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"In the spring of 2006, for instance, you could have purchased a nice Dell laptop -- the Inspiron E1505, with a 1.66 GHz Core Duo processor, 1 GB of memory, and an 80 GB hard disk -- for $999 directly from Dell. At the time, Apple's roughly comparable entry-level MacBook -- 1.83 GHz Intel Core Duo processor, 512 MB memory, a 60 GB disk -- went for $100 more, $1,099."
I am a Mac owner and enthusiast. No mere Johnny-come-lately am I, no. My first computer in life was an Apple IIGS, and from there I've owned and worked on several Macs, and, yes, several PCs. You have a point, though I'd like to point out a minor flaw the argument as presented above - 1GB of memory is NOT roughly equal to 512MB. And even now, in a time when I won't consider buying a new comp without 2GB of memory, the standard on new MacBooks is HALF THAT. Macs ARE more expensive - because at the end of the day you see a lot of them up for resale at the magical numbers you quote here, but very few of them will sell for that price. Macs magic itself is partly to blame - by building up so much market buzz, mainly by constantly releasing new versions of, or improving on, its products, it gluts the after market with older versions of itself. And Macs are less easily modular than PCs. Off brand PCs that are built to spec can at least be jacked up easily and relatively cheaply over their short life spans - macs require specialist work and parts available, largely, from only one company, for not cheap prices. Ever had to replace the battery on a (now hopelessly outmoded) G4 ibook? It's like 130$!!!
Anyway... I'm rambling. I remain commited to apple becuase it's what I'm used to and because I find them to be more reliable and durable machines - for which I am willing to pay a little more. And I do.
