Just quickly before I begin my own rant: Aluminium does not block wireless reception. Just like plastic doesn't block it, nor cheese, nor lots of sheets of paper stuck together with U-Glu. Why else would the AirPort antenna be in the lid of the MBP?
Anyway, my rant. In the UK, Apple's prices are inexplicably higher than in America and even in Europe. The basic MBP costs £1,299 which is the equivalent of $2,575 US - the MBP in America costs $1,999 US - last time I checked our value-added tax was 17.5% not 26%. So when Apple tells us the difference is because of tax we all know that they're lying through their teeth.
When you start looking round, you realise that you can buy a machine with virtually exactly the same internal parts as an Apple computer for roughly between half and three-quarters of the Apple price (depending on the retailer) plus Windows XP (no way I'm touching Vista) and still be sitting at around £750-900 for a machine with the exact same specs as the £1,299 MacBook Pro.
But still, I buy Apple products because I know that, price aside, I'm going to get a computer that will work for years to come. My Mac Mini is two years old now, and it still runs comparatively better than my old Wintel laptop did two years after its purchase. Hell, I still have a PowerMac 6200 from way back in the early nineties, and it runs as smooth as it ever has.
Later this year, I am getting a MacBook Pro to take with me to university. From what I have seen from the campus and course tours, I will be one of very few people who own a Macintosh computer. But do I give a damn? No. I'll have spent £1,599 on the high-end 15" MacBook Pro, and they'll have spent £800 on a Dell CR4P.
I'll have a vastly superior computer with vastly superior applications that come as standard; mine'll look better, run better, run better design software titles (I'm going for a television degree so Final Cut here I come), and most of all, mine is likely to last the full four years at university.
So buy a PC if you must, and save yourself those dollars. You'll need them. For antivirus software. For tech support. For maintenance. For replacement components. For upgrades. To re-buy hardware that is compatible with Vista. To re-buy hardware again after it turned out not to be compatible neither. To pay for a new computer after you threw the old one on the floor in a temper.
I know the prices are high, and don't get me wrong as a student I feel the burn in my wallet as much as the next lad or lass. But you're paying for a machine that will outlive/outrun/out-perform/out-cool the comparative PC.
