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mrtew · Mar 25, 2007, 06:47 PM

Do you think anyone would actually be stupid enough to pay over $5000 for a computer? UK-based bespoke luxury goods creator Luvaglio has created the first million dollar laptop. That’s what the first of their luxury laptops will sell for. Full details of the laptop have not been released at this point, but it is known that it incorporates a 17" widescreen LED lit screen with a specially designed anti-reflective glare coating for clear and brighter image, 128GB of Solid State Disk space and a slot loading Blue-Ray drive. There is an integrated screen cleaning device and a very rare coloured diamond piece of jewellery that doubles up as the power button when placed into the laptop and also acts as security identification.

original article - http://gizmag.com/go/7030/

Wiskedjak · Mar 25, 2007, 06:54 PM

Bragging rights will drive people to spend a great deal of money ... if they can afford it.

Doofy · Mar 25, 2007, 07:09 PM

Originally Posted by mrtew

Do you think anyone would actually be stupid enough to pay over $5000 for a computer?

You realise that you're on a Mac forum, right?

SSharon · Mar 25, 2007, 07:10 PM

Sadly, my guess is that it still doesn't have some of the same attention to detail that the powerbooks have with the backlit kb and magsafe.

Doofy · Mar 25, 2007, 07:15 PM

Oh, and nobody is going to buy this laptop. $18,000 for a new Mac Pro is one thing. A million bucks for a laptop is another.
They'll make a couple and rent them out to film and pop video makers as a way of selling their brand. Then they'll cream off increased sales of their lower cost items.
How many people do you see wearing Donna Karen Haute Couture? And how many people do you see wearing DKNY?

Sub · Mar 25, 2007, 07:23 PM

It's going to be the laptop for Paris Hilton, Britney Spears, I think it will do great, because they will need to get replacements every 2 months for dropping them, etc.

OldManMac · Mar 25, 2007, 07:25 PM

Someone will buy it. There are many people who consider $1 million pocket change, and if this is as unique as the manufacturer claims, someone will need to have the bragging rights of owning one.

TETENAL · Mar 25, 2007, 07:38 PM

Originally Posted by Sub

It's going to be the laptop for Paris Hilton, Britney Spears, I think it will do great, because they will need to get replacements every 2 months for dropping them, etc.

Paris Hilton can have me for 1 million dollar. And I wouldn't mind if she dropped me after 2 months.

mrtew · Mar 25, 2007, 10:14 PM

Originally Posted by Doofy

You realise that you're on a Mac forum, right?

Uh, I've bought a lot of macs and I know a lot of people that have bought a LOT more and I've never heard of anyone spending over $5000 on one. I've had fun running the specs up on the "Buy Now" pages at apple.com just like everyone else but that's not the same thing as actually putting out 10-20 grand for something that will be obsolete in a year or two. Have you? And I don't know who considers a million bucks pocket change either. Tom Cruise shows up to a movie premeire in a million dollar Buggatti and it's on the front page of every website and magazine that covers that kind of thing and he's frakking rich, and that car's actually worth it. I don't think anyone is stupid enough to spend $10,000 dollars on a POS laptop computer, let alone $1,000,000.

OldManMac · 11:19 PM

ABC News: Billionaire Opens Mansions to Homeless

Giving away mansions shows more dedication to helping Hawaii's homeless than just handing out wads of cash, he said. Asked whether he was concerned about losing money on the effort, he laughed and said: "This is pocket money for me."

This guy's motives have been questioned, but there are a lot of people who are filthy rich (usually having a net worth of $25 million or more, according to an article I read recently about wealthy people), who spend millions on art, cars, homes, collecting things such as wine, etc., to whom a million dollars is pocket change. I once worked for a man who is probably worth well over a hundred million today, who used to go to Las Vegas twice a year, and think nothing of losing $100,000 in a few days. The vast majority of people who buy Rolls Royces, Bentleys, Ferraris, etc., pay cash for their cars. I read somewhere recently that the average Bentley owner has two or three, and they keep them at various homes they own, which they also paid cash for. To a lot of very rich people, a million clams is pocket change. If you're worth $3 billion, as Steve Jobs is reputed to be, as an example, $1 million is one third of one percent, which would have absolutely no effect on his life if he dropped his wallet with that much in it down a drainpipe.

Doofy · Mar 25, 2007, 11:14 PM

Originally Posted by mrtew

Uh, I've bought a lot of macs and I know a lot of people that have bought a LOT more and I've never heard of anyone spending over $5000 on one. I've had fun running the specs up on the "Buy Now" pages at apple.com just like everyone else but that's not the same thing as actually putting out 10-20 grand for something that will be obsolete in a year or two. Have you?

Yep. Just ordered $17,500 worth of Mac Pro (that's a 3Ghz, 8Gb, 4x750Gb, 2x30").

Obsolete in a year or two? Nope. It's obsolete when I've finished using it.

