I think the crux of the matter is that Apple uses Intel design reference standards, like everyone else. However, whereas most Intel boards are still using some version of BIOS, Apple is using EFI. Many of the motherboards out now support EFI - however it doesn’t appear to have gathered much traction. Add to this the non NTFS format that Apple uses, and you have difficulties.
However, while Gigabyte appears to work seamlessly in booting OSX of various flavors; you can find guides to support practically any Intel/AMD motherboard out there.
Once you get it booted - they are pretty robust builds. The trouble, of course, is working around the various Unix subtlies that 95% of the techie population isn’t familiar with. I’ve done it, it wasn’t easy- in fact it was painful - but I’ve done it with a Core 2 Quad on an nVidia chipset board made by Asus.
All in all, we are pretty much in agreement. Apple has opted NOT to compete directly with MSFT, and thus make the “intentional” hiccup when it comes to booting the random Intel/AMD board. But, this approach seems to be working for them pretty well. Not too bad for a company that was started in a garage with just a few geeks and a lot of hope, sweat and dreams.
My biggest gripe with Apple is price point. I understand you’re buying a stable product with fewer inherent headaches, but I will never be able to justify spending the money they want for an Apple device when I could spend comparably on a custom PC with much more impressive specs and liquid cooling.
For the record, I LOVE EFI and have fully embraced it, but I don’t see it replacing BIOS quite yet. They have some bugs to work out.