[dlevine]

I wouldn't say that Apple is the only one in the >$1000 market. However, they are the only one who is successful in that market. My last two laptops have been Macs (iBook and then Macbook). I didn't see them as high-end machines, although at $1300 each, they would have been "premium" by other standards.

The only other company whose laptops people rave about is Sony. I personally don't think that you should have to pay $2000 for a subnotebook, but if you intend to do that, Sony makes a very nice product.

Everyone else would love to get into this market, but can't. Dell, HP, Asus - they've all tried, but Apple's "low-end" products are better than their "high-end products."

Sure, I'm sure that Apple would like to get into the lower-end market, but they won't compromise quality to do that. The mac mini is the only low-end product they make, and it is also the only mac that doesn't have a convincing value proposition (funny how that works).