I think that's true for those that look at products as some sort of cultural artifact, but for many of us it was simply easier to replace the current laptop wit

I think that's true for those that look at products as some sort of cultural artifact, but for many of us it was simply easier to replace the current laptop with the new model and know you'd have quality components. The same could not be said for most popular non-apple laptops (HP, Dell, Compaq, etc...). You might buy a Compaq and two years later buy the same model and have completely different (usually terrible) video card, screen, etc...