When I bought my 15" mackBook Pro nearly 3 years ago I think I paid about $2200 with tax. At the time similarly equipped non-mac machines were nearly as pricey.
I've upgraded the memory and the hard-drive through a mac dealer and I provided them with the parts which I bought at memory express and had them do it all for like $100.
I run Photoshop, Flash, Illustrator and sometimes 3d Studio Max in Bootcamp and this machine still performs today and I can't see myself needing to upgrade anytime soon.
I still don't think people are considering quality of construction when shopping for these things. I took this machine to and from work for 2 years and it still looks, opens and types as if it were new.
I think the gamer argument is a touch silly as most hardcore gamers will be running a desktop rig which they have pimped to the 9s and not a laptop. I'm not a pc gamer anymore but I'd never have run a laptop period for my gaming.
One thing I will say though when it comes to TOTAL cost...you want the Apple Care warranty. Apple has plenty of its own issues (I have escaped all of them luckily) and this is worth it but a bit pricey. After factoring everything in just keep in mind that nearly everyone that's bought one of these machines will or has bought another. I will in a year or so =)
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