They're pretty much at the peak of price. I'm interested in a non-Apple product as well, mainly because of high prices and the mess my MBP 2007 logic board ended up being, as well as the high priced accessories (power cord that frayed and they woudn't give me a new one for free, bloated battery, every other LCD backlight going out giving the spotlight effect). I've had issues with other Apple products, and although I've loved using them, my experience getting any support from Apple has never yielded positive results (because I'm not paying for Apple care?). They replaced my first gen nano that merely had a malfunctioned hold button with an eighth generation that died in less than a year (started not turning on and heating up when I plugged it in), which I accidentally dropped before I could attempt to complain to Apple about it. There's more...but I digress...

I love using their products, but I always get this feeling that they have a lot of planned obsolescence built into them. That or they are just so cutting edge that they push the boundaries of hardware failing. Not sure, but I've spent hundreds of hours trying to debug hardware issues with their devices and there is also a lot of fud on the internet making it more difficult to do that. They never respond to any of these issues on their forums, you always just have to wait until it becomes widespread enough that they will make a service announcement.

I know that these sort of problems are not exclusive to Apple and lots of other companies have issues, I just have not been happy with the way Apple deals with them. That MacBook Pro is the only laptop I have ever owned (besides this Chromebook I'm typing on now) and I am very interested in hardware alternatives. I actually love running Mac OS, but to get away from their expensive hardware that I seem to have horrible luck with and their horrible customer support would be worth dealing without it for me. I admit, though, that I brought a lot of pain onto myself by trying to solve problems rather than just letting Apple deal with it. That's why I'm starting to get the feeling that Apple isn't for a computer hardware geek like me. I want something that is designed to last, that has survived the most brutal quality tests, and that I can maintain myself by replacing the parts. I also admit that I am still tempted to stick with the Mac OS world and get another MBP... I just want more options!!