Sure! But there's not a laptop Apple has that weighs 4kgs! That's 8 pounds!
The 17" is only .4Kgs heavier than the 15" which is about weight of your average person's meal.
I didn't knew you could eat 3kgs of food per meal.
About the MacBook Pro, I was accounting for the charger's weight (addmittedly, a bit high), since one can not reasonably expect to get a day of work on a single charge, especially not when one requires more power, such as going on Flash-ridden pages, or uses LibreOffice with large spreadsheets.
One thing to consider though in Apple's vs everyone else's case is that Apple directly ties screen sizes to specifications. You can't have a top of the line 13" and a lower end 17" like is the case with other OEMs.
I dunno why Apple does this, not everyone needs the processing power in the 17" MBP but might like the screen, and vice versa, wanting the processing power in the 17", but in a more portable form factor.
Not to mention price tag...
Specs go long with the price tag, that's a fact.
I somewhat agree with you KnightWRX, especially aboutthe smaller sizes. While I have a hard time imagining a valid use for a hypothetical mediocre-spec'd 17 incher (such as Acer does with its 18 inchers), there are plenty of uses for an real 13" powerhouse. Would it technically be possible to cram a 4-core i7 in the 13"? Heating and power draw issues were evoked to justify keeping the slightly older Core 2 Duo instead of upgrading to the i3, like other PC manufacturers.
And why restrain the availability of just a few, well-defined options such as high resolution or glare-free screens, to the larger sizes? While I think Apple's policy of only keeping a small number of options, this one goes a bit too far.
A market Apple has completely overlooked in its quest for the paper-thin laptop, is ruggedness. Don't get me wrong, I'm on my fourteenth Apple and spare no expense to ensure having what is best for the task at hand. This includes owning both size iMacs, iPad and a 13 and 17 inch MBP; some are personal and others were business purchases. And of course, there's the assortment of iPhones too.
But what I wouldn't give for a rubber cornered, heavy duty MB and iPhone Extreme that I could drop into a mud puddle, get caught in a rainstorm while using or take to the beach and not worry if it gets caught in a rising tide - all with built in Wi-Fi...
If Apple wants more profit, look to this area - think of the sales to the military! BUT LEAVE THE 17 ALONE!!
Rugged laptops typically have a very narrow market, due to their bulk and weight, and somewhat limited use, not accounting their usually very high price tags. I worked where Panasonic toughbookks were used, but where they weren't really necessary. I mean, the laptops were commonly transported, laid on tables without much care, but still in a controlled environment. No flood or storms or sand were expected, and no temperature extremes, either. A sturdy laptop with a SSD would have been a perfect match for significantly less money.
Unless you're working in a really harsh environment, chances are any MacBook Pro is sturdy enough to handle being transported from place to place. The hard drive is rubber-mounted (most PCs have rigid-mounted HDD), the case is reasonably flexible while being rigid enough to protect the components, and there's a gap between the parts mounted in the corners and the inner ones to avoid breaking anything in case of a drop.
Some of your concerns are already adressed by third-party manufacturers such as Pelican.