How Apple got me to pay 90K more
A new computer, please
I spent all week deciding which MacBook to buy. I started by considering the ₹1.1 Lakh 13” Air and ended up deciding on the ₹2 Lakh 14” Pro with M3 Pro. Apple’s pricing tiers totally worked on me.
I started on their website. I was surprised that Apple offers the same base config of M3 on Air and Pro. The only differences are hardware, like fans, better I/O ports, and better display. I don’t need the better hardware. I should go for the ₹1.1 Lakh 13” or the 15” Airs. It seemed like Apple was leaving money on the table.
I headed to the store to speak to the staff for a recommendation. I’m a designer with some graphic intensive usage. Their recommendation was the ₹2 Lakh 14” Pro with M3 Pro. It sounded outlandish. So I checked with online support. They had the same recommendation for me.
That can’t be right.
My research
The lineup falls into 5 models.
I use my Mac for Figma the most. 16GB RAM will help have multiple files open, run heavy prototypes and still have a lot of browsing tabs open. The base configs of all the M3 Macs are immediately useless. All their prices go up 20k for the 16GB config.
I want a generous screen. I’ve always used a 15”. The 15” Air could give me that. The 16” feels like an overkill. And the 13” I’d avoid if possible. That leaves me with models 2, 3, 4 (in the image above)
WFH during summer months. It does get hot and I’ve seen my Mac even with a fan slow down. I also code small projects and connect to a display. To have a fan even with the more powerful M3 chips seems safer. The Airs drop out of the race. That leaves me with 3, 4.
It’s down to a 10k difference between 3 and 4 — the 14” Pro with M3 and the 14” Pro with M3 Pro. The 10k difference buys a decent jump in compute configuration. It’ll probably last me a whole year longer.
So I went from ₹1.1L to ₹2L, all on my own. The Apple staff was right all along. They just weren’t able to walk me through it like this. I wonder if they would’ve been more effective if they did. The pricing structure was already doing the heavy lifting. Apple very likely makes more profit on the higher-end models.
Pricing tiers increase throughput. Note to self to explore this further—How does one build pricing tiers for a product? I’d love to spend some time in spreadsheets. Start with the cost of parts, understand consumer perception of value, play with configurations, balance a matrix of options and move people slowly up pricing tiers.
Thanks for this Vishwa,
Makes more sense why I need to go for pro too on my next buy 🙌🏻