$550 is an awful lot of money. Mind you, street price is less, but it's still an expensive suite. How much is too much is an opinion I'll leave for you to decide for yourself
However, it's not quite accurate to claim that x86 buyers get the MS software for "almost nothing." It's frequently noted that you can build your own machine for considerably less than you can get a Dell for. While Dell does charge a premium, their margins aren't that high. Most of the difference between DIY and Dell is the software licenses. Play with different configurations on Dell's site, do some reading between the lines, and you'll see that Windows and Office account for at least a couple of hundred dollars of the price. Specify the upgrade to the full office, and you're talking an additional $199 IIRC.
To be fair, we must also note that Apple doesn't exactly charge itself for each unit of its OS, so there's some bundling going on there too.
The fact that a Dell with Office prices favorably to a similarly-configured (yes, apples and organges, but there's no better comparison in this case) Mac without Office tells me there's more to it than MS getting its cut.
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However, it's not quite accurate to claim that x86 buyers get the MS software for "almost nothing." It's frequently noted that you can build your own machine for considerably less than you can get a Dell for. While Dell does charge a premium, their margins aren't that high. Most of the difference between DIY and Dell is the software licenses. Play with different configurations on Dell's site, do some reading between the lines, and you'll see that Windows and Office account for at least a couple of hundred dollars of the price. Specify the upgrade to the full office, and you're talking an additional $199 IIRC.
To be fair, we must also note that Apple doesn't exactly charge itself for each unit of its OS, so there's some bundling going on there too.
The fact that a Dell with Office prices favorably to a similarly-configured (yes, apples and organges, but there's no better comparison in this case) Mac without Office tells me there's more to it than MS getting its cut.