Indian MacBook Prices are out. Expensive!

by Milind Alvares
Wednesday October 15, 2008

Indian MacBook Prices are out. Expensive!

by Milind Alvares on October 15, 2008

The rising dollar and falling economy, has resulted in the prices of the new MacBooks shooting up. Macs are expensive in India, again.

Here are the maximum retail prices of the new notebooks. Note that these are at MRP, and you can usually get a better deal at your Apple retailer.

MacBook Alu 2.0 Ghz. - 79,700
MacBook Alu 2.4Ghz - 96,500

MacBook Air 1.6Ghz - 1,07,000
MacBook Air 1.86Ghz - 1,49,000

MacBook Pro 2.4Ghz - 1,19,000
MacBook Pro 2.53Ghz - 1,49,000

MacBook Pro 17” - 1,62,600

*All prices in Indian Rupees. 1 USD = Rs. 48.

The prices are from Keystone.in, an official Apple Authorised Centre in Goa. The store confirmed that these are official prices. The pricing for the white MacBook is still confusing, as they still have the three models in stock.

Only time will tell whether these insane prices are guesswork by an Apple PR, or whether they actually plan to sell any at this rate. What’s your take on the prices? Dreams shattered again?

Tagged as: event, India, macbook, macbook air, macbook pro, prices

Reader Comments

New Apple Macbooks Out! - Page 2 - Laptops - TechEnclave: October 15, 2008 at 10:29 pm
New Apple Macbooks Out! - Page 2 - Laptops - TechEnclave: October 15, 2008 at 10:37 pm
New MacBook and MacBook Pros: Houston we have a letdown: October 16, 2008 at 10:20 pm
Old MacBook Pros at 34% discount at Amazon | Smoking Apples: October 17, 2008 at 12:01 am
iPod Nano 4GB now available for Rs 6900 | Smoking Apples: October 24, 2008 at 2:30 pm

Reader Comments

Ashwin October 15, 2008 at 7:06 pm ashwinr.com: Rs 1.2 L for a lappy?! That’s out of reach for most of us.
mehul Gohil October 15, 2008 at 7:13 pm -: Apple has done it again, and the worldwide recession only adds to it!
I think this surely will be a big letdown for the all of us, including me. BLOODY HELL..they r pricier than the earlier macbooks. Better get em from abroad.

Apple India sucks!
Pallab October 15, 2008 at 7:40 pm pallab.net: MacBook Alu - not the best of names for the Indian market

Anyway the pricing is ridiculous.
Azeem October 15, 2008 at 7:50 pm: OMG those prices are insanely high!!
Manan October 15, 2008 at 9:00 pm beingmanan.com: Didn’t a Windows guy recently state this before the launch and [people ridiculed him. Here is for all to see.
Subbu October 15, 2008 at 9:30 pm xubz.com: There I was dreaming that my next notebook will be a Macbook..

*sigh.. dream bubble goes pop*
VJ October 15, 2008 at 9:38 pm: out of reach for “most” of us?

I guess the guys at smoking apples can trick their dad’s again and buy a new lappy…

only a few people are going to buy these..so apple have to juice the money these few…

for these prices..we can buy the most ultra powerfull gaming laptop..a xps range kinda one!
Milind Alvares October 15, 2008 at 10:18 pm goobimama.blogspot.com: For the first time I pray that the report on Smoking Apples is wrong.

@manan: The prices in the US are pretty nice. The $1300 MacBook is the best deal in my opinion.

@subbu: I’m sure the prices for India will be revised. This is insane. I guess this is because of all that market crashing/economy and all that.

@VJ: XPS is PC-crap (which is the worst kind btw). A Mac is a Mac, and nothing else can replace it. Besides, we at Smoking Apples don’t use our parent’s money to buy anything. And maybe instead of blaming Apple, you can blame the Government of India for levying such heavy taxes.
VJ October 15, 2008 at 10:55 pm: lol..as if we dont pay taxes for our PC components!!
VJ October 15, 2008 at 10:56 pm: long live OSX 86 Project
Dean October 15, 2008 at 11:33 pm: ^^ Who let the pigs in?

