Richard Stacpoole (rstacpoole@iinet.net.au) on 9/19/09 wrote:
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>Well, because it is expensive I take good car of it ;)

Lest I seem too negative about Apple, let me say that I
think they do a terrific job with MacOS and other software,
and that goes some way to justify their price premium.

On the mechanical design issues, I think it's instructive
to see what you get in a $100 drill press from Home Depot:
a sizeable induction motor, about 40lb of cast iron and
steel, much of it machined to precision of 2mil or
better. And all shipped across the Pacific and sold
after retail markup for under $100. You get a *lot* of
mechanical engineering for $100.

Probably what's different about the mechanical engineering
of high-end laptops is that it gets redesigned every
couple of years, whereas the drill press of 2009 is
pretty much the same as the drill press of 1970. But
steel and aluminum and machining just aren't that
expensive, in sufficient volume.