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Let's look a bit further. Manjoo's whimsical argument has been put to rest by astute commenters here. Why did he have to make it in the first place?
Because the Mac had inferior specs and cost more. This is not an accident --- it's the business model. Here's the essence of high-end niche marketing: figure out how to make things expensive, proprietary, and identifiable. Daring additional fillip: emphasize ostentation by making them conspicuously flawed as well.
The underlying puzzle, for me, is that this stance, which has been Apple's all along, is tied to a sense of righteous populist rebellion.
