FWIW I've had a (2006) macbook 1,1 since it came out (cost ~$1200 w/o applecare). In the same time, I bought an HP (consumer targeted, ~$800), resold it out of frustration with the trackpad and got a Dell Precision M4500 (refurb _and_ $20% off coupon brought it down to ~$900 w/ 3 year service contract). The Dell was awesome with a mouse, but the trackpad was still basically useless, and the intellipoint wasn't nearly as comfortable as the macbook's trackpad, so here I am, back on the macbook for the foreseeable future.
All that to say the trackpad, keyboard, keyboard controls for display brightness, and (my experience, obviously not common) battery longevity do seem to be worth the money. There's a ton of weird little pieces that apple really gets right that don't show up on the spec sheets.
All that to say the trackpad, keyboard, keyboard controls for display brightness, and (my experience, obviously not common) battery longevity do seem to be worth the money. There's a ton of weird little pieces that apple really gets right that don't show up on the spec sheets.