Apple only offers a limited set of configuration, and if it meets what your needs are, they are price competitive. However, there're a bunch of morons out there who keep comparing a low end netbook to a macbook pro or macbook air, and claiming it's the same.

It is really hard to take these people seriously...

Don't use it. Very simple, and no angst involved. For those of us who do want to use it, why does it matter to you?

It is amortized over the large number of iPhones and iPads sold. Lets say they have 1,000 people dedicated solely to the ARM cpu/gpu. At $200,000 per person per year. They sell 150 million iPhones + iPads a year (more, but I rounded over for easier calculation).

1,000 * 200,000 / 150,000,000 = $1.33

So, $21.33.

What about GPU scores though? What'll be interesting is to see what a quad core A8X would look like, and how it compares to intel's HD 5000, AMD and NVIDIA's discrete GPUs. Imagine dropping an A8X or an A9X in your new MacBook Pro as the GPU. All of a sudden, you have both x86 and ARM in one box. With Grand Central Dispatch, and some special code, you can even offload CPU intensive tasks to the A*X. Metal API is pretty impressive to a non-coder like me, making it available on the MacBooks would be amazing.

Ha ha ha, good one. Less than 1 million sold this last round, it must have been a deafening clamor.

I wonder how a quad core A8X compares to one of the x86 GPUs. And if not the A8X, then the A9X. One of these days, it will catch up, and since it's Apple's own design, it'll be cheap to drop one in as a GPU. Think about it, you now have an ARM cores in your MacBook Pro, in addition to the x86 cpu, being extremely energy efficient. With Grand Central Dispatch, it might even be possible to push some instructions over (or perhaps specially written code).

Please do not try to inject facts into a haterz rant. It's not as if Apple is better than Android in providing timely updates to all the devices they support. Or force you to wait for your manufacturer to provide the update. Or allow your carriers to screw you over by withholding updates. Oh wait...

No. His father. However, his mom was on the same charity board that IBM's CEO was. "Oh, you do computers? I should introduce you to my son, he does computers too!" and that's how Microsoft got it's start.

It's my fucking SIM, you idiot, the carrier has no right to fuck with *MY* SIM.

Right... Then you should be happy that you can still sell your Mac for some $$ which will cover your next windows laptop.

Whereas many of the Apple fans, old and new, seem to like the way Apple/OS X works over both Linux and Windows.

It's not as if there's no cheap(er) Windows options out there, or more expensive Windows options out there. How come Apple's marketshare is growing YoY, especially in face of declining marketshare among general PC vendors.

And on top of that, the user satisfaction ratings are through the roof (heck, the iPad had a higher approval rating than Samsung's tablet *IN* South Korea last year).

It would appear that their choices are in alignment with their users more than anyone else.

But wait, I thought OP's stance was that Apple uses bog standard parts. Now you're claiming Apple use proprietary parts.

Which is it?!?!

No no, this could turn out to be an HaterGate. Please do not try to bring facts into it! Let people who don't even use OS X come in and rant about the poor choices Apple consistently makes.

So, how many systems do you manage where SELinux is actually in use, and by that, I do not mean enabled with a "allow all".

You are missing a sarcasm tag, hopefully.