|In the case of Dell, repartition the HDD too...
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|Anybody know how this info stacks up against other pc dealers (Dell, Toshiba, etc.)?
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