Originally Posted by
Partial
I don't recall this but I'm sure you're correct. It's a common expression. I didn't intend to rip your line.
I think it's a very rationale thing to do, I would do the same, but when applied to Apple, you contradict yourself.
You bought a luxury car. Most people buy luxury goods because they're a sign of quality, the design is better, the car is more comfortable, powerful, or has some features that differeniate itself from the pack. Whatever the reason is, it's because the luxury product ultimately provides some value to the user that the entry level would not have.
The luxury good is often purchased because of the quality and the intention to keep something a long time. Because you intend to keep it a long time, you need something that is made of quality components and materials, maybe using metals where other, cheaper cars use plastic, or providing all-wheel drive where as cheaper cars only have front wheel drive. Maybe the sound system is better. Maybe the engine is more powerful and better designed. Maybe it can sit more people. Who knows. You get where I'm going with this.
What's different about the car from the computer? The computer is expected to last a long time, at least 5 years for most people. Like a luxury car, it's important to have durable, long lasting components such as metal enclosures, glass trackpads and the best in class batteries. Luxury features on a computer are equivalent to luxury features in a car. After all, it's something you constantly for work, yes, so why would you not want something that's a little bit nicer and a cut above the rest? As someone who appreciates the finer things of a Mercedes, I cannot wrap my head around how one can not appreciate the design, build quality, etc put into Apple products.
You get what you pay for with just about everything. Whether it's a Cadillac, a Carolla, or a Cavalier this is true. It's also true whether it's an Inspiron notebook, a MacBook Pro, or an HP business class notebook.
The whole parts thing doesn't make a lot of sense. There are a plethora (in fact, basically the exact same) for any Mac as there are for a typical PC. In a notebook, the upgradeable things are batteries, ram, hard disks, and extensions through usb. The MacBook Air has soldiered on ram and disk due to size constraints, but this situation will exist in Ultrabooks as well. The iMac and the towers are upgradeable as well. The iMac can't upgrade graphics, I will give you that, but I don't think it's a huge deal because they do include latest gen discrete graphics, so it'll be very fast for years to come.
I'm not criticizing, I just think it's interesting. Personally, I think you're afraid to try it for fear you might like it. I would bet my bottom dollar that if you went in with an open mind you'd really enjoy the experience after a week (once you settled in) and would see the value. I'm unbelievably cheap and even *I* see the value.