[dennisw]

What you malign as cheesy is good enuff for most people

That's the kicker. Apple simply doesn't sell in the "good enough" market.

80% of computer buyers will be happy with a good enuff computer. Apple cannot survive by getting a proportion of the remaining 20%. So this is where Apple's evil coercion, peer pressure and propagandizing come into play. Where buyers are bamboozled into buying too much computer and paying Apple hundreds more for it

Buying too much computer means buying one with expensive bells and whistles and more powerful than what you need and paying hundreds more for this.

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

That's the kicker. Apple simply doesn't sell in the "good enough" market.

80% of computer buyers will be happy with a good enuff computer. Apple cannot survive by getting a proportion of the remaining 20%.

The reality, so we're told, is that - by dollar volume - AAPL sells most of the PC's in the country.

[Mr. Blonde]

Where does Apple bamboozle people? I have had Apple employees try to talk me into a Macbook over a Macbook Pro before. I don’t think that is true at any level.

I would like to hear examples of evil coercion and peer pressure (from a corporation especially) as well. To act like Apple advertising their computers as superior is bad is just silly.

[antiRepublicrat]

Apple cannot survive by getting a proportion of the remaining 20%.

On the contrary, Apple seems to be surviving quite well, better than other OEMs. Apple has 91% of the $1,000+ market, and has a higher profit margin per unit than other OEMs.

Buying too much computer means buying one with expensive bells and whistles and more powerful than what you need and paying hundreds more for this.

Quite simply, with Apple you pay for superior design, construction, integration and support. Other than that, how many bells and whistles, and how much power, a consumer "needs" is up to that consumer. That's his value judgment, not yours or mine. It is that value judgment that will determine whether the higher price of an Apple computer, or any other premium computer, is a good deal for him.

I of course always have my caveat. For any Apple system with user-upgradable memory or hard drives, always order the base amount from Apple and add more from Newegg.