"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..."
