When I buy my next computer, I plan on paying for much more memory than the "market minimum" (in other words, the amount of memory that comes standard in affordable computers but still seems better than my older computer). . .mainly so my computer doesn't become way too slow in four or five years, let alone possibly obsolete.
Good idea, The_Lex-- as an IT Bozo, I'm qualified to advise you and everyone that most PCs are sold with half the RAM they need to run at an acceptable speed, and, 99% of the time, buying memory at the time of purchase is the best bang-for-buck upgrade possible unless you have specific needs.
That Apple survey leaves out the business market, where Apples are relegated to Graphic Design departments and the occasional top brass. Also, it can't include people who build their own machines.
There's also the fact that there's no competition in the Apple side of things that might lower prices, and we all know that Apple always has a premium price for directly comparable hardware, assembled or not. In a fashion, this survey says "Computers are cheap, and Apples are expensive boutique computers!"
Further interesting that laptops are included, because only in the last couple of years have you been able to get really great (i.e. worth buying for general use) laptops under $1000, while Apple's really great laptops are over $1000. If you'd drawn the line $150 either way, you'd have a different-looking statistic.
I had the same thought as Vime's Boots, but about Bras. When I was younger I had high quality (and stylish) bras that lasted years. I don't remeber them being expensive. Now, I have to spend at least $25 to get something that won't fall apart right away and it's very granny looking, nothing stylish. Or, I could spend $10 on a plethora of stying' bras that are guarennteed to last 3 months. There is alos a time factor I lose in shopping again and again for bras. Trying them on is time consuming and neccessary. I notice rich people have more time because other people clean for them, do paperwork for them(accountants, lawyers), garden for them, carwash, and even cook for them.
I have an anecdote about a cheap thing lasting. I had a cheap clock radio I won in middle school for selling candy. The numbers on the raido dial were backward, low numbers on right side, high numbers on left. It lasted until I moved to L.A., almost twenty years. The new clock radio I bought is already having trouble telling if I'm holding down the hour button for Alarm setting or Time setting. sigh.
I read a blog entry which I will attempt to link to this comment and still get by the spam filter, but it's a libertarian-leaning Chicago-school economist discussing the one of Barbara Ehrenreich's observations from her book "Nickled and Dimed," and it has to do with how you sometimes need to make a major purchase in order to save money down the road, and what our tax system offers to that end.
http://meganmcardle.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/02/vox_baby_nickel_and_dimed_at_d.php