Do you really expect someone who uses a laptop for e-mail, surfing, youtube, light Office to plunk down $1799 for a 15” Apple laptop? I have just described 80%-90% of computer buyers.
This is insane for them to buy Apple in this case
Do you even bother to read the posts you're replying to? It's a strawman argument, because top-end machines are, by definition, not pitched to the mass market. A high end noteboomk like a MacBook Pro (note the "Pro" in there?) or Dell XPS is there for power users who need powerful machines.
If I were in the market for a laptop, I wouldn't get the MacBook Pro, because it'd be overkill for my portable needs. But the MacBook Air would certainly be on my list, and those start at a much more modest price ($999) with significantly better weight and battery life -- two extremely important features in a "travel" computer -- than other makes in its category.
That that 80-90% of users who just want to use email and a web surfing, they may want to consider a tablet over a low-end notebook. They're generally better made and more portable, for about the same price, depending on make or model. The big difference is generally lower internal storage and in most cases, lack of a physical keyboard. It's a matter of tradeoffs.