[Schroedingersat]

Think of it as assembly, support, well documented public service manuals, the cost of the well integrated operating system, and a good warranty.

Similar to the intel macs and such.

Quality is a little shy of a premium product, but overall not a terrible deal.

[appleiigs]

Especially the “integrated operating system”. Sucks to buy a part off shelf to find out linux driver is not ready.

[Schroedingersat]

For the laptops you also get a level of control over the hardware not available anywhere else (except similar premium open firmware linux laptops)