Sometimes and to some people. I'm sure you really need that "fast and good" for checking email and posting on sportstwo.
2012FY their profit was $55 billion before tax on $156B of sales. 2011 profit $34B on $108B of sales. 2010 $18B on $65B sales They are insanely profitable and gouging people! The reason their stock price isn't going up anymore is its already worth so damn much! When you are one of the most valued companies on the planet you have to make tens of billions of dollars of profit for the stock to break even. The entire NBA revenue for all teams combined is $5 billion per year. Apple had 30x that revenue with a third of it being profit!
If you read the report in more detail; their computer and laptops are their lowest profit margin. Where they make their money is on iPhones and iPads.
Cool story, bro. 99.5% of people that buy macs use it for email and web surfing. You also don't use it to it's capabilities, but it's fun for you to tell people you use a mac.
A few months back I was looking into buying a cheap laptop for web surfing and word processing. I haven't used a PC in...8 years? I figured I could get something cheap, by a reputable company. Figured $400 should do the trick. But once you add in all the peripheries (Office, Norton, etc) a "cheap" laptop was coming out to be about $600. I'd much rather pay 2x the price and just get an Air or Pro. The stability and ease of use is well worth the additional cost. Plus, I'd be able to do far more (Illustrator, etc) on the Mac than the "cheap" PC. Now, I still haven't purchased a laptop but when I do I'll be getting either the Air or Pro*. I do think they cost too much, but as Denny said - the software really makes all the difference. And since the PC isn't really a bargain either, the choice is pretty simple for me. *Maybe some of your more knowledgeable folks can help me decide between the Air and the Pro. Mostly I'll be using it for web design (including some graphic design). The Air is attractive to me because I commute by bike. But I can actually get the Pro (non-Retina) for less than the Air (not a lot less, so let's just say the price is the same for me). For what I want to do, does the increase computing power of the Pro outweigh (ha!) the weight of the Air? Would the Air be fine and the Pro overkill?
Mags, you don't even know what "streaming" is, I think it's pretty safe to say you aren't a hardcore, software guy that is squeezing full utilization out of his hardware.
