Apple Store Problems

I was just looking at Macbooks at the online Apple Store. I'm going to need a new notebook at some point in the semi-near future. I currently have a Toshiba P25-S507. It's been a great machine over the last few years. I haven't had a single problem with it other than a dead hard drive but all of those die at some point (and mine died after years of heavy usage). I got the Toshiba because of its (rare at the time of purchase) 17" screen. I loved the screen real estate for graphics work and CAD work - I hated it for its bulk and weight. I love the size of the Macbooks and I like that I can run Windows on them alongside of OS X as there are some applications that I use that aren't available for Mac. I like most things Apple in general. I will admit to drooling over some of their products, but I'm not a fanboy - I actually don't own a single Apple product (yet), which brings me to my problems with the Apple Store.

Two Problems

1. Apple vs Amazon - I don't understand why anyone other than students would buy from the Apple store. Students get a $100 discount and a free iPod. This is a good deal. Non-students get a $0 discount and no free iPod. This is a bad deal when you consider you can get the exact same Apple Care eligible notebook from Amazon with a $75 discount, no tax, and free shipping. A savings of roughly $200 compared to the Apple Store.
2. The Apple "RAM Tax" - The Macbook memory options/prices are a joke. The default memory configuration on all of the Macbooks is "1GB - 2x512MB." You can upgrade this to "2GB - 2x1GB" if you wish for the hefty price of $135, however there is no option to upgrade to 1GB - 1x1GB. The average prices of the same memory configurations on Newegg.com, taken today, are $87.28 for 2GB - 2x1GB, and $49.99 for 1GB - 2x 512MB (the average cost of 1GB - 1x1GB was actually less at $45.15). I would like to think that Apple can get memory cheaper than the rest of us since they buy it by the million. Assuming they can't and based on Newegg's pricing, Apple values their 2GB Macbook memory configuration at $184.99 (2GB upgrade price + avg 2x512MB price from Newegg since this configuration is included in the Macbook's price). That's almost $100 more than Newegg. So in order to get a 2GB configuration, you are either forced to pay Apple's $100 "RAM tax" or pay for a lower configuration, discard it, and upgrade it on your own. Why is there no 1x1GB configuration!!??

If you want 3GB of memory (the Macbook's max configuration), you're also out of luck as Apple's memory scam scheme doesn't offer any consumer-friendly options. If and when I get a Macbook (from Amazon), I'll have two sticks of 667 DDR2 SDRAM if anyone needs them.

Mini Redesign: Gmail UI

I made a couple of small improvements to the Gmail UI. There are a couple of little things that have always bothered me.

Existing Interface: click image to enlarge

The Problems:

• The "Web" button on the top of the page basically does the exact same thing as the "Search the Web" button and they are a few pixels apart. One of them has to go.
• I have never used the "Search the Web" button from inside Gmail. I find it useless. Therefore, it's history. If I need to search for something I can hit the "Web" button at the top, which is actually correctly located in the interface since it's among a list of Google's services across the top of the page and search is....Wait, what's Google's biggest service?
  
• Contacts is a much more pertinent search item than web in an email program especially if you use your email program as your main list of contacts. The "Search Contacts" feature is buried in the "Contacts" page of Gmail when it should be on the main page.
  
• The "Contacts" link is not prominent enough. It looks like part of the mail list. Most new users have a hard time finding it quickly.
  

Redesigned Interface: click image to enlarge

The Solution:

• The "Search the Web" button becomes "Search Contacts." I've explained why in the list of problems above.
  
• The services across the top of the page each get their own icon and an "Edit this list" button. Google has an extensive list of valuable services and products (that work well with each other) that most people don't use or just don't know about. I know Google likes to keep a clean, mostly text interface but come on, a little branding and a couple graphics couldn't hurt, right? And we can keep our "Web" button in that list if we want to.
  
• The "Contacts" link becomes your "Contacts List." I would call it Address Book but that's a little dated. The link also becomes a little more prominent and gets its own icon to differentiate it from the mail list above it. On a side note, I think Google should make the contacts list a separate product that is integrated into Gmail and other Google services.
  

Any comments or other suggestions to improve the Gmail UI?