For me it has nothing to do with appearance - it has to do with feel. My job provides me with an HP Ultrabook. When I type on it, the plastic near the trackpad

For me it has nothing to do with appearance - it has to do with feel. My job provides me with an HP Ultrabook. When I type on it, the plastic near the trackpad creaks. If I bought it retail it's something like $1400. And it creaks. If I'm spending $1400 on a piece of technology I expect to have for 3-5 years, and I'm going to be hauling it between locations (on-call schedule) I really need to feel like "Yeah, this won't get broken if I accidentally put something a little heavy on top of it (e.g. in my bag)". It's partially a performance story, but I rather pay an extra $100-200 for a solid chassis that makes me think the motherboard won't bend when I put pressure from my wrists on it.