It absolutely IS a crappy deal, but it's the only deal you're going to get unless you're willing to consider an alternative product.

You can always stick the cheap ram in your clunky Dell laptop.

  > your *clunky* Dell laptop

Careful, there. Your bias is showing.

I use a Dell laptop every day. I really enjoy it. Competent and well-built machine. Good value, all that.

If I put it next to my wife's MacBook Pro, well, the only word for it is "clunky". Put a reasonably handsome man next to George Clooney and he'll look clunky, too.

The idea that your choice is between a "clunky Dell" and an "elegant Apple" (a false dichotomy) shows an Apple bias to me. Sort of like the way that Free Software advocates have spent a decade or so referring to Microsoft as M$ (or Windows as WinBlows).

OK. You win. If loving Apple is wrong, I don't want to be right.

Some things can be judged to be better than other things.

Though 'clunky' may be an accurately descriptive adjective, I've heard/read the phrase "clunky [Dell | PC]" often enough that it seems to be a meme, similar to the usage of the term "beige box" to refer to PCs on Apple forums starting around the advent of colorful iMacs / clamshell iBooks (and falling off in recent years).

I just got a new Asus 13" laptop and personally find it to kick the crap out of a MacBook aesthetically, even when viewed side-by-side. :-)

Of course, they have also made it somewhat shamelessly MacBook like in certain respects: large touchpad, calculator-style keyboard...

Same here those Asus are way nicer imo.

If Dell comes up with something as refined as the MacBook Air in the next few years, I'll be truly surprised.

HP has been working towards making better products through better design. Sony keeps working on creating these crazy, over-styled products, but they are different. Dell seems to be cranking out the same basic thing.

Those aren't the only companies making Windows-based PCs. I use a Toshiba laptop.

They're the only companies actually working to engineer a better PC laptop. The rest are just making lazy imitations. Clunky, plastic, full of removable parts that tend to be loose, basically exactly what you get when you make incremental improvements to a 1990-vintage design.

Really, then don't buy it and opt for a machine you can upgrade. I agree, having the freedom to upgrade is nice, if you feel you'll need to. And doing it on your own, and saving money is nice. From a warranty and support perspective - not letting people tinker with it makes it a LOT easier.

True, but it makes repairs quite a bit more expensive. I have to believe it costs Apple more money to swap out an entire logic board. I know it costs the consumer more when they get slapped with bill.