"One of the true wonders of our age is the ability lots of otherwise reasonable people have to tell you with every evidence of believing it themselves that PCs cost a few hundred bucks and last for years--and then go off to spend well over a thousand replacing last year's product.
"That's not, mind you, the only reality defying miracle in sight: the realities of both mass production and retail distribution mean that fully assembled products always retail for less than the sum of their parts--except among Wintel enthusiasts..."
