Not quite true anymore. If you compare like for like - the Apple computers are very competitive with anyone. Compare a specific Mac Book Air, then compare an industrial case (not a cheap plastic case) with identical specs from Dell, HP, Leveno or anyone else - you will find that Apple is usually cheaper.
Compare the 9.7 inch tablets made for Android and price-compare them against the iPads - again, like-for-like. You will find that the other tablets are about the same price (or more expensive) than the iPad. In the case of Blackberry, they had to knock their price from $699 down to $149 to sell their inventory - they were MORE expensive than the similiar equipped iPad.
The age of the "Mac Tax" is gone.
Only problem is only 10% of laptop buyers need the very high specs you like.
90% of laptop buyers will be happy with a 15" $350--$400 HP laptop that has 4gb memory.....They don't need to spend $1700 on Apples least expensive 15" laptop
$399 at Best Buy this week HP Pavilion g7-1338dx laptop