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From: gillies@p.cs.uiuc.edu
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Re: The SE as the low cost Mac, why not
Message-ID: <126900185@p.cs.uiuc.edu>
Date: 11 Feb 90 17:39:44 GMT
References: <22144@uflorida.cis.ufl.EDU>
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Nf-ID: #R:uflorida.cis.ufl.EDU:22144:p.cs.uiuc.edu:126900185:000:721
Nf-From: p.cs.uiuc.edu!gillies    Feb 10 11:22:00 1990


> It was my understanding that the SE is already *incredibly* cheap to
> make: $150-200, even cheaper than the
        ^^^^^^^^ 
   I think this is wrong.


When the SE first came out, the manufacturing cost was estimated at
$400+ [MacUser, 1987].  Since its introduction, they've added a more
expensive floppy disk, so it may be $500+ to manufacture the SE.  And
you have to add a keyboard, perhaps $50 to manufacture.

Retail prices are necessarily twice manufacturing costs, to pay for
storefronts, advertising, new development, stock dividends, etc.  So
unless the price has dropped drammatically, the cheapest the 2-floppy
Mac SE could sell for is $1100+.

Apple needs a machine that is about $1000 with a hard disk.