And that's a point of view with some merit. However, Apple's strategy at the moment (and it's obviously been going this way for a long time) appears to be somew

And that's a point of view with some merit. However, Apple's strategy at the moment (and it's obviously been going this way for a long time) appears to be somewhat predicated on being a fashion brand. And that's OK, but fashions change. They've been doing a pretty good job so far, but let's say they become unfashionable, whilst already having alienated a market sector that values a laptop as a tool first and an accessory second. Owning Apple has become a social signal. The problem is these things lose their power when a large number of people are sending the same signal. Don't get me wrong: I'm not above buying expensive fashion items, but it doesn't change the fact that to me a laptop is primarily a tool. The reason I switched to Apple 6 years ago is because it was a better tool for what I wanted to work with (audio), but I got suckered in by the power, stability and battery life, and found I could run Windows as much as I needed it using Parallels... so most things have moved to OSX. The thing is, 6 years is a long time and that situation is changing. Apple are no longer releasing laptops that have scaled in capability to meet the demands of my workload because of their increasing focus on, well, being a fashion item I suppose. So, anyway, in the next year or two I'll probably be looking for a high-specced Linux laptop to replace my Macbook Pro, which doesn't sound like a heck of a lot of fun to me.