> In the big developer markets, the price of the device isn't a huge factor.

You might suffer from SV syndrome. I live in a small town in the east of France: anything Apple is unaffordable (without major sacrifices and uncertainty to be able to replace the machine if it breaks too soon).

Right now if I had to replace my current computer, I would have about 600€ total budget. And France isn't exactly a third world country (but we're doing our best to get there ;)