They're definitely 30-50% cheaper, but it shows. The ThinkLight instead of backlit keyboard, smaller single-touch trackpad, heavy 9-cell battery that quickly loses its capacity, mediocre screen, heavier weight.. but it still holds its own compared to other laptops in the same price range.

This is a difficult comment to respond to, because it is not clear whether you are trying to describe a specific ThinkPad model, or trying to justify the fact that some Apple laptops cost more.

For example, I am writing this on a T500, which does have a single-touch trackpad, but it is also 4 years old. Its successor (the T510), as well as the present model (the T520) both have multi-touch touchpads. If you have experience with an older model of ThinkPad and are trying to compare it to the current generation of Apple laptops, I would argue that you do not have enough data to make a comparison.

The last one I used was a T400; I should have mentioned that. I wasn't aware that the newer models have multitouch trackpads - are they nice?

I'm fairly certain any Thinkpad made in the last two or three years has a multi-touch trackpad AND a trackpoint.