1) Toshiba laptops have horrible build quality. I bought a toshiba laptop that has the specs to play Crysis on decent settings, but overheats and turns off after 20 mins of L4D2 on lowest, or about 2 hours of WoW on lowest playable settings. Those times are when it is on an elevated stand to allow proper airflow, divide those times by about 5 for a flat wooden surface and divide by 10 for a soft surface like a bed. If you want to buy a cheap laptop, then that is your choice, and it may well be the best thing for you. But you should not compare Apple computers to Acer, Toshiba etc.

2) Buying an Apple computer gets you the Apple OS, which many people consider to be worth hundreds, indeed, I think a few hundred is nothing to pay for something that saves you so much time and hassle.

Just because other people have different personal taste and preferences to you doesn't mean they got ripped off.

1) i know someone whose iphone broke....does it mean all of them will? no.

i love it how every apple fan assumes anything not built by apple will just fall apart. apple products are not immune to defects just like any other hardware. just because your toshiba laptop broke, it doesnt mean mine will.

2) many people consider windows to be worth hundreds, windows saves me a lot of time and hassle too because its easy and when i buy/download stuff it will run on windows by default, i dont need to look specifically at games/software compatability. if you use a GUI to justify spending hundreds more on apple then you did get ripped off.

you got any real reasons why apple is worth the premium?

If people like Apple products then great. I myself don't really care much so while they move into introducing cool new things, I don't necessarily want to always go for their products and would also be interested in seeing what products come out that challenge them. Though in the case of computers, I can build my own tower. 

In a case such as my Cowon D2 mp3 player, it had the same amount of memory as a family member's iPod Nano 3rd gen that was purchased around the same time for about the same price (or maybe my mp3 player was a little cheaper, I don't remember). Versus that iPod, my MP3 player also had an FM radio, microphone and SD card slot. Sure, the user interface is functional enough to work and nothing to write home about, but the extra features for a similar price is what sold me.

1) I never said my computer broke (although if I'm not careful the overheating will lead to it breaking)

2) I never said Apple computers are objectively better for all people. As you already know, last time I bought a computer I decided that I would get a windows based laptop. But the time before I made a similarly rational decision and at that point in time a Mac was a better option for me.

As for the 'hundreds' thing, you have no idea how much mac products cost, you have never been to the apple website store, nor do you pay any attention to mac products in shops. I have had this discussion many times on this board, and the conclusion has been every time that the 'mac tax' is about $30, when ruling out poor build quality brands and making sure that both the main set of specs (processor, ram etc) and peripheral things (webcam, remote control etc) are the same.

And you should not rule out the importance of an operating system. Honestly, being as you have never truly experienced the Mac OS it is impossible to convey just how much time can be saved using it.

@Scottie: I know this is totally off the original topic...but...if you use your laptop a lot and place it on cloth/textile/dusty surfaces--or just have a dusty house with lots of rugs--have you cleaned out your fans/heat sink(s) recently?

That being said, I've got a hand-me-down Fujitsu from my mom's office, and there's a number of issues that I have with it (some of which I share with Macs, such as not easily torn down for cleaning, etc) but just because there are cheap brands that doesn't justify going on the other end of the spectrum as saying macs must be a diety in hardware form. My personal feeling is that sure macs are well done, but they are still way over priced for what they are. And that goes for most all of their products in my mind. Same reason why I can't justify owning multiple consoles and handhelds that all cost so much. I'm a poor student, sure, but at the core I'm frugal and I don't know if that'll change regardless of how much I eventually make. But to each his own, and I've made a few large (excessive) purchases for non-tech items that I really wanted. Still, the media does over-glorify them...

Machina said I can't say what I really think about Mac owners

But I agree with you.

It's quite simple, really.  Apple has made a business that appeals towards a more liberal crowd.  The media, generally speaking, is very liberal.  So you have a business that looks extremely appealing towards the media.  Despite my dislike towards Apple, it really is quite genius, as they get tons of free advertising, and what seems like nobody wanting to discuss their negatives.

They're trendy, that's it really.

Even though my brother-in-law knows nothing about computers and couldn't tell you the difference between a Mac and a PC, he get a Macbook for his birthday.  When I asked him why he wanted a Macbook, he said I don't know, people said they're cool.

That's probably you're answer for 90% of the people that buy Macs, Macbooks, iPhone's, or whatever else.  It's not because they know they're better or there's some particular feature they want, it's just that they're cool.

Ten years ago Macs were very much better at some things than PCs, today, not-so-much.  They're just incredibly overpriced and really have no advantage over the PC anymore. 

But hey, at least you'll look awesome sitting in the local bookstore cafe typing your screenplay.

because they won teh wars!

I know there are plenty of broken iPhones. In just about every case they were either dropped or sat on. Poor comparison.

As for Toshiba, look at the consumer approval ratings or Consumer Reports for reliability. Those have nothing to do with isolated experiences but the overall averages and a battery of objective tests that provide the probability of individual unit performance. One Golden Sample does not equate to all products by said manufacturer being similar.

As for Apple, anyone who buys an Apple product can take it to the local Apple Store if they live in a major metro area with any hardware (or even software) problems and have a live technician take a look at it (the stores are extremely customer friendly as they want to keep their customers) as opposed to calling a service number and waiting on the phone to speak to someone who may well located in India to try and talk you through the troubleshooting process, typically for a fee. 

And it's indisputable that they have fewer problems (look at the Consumer Reports) and fewer compatibility issues for the simple reason that Apple designs both their OS and their hardware. In the last 10 years of using Macs, I can't recall a single driver compatibility issue due to the tight integration of hardware and software.

There are plenty of other reasons, the least of which may well be some people just prefer them, which is a perfectly legitimate reason.

I use both. I build my own PCs and workstations, but for every day use I still prefer Macs.