They have shrinkwrapped boxes of Poser 5 with wildly differing prices. The salesman told me with a straight face that Mac versions of software are almost always more expensive. Apparently no one told Macromedia, Adobe, Curious Labs, eovia, E-on, Dantz, Norton, etc., etc. which have had a platform neutral policy towards pricing since somewhere in the late 1980s. If I had to guess, I'd bet that Fry's purchasers refused to buy as many copies of the OS X version, couldn't get the same discount from CL and decided to screw the customer instead. Way to go, guys.

"The salesman told me with a straight face that Mac versions of software are almost always more expensive." Well, I'd have a two word answer to that statement, the first being "Bull" and the second one gets me in trouble if I repeated it here. Or here's Data's comment on it :-)

I doubt that is the reason, since both versions list for $249, and can be bought directly from CL for that. More likely they made a mistake in their records for the Mac version.

don't mistake me with what i will say, it is no irnony or elitism , just fact: MAC computers often cost more than 50% above the price of a PC computer.. PC are for cheap people who can afford some spare time to reduce the investment in it, make it work or bypass windows problems so far, or bargain for some pieces of softwares.. MAC are for people who have no time to spare, but money to compensate (here i talk on behalf of over some 50 different mac users i met, and due to my social level, it is already a miracle i can cross the path of 50 of them) so if you have more money , want a thing to work, simple to use and have no time to waste, often you buy MAC (and also if you like "design" things) so if you have 50% more money to put on a computer, you may have 50% moe money to put on softwares for them. Consider that proportion of MAC whole population of machines is far a minority compared to PC plateforms already sold. Costs of developpement for such a small market reflect such a price. when you make a software that has lets say 20 millions potential buyers, and you need to write a different one for, let ssay only 20 000 potential buyers, you need to sell it higher :( flame me if you want, it is just a matter of cost it takes to make a software regarding to whom you can sold it virtually...

I'm a Mac user and I'm certainly not rich. :D Not only that, but all of the software I've bought has either been the same price as the PC version or cheaper. For example, right now if you're a Mac user that owns any Adobe print products you can get Lightwave for about half price.

well then it seems you either are lucky or the MAC context is very specific to my country or continent... here you sure would not have such offer on lightwave :) last time i checked the prices (hardware) and not considering the newest 64 bits MAC processors, just the model below, i could buy two decent 80x86 platform computers with the same amount of money... i found it chilling :( anyway if you find it unfair that some stores use such prices and such obvious differences on software you want, only way is to get yourself heard, so shout and complain abotu that until they realise MAC users ae not milkable cows

Attached Link: http://www.newtek.com/news/releases/01-06-04a.html

Actually my solution is simple- I buy elsewhere. ;) Here's the Lightwave info- http://www.newtek.com/news/releases/01-06-04a.html

feel comforted by the fact that if by some starnge miricle you can find poser 5 or any other number in a store in the UK, its much much more expensive (i have never seen it in any uk stores offline)... at amazon.co.uk its 350, that roughly $640!!!!!!! So don't feel to bad.. lol

wishes for an edit button excuse the type o's.... i just woke up.. hehehe

I got my copy of P5 for Windows on Amazon for $139 plus free shipping. It's now $169, but still better than Fry's.

I AM a Mac user by trade, since the very first mac....and you couldn't pry my mac from my cold dead fingers!

But I couldn't get that price on the Mac version. And yes...Mac software AND hardware are usually more expensive. FINALLY its coming more in line with the prices PC people get, but that's a recent development. And as for hardware...yes...Macs STILL cost about twice what a zoomy PC costs. I know the one sitting under my desk cost me 3 grand 3 years ago and that was only for the BOX. But..I do heavy, heavy print work, full length color magazines, high end web design and the like and I work that machine til it smokes...and it NEVER lets me down. You simply cannot beat a Mac for graphic design....and most of the industry is still based on Macs anyway. Try telling a high end printer you want to send him a PC file and he'll probably take it and convert it on his Mac. Try telling him you wanna send him a Word or Publisher file and he'll laugh in your face...lol..:) The PC NOW is just about as usable as a Mac for print work, but it's still 12 times as complicated to get what you need out of it, although with the recent addition of Adobe CS and OX Panther....it's getting more like a PC and I'm starting to get a bit upset about the slowdown its causing in my workflow.

Unfortunately I am not a student...so I have paid and still pay top dollar for my software. Finally hardware is becoming interchangeable as well ram, so my life is getting better all the time.

While I agree with most of what Riddokun says, I can't agree with ths part:

"PC are for cheap people who can afford some spare time to reduce the investment in it, make it work or bypass windows problems so far, or bargain for some pieces of softwares.. MAC are for people who have no time to spare, but money to compensate."

My husband is a PC fiend and he makes that thing fly. It outdoes my Mac on certain things. It wasn't cheap. And it does enough of what I need that I can now work on either one and get what I need to done fairly well in a pinch. Like it or not, we can't be Apple snobs forever.

Do I like it? No...I hate the damn thing and it's clunky, restrictive, overblown interface that tries to think FOR me. I have renamed it the "Blue Meanie". Is he cheap? No...the PC he just dreamed up to replace it is twice as expensive as my MAC. (Is he gonna get it...HELL NO...shhhh...) Could I actually complete what I do on it and make a deadline with it...pfft...not a chance. But that's probably just my prejudice against the PCs and my lower level of comfort with the operating system.

Anyway....rant over...render on people....and check out that sale at Amazon!

Before everybody starts a war over PC vs MAC issue, This is Fry's Electronics. I am an ex-employee of Fry's in Phoenix. I know how the salesmen work and how Fry's, in general, prices stuff. First, the salesmen do not know squat. I have see them say bald-face lies to people. Second, the Fry's Corporate assumes that all MAC items should be more expensive. So they price everything accordingly. I have seen Fry's charge more for a MAC usb scanner as compaired to the exact scanner that is marked for PCs which is considerably less. So, if you want to buy Mac products, do not shop at Fry's Electronics.

If Fry's ever deceided to expand to to this part of the country (michigan) they would be informed VERY quickly that this state don't stand for that kind of consumer rip off

Mmmm...not real pleased with 10 either, but I'm getting used to it. Daz studio for mac was just brought to my attention last night so we'll have a go at that. I'm running a g4 STILL, since I refuse to buy a G5 until I see what Apple screwed up in THIS new release. I always wait at leat a year and a half before buying a new Mac when they first come out. See..the trick with Fry's is....if you have a G4, you don't ask the sales man ANYTHING...you just go buy what you already KNOW goes both ways...like RAM, hardrives, usb stuff, graphics tablets. I always look stuff up online and do my homework first so I don't get ripped off. Actually, mailorder is usally cheaper anyway, especially when shipping is free. As a Mac user, we are used to having to mail order EVERYTHING anyway, except from CompUSA, where they don't know squat either! :)

Another salesman in the same store same day told me not to buy the D-Link USB WiFi dongle I had because it wasn't as strong as the next model above it, and that both versions were Mac compatible. Only the model I picked up first was in fact Mac compatible and I have to go back to Phoenix this week to trade the stronger model back in. That said, they have concentrated a strong focus on the largest selection of hentai DVDs I've ever seen. Will, would you be so kind as to describe the culturally sensitive central display inside? The store policy prohibits cameras (without explanation) so I can't just attach a photo, and I don't feel I could do it justice like someone who had to look at it day in and day out would.