LTT vs Apple

[blakieman]

So i'm a fan of the channel and a huge fan of apple, but also a enthusiast who has built his own machine. That being said, I was watching a video where Linus was complaining about the Apple upcharge for SSD and just overall premium price you pay for apple products.  During this same video he referenced LTT store a bit and so being a fan I went on the site to look around.  Um...Is he aware of how hypocritical he is being when he wants us to pay $69.00 for a screwdriver? $249.00 for a backpack? even apple wouldn't charge that much. I was shocked. I'm glad he's doing well and selling the merch, but please don't complain about apples pricing when you are trying to be the apple of merchandising. 

[Ravendarat]

$69 isnt out of line for a screw driver and $250 isnt out of line for a backpack in the same league as the LTT one either. But if its to much for you than thats fine. Saying $1000 for an iphone when you can get an android smart phone for $200 is the same argument. Yes you can spend less but it isnt the same product.

[saintlouisbagels]

1 hour ago, blakieman said:

So i'm a fan of the channel and a huge fan of apple, but also a enthusiast who has built his own machine. That being said, I was watching a video where Linus was complaining about the Apple upcharge for SSD and just overall premium price you pay for apple products.  During this same video he referenced LTT store a bit and so being a fan I went on the site to look around.  Um...Is he aware of how hypocritical he is being when he wants us to pay $69.00 for a screwdriver? $249.00 for a backpack? even apple wouldn't charge that much. I was shocked. I'm glad he's doing well and selling the merch, but please don't complain about apples pricing when you are trying to be the apple of merchandising. 

You're really coming off as a fanboy in your defense of Apple - you have no idea or frame of reference how much things should cost.

Linus is thoroughly in the tech space and has even worked in the retail space. Apple's prices for basic things like RAM and storage are disgusting.

 

It's funny that you point out the screwdriver and backpacks, because it clearly demonstrates you know NOTHING about what you're talking about. Quality hand tools easily surpass $69, and with the recent reviews that have come out regarding their screwdriver, it's actually a very well-priced item. Their backpack is also well-priced in the premium backpack market. Look up Peak Design, or Shimoda Design, etc etc.

 

With regards to the price of their other clothing items - this is how much things cost when you want manufacturers to pay their workers livable wages. If it's "overpriced" in your opinion, then feel free to continue shopping at H&M, Walmart, Forever21, etc. You get what you pay for.

[Neroon]

4 hours ago, blakieman said:

So i'm a fan of the channel and a huge fan of apple, but also a enthusiast who has built his own machine. That being said, I was watching a video where Linus was complaining about the Apple upcharge for SSD and just overall premium price you pay for apple products.  During this same video he referenced LTT store a bit and so being a fan I went on the site to look around.  Um...Is he aware of how hypocritical he is being when he wants us to pay $69.00 for a screwdriver? $249.00 for a backpack? even apple wouldn't charge that much. I was shocked. I'm glad he's doing well and selling the merch, but please don't complain about apples pricing when you are trying to be the apple of merchandising. 

There is a difference between products who are upcharged and products who are simply expensive.

 

LTTs products are absolutely usually more expensive than that you would usually find. The reason is simple, LTT has much higher costs than large companies.

Large companies have large contracts, and sell way more, meaning production cost is way lower.

 

LTT is a business, so they will absolutely make money off these products, but their profit margins are nowhere near Apples.

[Lairlair]

I think Apple also plays the luxury card often, most notably with their halo products that are super expensive and not super useful such as a golden watch or PC wheels... while at the same time being an average consumer brand. I mean it costs a bit more but it's still accessible to most people who want to invest in tech. Just look at how many people own an iPhone or an apple computer. I guess that's part of the reason why Linus complains about the premium you pay when buying a normal and mundane thing such as RAM at an extra cost.

 

I just checked on my local hardware store's website and they have similar prices for similar types of screwdrivers (with a ratchet and a variety of bits). LTT's seems more niche and tech oriented, plus you buy it to support the channel so I'm honestly not shocked about the pricing. I even thought it would be more than that

 

Personally the iFixit kit for $25 fits my needs more, but I guess if you spend your days building PCs, the extra comfort of LTTs screwdriver may make sense.

[Erioch]

Wake me up when LTT makes a $1,000 monitor stand.

[Alvin853]

LTT products aren't unique in a way you're forced to buy them instead of some competitor's product. For a Mac Mini, you can't just buy a 2TB SSD off of Amazon or Newegg, you're forced to buy the one Apple sells you for 5x the price. It's the way Apple locks you into their ecosystem, then charges ridiculous premiums for stuff that should be much cheaper, if there was competition.

[Bw00d21]

If you're a huge fan of Apple, you'd know they upcharge on everything, but make you feel like they're not. $700 for wheels... remember that?

 

Also, watch the video on how/why it took 3 years to develop/produce the screwdriver. Making products at scale is not at all cheap. Not to mention supply chain issues has seriously inflated the cost of even the most basic materials. 