Doofy · Mar 25, 2007, 11:23 PM

Originally Posted by KarlG

there are a lot of people who are filthy rich (usually having a net worth of $25 million or more, according to an article I read recently about wealthy people), who spend millions on art, cars, homes, collecting things such as wine, etc., to whom a million dollars is pocket change. I once worked for a man who is probably worth well over a hundred million today, who used to go to Las Vegas twice a year, and think nothing of losing $100,000 in a few days. The vast majority of people who buy Rolls Royces, Bentleys, Ferraris, etc., pay cash for their cars. I read somewhere recently that the average Bentley owner has two or three, and they keep them at various homes they own, which they also paid cash for. To a lot of very rich people, a million clams is pocket change.

Completely agree, but I still can't see anyone stumping up a large one for a laptop. I mean, one of the reasons rich people tend to be rich (Paris Hiltons of this World aside) is that they're not stupid... ...and a million bucks on something which will do the same job as a MacBook Pro is just plain stupid.

This is a brand awareness exercise (like the VW Phaeton was), nothing more. The company even alludes to that in the article:

"The brand is committed to re-defining luxury in a few sectors, technology being one of them."

centerchannel68 · Mar 25, 2007, 11:30 PM

I hate this 'uber expensive' crap when it's just normal junk with a bunch of gemstones glued over the top of it. Who gives a **** about a shift knob with a bunch of diamonds, it's only the world's most expensive because of the GEMSTONES, not the shift knob itself!

highstakes · Mar 25, 2007, 11:31 PM

wonder what the resale value on those things are...

OldManMac · 12:01 AM

Originally Posted by Doofy

Completely agree, but I still can't see anyone stumping up a large one for a laptop. I mean, one of the reasons rich people tend to be rich (Paris Hiltons of this World aside) is that they're not stupid... ...and a million bucks on something which will do the same job as a MacBook Pro is just plain stupid.

This is a brand awareness exercise (like the VW Phaeton was), nothing more. The company even alludes to that in the article:

Of course it's about brand awareness; this thing is going to have rare diamonds on it, and is in no way intended to be used as an everday computer. It's designed as a rare collector's piece, which will hopefully increase in value. Anyone who thinks that this is being purchased to do the same things as a MacBook Pro (which seems to be quite a few people here) doesn't understand what the purpose of making this laptop is for. People don't buy items like this as utility items; they buy them because they're rare, which means they have something no one else does, and because they hopefully appreciate. I'm quite shocked to think that anyone believes this is being sold as a mere computer. A couple of days ago, on one of the web autoblogs, it was announced that Lamborghini is opening a few retail stores in select cities, where you'll be able to buy things like wallets, shift knobs, cuff links, etc., with the company logo on them. They're going to quite expensive naturally, and they'll do the same thing your wallet does, or your cuff links do, or your current shift knob does, but they'll sell these items because the very wealthy have the disposable income to buy them. They're not interested in the price; they just want them, to match their cars (they may not even have a Lamborghini, for that matter).
Also, a $35,000 bottle of scotch or a bottle of wine that sells for a hundred thousand, or more, does the same thing as a $100 bottle of scotch, or a $50 bottle of wine, and, to top it off, the vast majority of the people who buy that couldn't tell the difference between the two, but they buy them anyway. . BTW, the Phaeton still sells well in most of the world, except in America, where it was discontinued.

This has nothing whatsoever to do with utility, and everything to do with the customer's perception. That's marketing 101. You don't really think that this company is going to make this laptop without some reasonable assurance that they'll sell a few, do you? The people who buy things like this don't think like I, or the vast majority of people, do.

Eriamjh · Mar 28, 2007, 05:15 PM

For $1 million, I want a new laptop every three months for the next 25 years.

And maybe a few hundred hot chicks...

OwlBoy · Mar 28, 2007, 05:17 PM

I would prolly drop it in the first day.

-Owl

Aron Peterson · Mar 28, 2007, 05:21 PM

The funny sh!t is that they won't build one of these laptops unless someone pays for one first. All the images of it are renderings. A video of the laptop still has VRay (a renderer) stats on it.

mdc · Mar 28, 2007, 05:45 PM

This reminds me of the million dollar rims.

The only thing I have ever seen that is wrapped in diamonds, that I actually want is the Nixon Diamond Rotolog. I have the watch in wood and white and really like it.
I can wrap my mind around having so much money that spending a million dollars on something is actually feasible.

analogika · Mar 28, 2007, 06:28 PM

Originally Posted by centerchannel68

I hate this 'uber expensive' crap when it's just normal junk with a bunch of gemstones glued over the top of it. Who gives a **** about a shift knob with a bunch of diamonds, it's only the world's most expensive because of the GEMSTONES, not the shift knob itself!

Actually, if you actually try and read the linked article, they go out of their way to explain how that is precisely NOT what they're doing - that's what everybody *else* does...