VERY GOOD!

You're right, when you buy a Mac you DO get what you've paid for!

Um, the commercial says those Macbooks WERE that price you fu**ing dim-whits. Apple could change their "MSRP" nonsense 5 times a day if they wanted to, that doesn't mean someone cannot publicly what the price WAS at one point.

http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2008/12/apple-says-cust/

This is actually true.

If you look in the phone book you'll notice there aren't any law offices in there, because most law offices do not have telephones.

In fact, in some states it's actually illegal for a lawyer to have a verbal conversation with anyone who is not their client.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/lawyers_arent_allowed_to_have_phones

@nickehlers

"I do have to say though, that your condescending writing style only added to the humor of your ignorant post."
If you look at the top of your post you may be reminded that you already said this once. The fact that you chose to write this twice amuses me.

I also think Jason meant to say he has been an IT professional for 10 years... I just cannot for the life of me figure out why someone would choose "10 year old IT administrator" as a way to convey that message.

Compared to magnesium, aluminum is inferior in almost every way. The Achilles heel of magnesium is its high cost, which if you read the pro-Mac comments on this page is something only poor and stupid people worry about.

Yes, some Macs are made from aluminum. Bravo.
Aluminum is "impossible to crack"? Get real.

Yes, Macs have Apple's proprietary power plug. I agree, it's very cool. Would I buy a computer to get a cool power plug? No. Should anyone buy a computer to get a cool power plug? No.

Did you know that Hyundais have a 10 year warranty? Does that make them better than Ferraris with only 3 years of warranty? No.

Windows is $500? Are you joking?

Hi, this is your subconscious talking: don't you think you should have a single iota of knowledge about what you're going to say before you start typing?

Plastic is a better material than aluminum for some applications. Would you want your toothbrush to be made from ALUMINUM? Probably not. How about some ALUMINUM shoes?

The point is, for the case of a laptop plastic is almost perfect. It's easy to manufacture, it's strong, it's resilient (aluminum bends, plastic retains its shape), and yes - it's cheap. If you don't like the idea of your laptop being "cheap" that's fine.

Computers are like people - it's what's on the inside that counts.

@ Andrew Harwood
As a typical Apple customer you're misinformed and proud of it.

Earth to stupid guy: Best Buy does sell Macs, they have been for a couple YEARS. It's entirely debatable that Best Buy has ALREADY given Macs a boost. Next time you want to pay your tithe to the Church of Apple you might want to go down to Best Buy, you'll probably save a few bucks (or many bucks if you choose to buy a Windows based PC).

Sure, some people will probably go to their graves believing Vista is the worst thing Microsoft has ever released. Personally I've been running it since about a month after it came out and haven't had any serious issues with it what-so-ever. Sure, some things were changed from XP, sure it makes you type your password if you want to install software, but for the most part it is a very good operating system.

overall value, resale value, reliability, gas mileage, and maintenance

Well, I would say overall value and resale value fall squarely under the "price" umbrella. Hondas probably are more reliable, but if you think about it, this is another place where "price" is the main advantage: buy the Honda and you wont have to buy another car for a long time.

I'll concede that maintaining a Honda is probably easier (AKA "better") than a BMW.

Gas mileage is actually debatable. Find a Honda with the same performance (I don't just mean 0-60, I mean handling, braking, slalom, etc.) then let me know if it gets appreciably better gas mileage. My guess is it wont.

I was just talking about the physical car. Nearly every component of a "typical" (whatever that might mean) is probably better than its Honda counterpart. Better headlights, better paint, better glass, better wipers, more advanced electronics (keyless entry, keyless start, automatic driver adjustments, etc. etc. ... hell, the switches for the power windows are probably going to be higher quality), higher performance tires (on lighter wheels), larger (and more advanced) brakes (with everything this brings like shorter stopping distance and better control when braking), nicer carpet, more comfortable seats (with more amenities like motorized adjustments and heating), higher quality materials in the dash and doors, louder stereo with clearer sound and more options (bluetooth, XM, HD radio, navigation, etc.), a quieter cabin (less road noise), more advanced gauges, more interior/safety lighting, a more powerful and better controlled A/C and a better heater (of course with more vents and better climate control), tighter steering, tighter suspension, more powerful engine (with everything this brings like faster acceleration and higher top speed), smoother transmission with more options (on an automatic) and/or better shifter feel... the list goes on and on.
Is a typical BMW worth 3 or 4 times more than a typical Honda? Is a Mac worth 50% more than a PC?

It's funny that people who buy Macs will constantly bitch and moan at the cost and performance hit associated with buying and running anti-malware software.

"Gee, I'd like to save $400 by buying a PC that is more powerful than this $1200 Mac, but then I'd have to buy $15 worth of anti-virus software."

They're called "eBay", "PriceGrabber", and "Google". If you're stupid enough to pay $80 for an anti-malware suite then you are probably better off with a Mac.

"Yeah I know this PC has a 20% faster CPU and has twice as much RAM as the Mac, I'm just worried that the imaginary performance hit from this anti-virus software will be slow it down."

Superior hardware running anti-malware is still faster than inferior hardware.

Quix, I appreciate the point you're making about build quality. As I mentioned before, I'm considering buying a MBP myself (at the moment I plan to only use Windows on it though). I take issue with your analogy though. If PCs are Hyundais Macs are Hondas at best.

Sit a person down in front of a $1600 Mac and a $1600 HP and I think you'll find many people will take the HP. Just like many people will buy the $25000 Hyundai when they could just as easily buy a $25000 Honda. You act like the only reason people don't buy Macs is because they're too poor or too cheap.

If PCs are Top Ramen Macs are Spaghetti-Os.

Acting like Macs are GOLD and PCs are dirt is just silly.