[Ravendarat]

56 minutes ago, NastyFlytrap said:

He is a hypocrite, and people like dogman above will defend him to the bone. It sucks but there's not much to do about it

I can only assume I am "dogman" and I only defend when I feel the accusation is unfair. There is nothing hypocritical about this situation. Its been proven over and over again that the products are on par with their competition they were aiming at when they made them, and their pricing is inline with that. Just because YOU or op doesnt see the value doesnt mean its not still worth it, and I would suggest that you are in the minority in this situation. So you either dont understand the market place and have no desire to or you are a troll, in either case there wont be any point in continuing this conversation.

[Lomac]

1 hour ago, NastyFlytrap said:

He is a hypocrite, and people like dogman above will defend him to the bone. It sucks but there's not much to do about it

Im too old and bitter to be a shill for any company, but... Have you seen tool prices? Why spend $300 on an Ingersol 1/2" air impact gun when you can spend $50 on a Power Fist equivalent? Well, quality and reliability, mainly. Sure, someone only using the gun to rotate their winter tires on and off their car once a year can get away with the PF, but if you're a mechanic who is constantly gunning bolts off all day long, you want something that will reliably last.

 

The LTT screwdriver seems to have passed all the initial stress tests with nearly flying colours. Now they have to wait and see how their long term reliability and build quality lasts once it ships out into the wild. Should they withstand real world use in a variety of environments, then I don't think it's silly to say that it will be worth the price. However, if they start failing en masse due to LMG's testing being in limited environments, then the price starts becoming rather questionable.

[Middcore]

$250 for a backpack isn't at all out of line with the prices charged since premium EDC bags became a cottage industry over the last 10-15 years.

 

 

[Erioch]

4 hours ago, NastyFlytrap said:

It sucks but there's not much to do about it

I mean, no one is forced to buy anything.

 

I think it's funny that anyone comes here outraged or surprised at the cost of these two items.  Every single time Linus talked about them in advance he said they'd be expensive.  Every time.

[Neroon]

3 hours ago, Middcore said:

$250 for a backpack isn't at all out of line with the prices charged since premium EDC bags became a cottage industry over the last 10-15 years.

 

 

Having bought a few expensive camera bags, that price doesn't really surprise me.

 

Don't get me wrong, the majority absolutely shouldn't buy it, they don't need that kind of bag. But if you use this very often and it carries thousands and thousands of stuff, then sure.

[SansVarnic]

The price of the screwdriver and the bag are not that bad. They may be a bit pricey, but they are by far not the apple of merchandise.

Build quality and R&D go a long way into the pricing of things. I would say from what I have seen thus far, the price fairly matches the quality of the product. 

Apples pricing is far and well known to be overpriced and has been proven to be as much.

[SansVarnic]

7 hours ago, NastyFlytrap said:

people like dogman above

So you're saying that crane signalmen are going to defend Linus? If you're going to attempt to insult be sure to know the definition of a word before you use it.

[Erioch]

2 hours ago, that_dude said:

Apple Book (Designed by Apple in California): $199

Okay, I didn't know that was a thing.  If I had stumbled across that on the internet I would've thought it was a joke.

[TempestCatto]

If you were a true enthusiast you'd know Apple is very anti right to repair, along with making indie repair shops lives a living hell if they try and fix something (RE: Louis Rossmann).

You'd know Apple loves to charge 600 bucks (or more) for a motherboard replacement on a laptop, when all the problem is, is a small easily replaced component costing 4 bucks (granted, you need the skill and tools to replace it, but they could still do that if they cared).

You'd also know how horrible and exploitative the working conditions are in their sweatshops.

You'd know that you can build a computer yourself with better hardware for over 1k less in some cases (But I'll admit, sometimes you simply do need MacOS for something, I get that)

 

I could go on, but I'll stop there. My point is, Apple makes decent products - I'll admit that. I like my old iPhone 6s and I like the look and feel of iOS more than Android. But Apple likes to think they're king of the market, that if you don't have one of their products that you're not a "pro." Fact of the matter is, the crown they wear is from Burger King. It's cardboard, it's not real, and it reeks to low hell of gluttony and pride. No one company makes the best product or tool for the job. For some, that's a Macbook, for others, it's a Chromebook. Same goes for tools.

 

As others have said, 70 bucks for a ratcheting screwdriver is not that obscene. You can spend over 100 bucks on a good set. Most of us buying it will use it to build the occasional computer, tear down a laptop, and maybe fix a loose door hinge in the house. You can spend 383 dollars on a SnapOn torque wrench or you can spend 20 bucks on one from Harbor Freight.The difference? I would never use the HF one if I was a mechanic working daily on cars, I'd pay the money for the SnapOn - there's a reason mechanics use them. That said, I personally own a HF torque wrench. I use it rarely, maybe no more than 4 or 5 times in a year. It works perfect for me in that case. The same can be said about LTT's screwdriver or backpack. They didn't design a product to be used once in a blue moon, they designed a product to be daily driven, and to withstand that kind of use and abuse. If you can't put two and two together to figure that out, well then us berating you is about all we can do at this point.