At 48 ruupees to a dollar, it looks like the macbook’s have a clear $300 hike in indian prices. And $3100 for the Air is simply insane!
VJ October 16, 2008 at 11:34 am: ^^ nice to meet ya too

the 48:1 crap is applicable for PC stuffs too!
bhatnaturally October 16, 2008 at 11:36 am lbhat.com: @manan, the Windows guy was ridiculed because he put a spin on ‘Apple Tax’ - the kind of $ that your are ‘supposed’ to pay extra after buying an Apple. That was distortion and falsehood.

Yes, these prices are on the higher side.If they think a market can pay the price, any company will choose a higher price + higher margin strategy. They could go wrong of course. For e.g. it did not stop Microsoft from charging an arm and a leg for Microsoft Office - because companies could afford to. It’s another matter that until recently, pirated software makes Windows applications (including Office) come ‘cheap’ to consumers.

The US entry level price of the basic Macbook @999 is good pricing. And so is the $1300 pricing of the new macbook. Too bad the rupee-dollar equation does not favour us.
Pat October 17, 2008 at 1:00 am: Straight from Apple India website:

MacBook Pro

* Find your local authorised reseller.
* Call 080 2574 4646.
* Buy MacBook Pro Now

The next generation of notebooks starts at INR113,900.

MacBook

* Find your local authorised reseller.
* Call 080 2574 4646.
* Buy MacBook Now

The next generation of notebooks starts at INR75,900.
Milind Alvares October 17, 2008 at 1:07 am goobimama.blogspot.com: Thanks Pat!

So I was right then. After all, Apple India lists the prices excluding taxes which brings them to the prices mentioned above. Damn!
Pat October 17, 2008 at 2:33 am: Yes. Thats true. I am truly disappointed. I might settle for the old “white plastic” macbook. Does anyone plan to sell their macbook ?
Milind Alvares October 17, 2008 at 2:34 am goobimama.blogspot.com: I bet you can get it down to at least 72k or so. If you are getting a white one though, get it second hand.
Pat October 17, 2008 at 3:26 am: Yes. Thats what I am planning. A good used macbook would be ok for now.
bhatnaturally October 17, 2008 at 6:16 am lbhat.com: How much for a used Macbook (bought in July 06)? 2GHZ processor, 2GB memory,120GB capacity. I might consider selling mine…
Pat October 17, 2008 at 8:25 pm: Is that one with GMA950 or X3100 ?
Milind Alvares October 17, 2008 at 8:56 pm goobimama.blogspot.com: @Pat: A June 06 MacBook would be Core Duo, and have a GMA950 graphics. The X3100 made it’s appearance in October 2007. With your permission I could give your email to LBhat and you can carry this further.

http://smokingapples.com/contact-the-smoking-team/
Pat October 17, 2008 at 9:21 pm: I have sent a message to SA team with my real email-id. Thanks
Pat October 19, 2008 at 5:18 pm: Pricing information for all models available on Apple India website now.

http://apple.co.in/store/flash/macbook/macbook.html

Keystone is a lil too expensive than the official prices.
Abtom October 23, 2008 at 2:22 pm: Now,there should be another article on SA - Fooling your dad into buying you a MacBook(Pro).
Milind Alvares October 23, 2008 at 2:55 pm goobimama.blogspot.com: That, my friend, is a trick we have yet to learn. But since you’ve already mastered the art, it would be awesome if you could share that wisdom with all of us.
Milind Alvares October 23, 2008 at 2:56 pm goobimama.blogspot.com: @Pat: Official rates are without taxes. I think it is either 6% or 12.5% tax that is applied by the Imagine stores (keystone = Imagine). But, you can bargain and get a better deal.

Anyway, this is old news now.
Parithi November 10, 2008 at 9:45 pm parithi.co.cc: There goes my dream notebook….looks like I can’t buy a macbook for my studies…

Will the Prices go down….after the release of snow leopard???
Milind Alvares November 10, 2008 at 9:49 pm goobimama.blogspot.com: This has nothing to do with Snow Leopard. The exchange rate is at an all time high, which is why these things are so pricey.

That said, the MacBook Aluminium low end retails for around 75k. The same thing would cost around 68k in the US.