The Specs might not be all that impressive, but the TECH used is, just an example - the Macbook Air, that is a technical marvel yet low in specs etc.

Even though they have a high price, you can't just look at how much memory or HD Space their systems have, you have to look at the quality of that system and the advantages (for 1 the battery lasts more than 1-2hours of use!!!).
You could buy a laptop for half the price with same spec as a Macbook, but that Laptop will begin to fall apart and begin to develop problems within 1-2 years, and that is probably with a Laptop that is 2-3X as fat, as loud, as hot and as heavy as a Macbook.

You pay for what you get and you generally get a much higher quality build from Apple than the cheaper alternatives (in most cases). That goes for MP3/MP4 players etc too.

But there is no product, NOTHING that has as smooth a touch interface as Apple's iPhone and iPod Touch.
Period. There are a lot of wanna-be's, but everyone is still trying to catch up.

despite the fact the hardware specs may be mediocre on apple products, it is sufficient for the productivity apps in the MacOS environment. The apps just work very well and smoothly despite the limited resources [when compared to higher end offerings on competing products from HP, Sony, and Dell]. I'm not sure of a proper analogy, but I suppose it's like you don't need a high-end Core i7 PC to run Doom. A 486 is good enough.

However, if you are editing 1000s of photos in Aperture as a profession, you are obviously not doing that on a Macbook Air or Mac Mini. You are probably doing that on a Mac Pro. And even so, you probably did not purchase that Mac Pro but instead it is probably part of company inventory.

I think what shines the most about Mac products is the engineering they put into designing their products. They are very well crafted. Every product is not perfect. There are always bound to be some defect, but when you compare a Mac product's craftsmanship to an equally specc'd competitor item, the Mac really stands out.

But yea, they have the 'best' marketing if anything, but if consumers keep going back to Apple time-after-time again, they must be doing something right to provide such satisfaction to their customers to make them feel that Apple is tried-and-true like a good bottle of scotch.

"How is that laughable? From my experience with apple computers the hardware is generally pretty mediocre."

Yet Apple is constantly winning awards for their hardware but mainly for it's reliability.

"I haven't used their computers that much, so would you mind elaborating?"

It's difficult to try and explain something to someone who doesn't have that much experience with what we're talking about and basically just a waste of time.

Apple never claimed to be a linux distro and so it's really a non issue. Their approach is totally different from linux. Apple's OS has been around since the beginning and things haven't really changed all that much since that time so what are people complaining about exactly? And there's nothing wrong with what Apple is doing. If you don't like it then don't buy it. Simple as that.

Where's the problem?

I have a Macbook Pro. i chose it over any other laptop I had a choice of. Was it expensive? yup! but you know what? it's fast, reliable, runs cool, the battery lasts me a good 7+ hours, it's sexy and very well made. Their products are expensive but they are not cheap and their build quality is obvious. Oh and the trackpad is utter brilliance, no other laptop trackpad comes close.

@Chris

Its is widely known that Android has the largest share of shovelware. Most everything Apple makes is stellar. How do you think they became the most valuable company in Silicon Valley?

Only people that have never owned a Mac disparage the brand. Once they try it and use it, they will never go back.