Black Friday is two days from now.
There are tons of laptop deals from $300-$500 on up
Plenty of netbook deals too
NewEgg will have a six cell Acer netbook for $230 I believe (tell your friends since Apple has no netbooks)
All the above are perfectly adequate for 85% of computer users and at a half or a third of the price for an Apple laptop.
Minimum price is usually $999 for Apple laptops
On Black Friday the cheapest Apple laptop will be $999 with a pathetic 13.3" screen
Windows laptops will have 15" screens on Black Friday and for $299 on up
You've been punkt! By the Jesse Jobs gang!
I would say that they're buying what they -will- need as their computer needs grow over the lifetime of the computer. I know very few computer owners, WindowsPC or Mac, who complain -- after two years of use -- that their computer is overpowered, or has too many features. Macs retain much more of their value over the years, than PCs; that's well documented. The reason is that (in general) they start out better, and keep going better. Someone who buys a cheap PC may get "what they need today" but in a year, the odds are their needs have increased and the cheap PC no longer meets them. But AT TIME OF INITIAL SALE the cheap PC is a good match for most users' needs, hence the fact that PCs have most of the marketshare.
> All the above [cheap PCs] are perfectly adequate for 85% of computer users...
That's exactly right -- we agree on that. And that figure is PRECISELY why I maintain that Apple will always be a niche player, and that if they reach 25% marketshare they will have to stop being Apple and will just be another clone maker.
Apple has about 5% of the worldwide market. They could increase to about 3x what they are now, and be doing quite well. That's your figure (100%-85%=15%).
Thank you for validating my argument so well.