 

No one is white knighting LTT here, we're simply saying to look at it objectively. Something Apple fanatics seem to struggle with.

[ToboRobot]

2 hours ago, that_dude said:

Apple Book (Designed by Apple in California): $199

LTT book (abc of gaming): $14.99

 

Not sure who is here the scalper.

 

 

The Apple book paper for each copy probably cost more than the LTT book.  

They are both "books" but entirely different product categories. 

[TempestCatto]

7 minutes ago, ToboRobot said:

The Apple book paper for each copy probably cost more than the LTT book.  

They are both "books" but entirely different product categories. 

I agree with you. One is a notebook for jotting down notes, one is a big book detailing the company's history. Although I have a big book, similar in size, about John Deere. Very nice pages, massive high res images and pages of descriptions. My mom gifted it to me and it costed her about 40 bucks. It does the same thing as Apple's book - it details the companies history, models, etc. If mass produced, there's no reason for Apple's book to cost more than 40 bucks either. Unless Apple anticipates it being very very low volume, or the publisher ripped them off big time and now they gotta make up the cost. Otherwise they're ripping people off, once again. 1k for a monitor stand that's less useful than the stand that comes with any cheapo gaming monitor. I like some of their products, but I don't like their predatory business practices.

[Ultraforce]

49 minutes ago, TempestCatto said:

I agree with you. One is a notebook for jotting down notes, one is a big book detailing the company's history. Although I have a big book, similar in size, about John Deere. Very nice pages, massive high res images and pages of descriptions. My mom gifted it to me and it costed her about 40 bucks. It does the same thing as Apple's book - it details the companies history, models, etc. If mass produced, there's no reason for Apple's book to cost more than 40 bucks either. Unless Apple anticipates it being very very low volume, or the publisher ripped them off big time and now they gotta make up the cost. Otherwise they're ripping people off, once again. 1k for a monitor stand that's less useful than the stand that comes with any cheapo gaming monitor. I like some of their products, but I don't like their predatory business practices.

The LTT book that was being talked about was also not the notebook, but a children's book children's books are generally I think usually sold at not a super high price.

[Erioch]

56 minutes ago, TempestCatto said:

I agree with you. One is a notebook for jotting down notes, one is a big book detailing the company's history. Although I have a big book, similar in size, about John Deere. Very nice pages, massive high res images and pages of descriptions. My mom gifted it to me and it costed her about 40 bucks. It does the same thing as Apple's book - it details the companies history, models, etc. If mass produced, there's no reason for Apple's book to cost more than 40 bucks either. Unless Apple anticipates it being very very low volume, or the publisher ripped them off big time and now they gotta make up the cost. Otherwise they're ripping people off, once again. 1k for a monitor stand that's less useful than the stand that comes with any cheapo gaming monitor. I like some of their products, but I don't like their predatory business practices.

Remember when Apple introduced the monitor stand at a live event and people in the audience laughed.  Then again, a bunch of those people probably ended up buying it later.

[TempestCatto]

9 minutes ago, Ultraforce said:

The LTT book that was being talked about was also not the notebook, but a children's book children's books are generally I think usually sold at not a super high price.

Ah I forgot about that one ^.^; My B. Point still stands tho.

 

3 minutes ago, Erioch said:

Remember when Apple introduced the monitor stand at a live event and people in the audience laughed.  Then again, a bunch of those people probably ended up buying it later.

You're probably right. I guess that's what happens when you like a company too much. I mean, I truthfully bought my LTT screwdriver solely because they won't make the black shaft after it sells out (so I've heard). But then again I will have good use for it, so it's not really in vain (I just didn't plan on buying it as soon as I did). 

[Symptomz]

On 9/6/2022 at 8:00 AM, Erioch said:

Wake me up when LTT makes a $1,000 monitor stand.

or $700 wheels for the Mac Pro....

[Guest]

I'd have to side with Linus on this one. Linus (and his company) Doesn't have millions in corporate money, and especially now, materials and shipping are especially expensive. His prices aren't at all outrageous, and with the cost that his side is paying, I wouldn't be surprised if the products are a little expensive. Apple on the other hand is in third place of top companies according to the Fortune 500 website., And is worth more than 2 trillion. Apple definitely doesn't need to charge a premium, but they still do. Examples (in USD): 

• Mac Pro Wheels: 700
• Monitor stand: 1000
• Apple book: 200
• Apple Aer 2 Backpack: 250 (Same as Linus backpack!)

 

[HelloPeople]

On 9/6/2022 at 1:59 PM, blakieman said:

 he wants us to pay $69.00 for a screwdriver? $249.00 for a backpack? even apple wouldn't charge that much. 

you`re absolutely correct.

Apple wouldn`t charge $69 for a screwdriver, and $249 for a backpack.

Apple would charge $399 for the screwdriver and $999 for the backpack.