I have a recent Macbook pro sitting in front of me. Granted, you could match it feature-for-feature and probably save a bit of money (not as much as you think,

I have a recent Macbook pro sitting in front of me. Granted, you could match it feature-for-feature and probably save a bit of money (not as much as you think, though), but, there's one feature you wouldn't get with any alternative: build quality I am typing this on a recent $2,200 Macbook Pro equipped with a econo-Sony-style el-cheapo keyboard and 6-bit low-contrast (and, therefore, glossy) TN display capable of only 256K native colors, the same junk Dell puts in their $599 laptops. My wife's white macbook is falling apart, literally - little pieces of plastic just chipping off its shell, I think it was by far the worst laptop we ever owned. My previous MBP used to overheat when pushed to full CPU/GPU speed (just like any other MBP). As far as hardware is concerned, Macs aren't "premium" - they're quite cheaply built yet beautifully styled objects overpriced beyond funny. Go for Thinkpads and HP EliteBooks, the latest Dell Precisions/Latitudes are pretty well built too. HP, for instance, is the only laptop manufacturer in the world who still offers 24-bit LCDs as an option, i.e. you can actually use their laptops to look a a photo without connecting an external display. All these machines require Linux, of course, to be HN-approved :-)