I'm stuck in this dilema too. This is one of the very techniques under which the entire Apple Empire has been built. They take the "sweet spot" for $product an

I'm stuck in this dilema too. This is one of the very techniques under which the entire Apple Empire has been built. They take the "sweet spot" for $product and intentionally offer options on either side of that sweet spot. They also nerf the lower-end option in other ways (i.e. fewer ports) so to make the upgrade more enticing. This enables them to offer "Prices starting from...." that are dead-end options (like 8GB RAM or 128GB HD's). Lots of companies do this across various industries. But it works best when the brand name is really strong and/or the competitive landscape is very weak. I've grown to accept that it's just how they operate.