Here's what I think.....
I think that while some of the people who complain about not having a dedicated graphics card have a need for one, the large majority of people who complain about not having a dedicated GPU would only see the benefit of having one on some rare occasions. For these people, if I placed the innards of a MB into a MBP casing and gave it to you and several others, I'm under the impression that most of you would never notice a lag in performance for what you do.
Start up a new, graphics heavy game though, and that's one of several areas where you will notice the effect of not having a graphics card. Same with anything involving 3D graphics.
If you need a laptop with a graphics card, it's not like you don't have an option. Get a MBP. If price is an issue, then save up, because nothing is free. Same can be said for car performance, TV performance, stereo performance --- you pay more to get something that's hopefully better. The entire, "I want the performance of a MacBook Pro in the cheaper MacBook!!" is getting tiring, especially when the reason the GPU isn't in a MB is simple economics.
The only people who get to complain are people who want a laptop the size of the 13.3" MB, but the power of a MBP. That's a complaint about size, so I guess that's ok.