As far as major name-brand components go, sure, Apple usually has the same stuff as Windows PCs.

However, Apple still has higher quality hardware. They use their own in-house logic board designs, hold their manufacturers up to very high standards, and buy higher quality electronic components. The result is a computer that runs more stably and lasts longer than most Windows OEMs sell, and vastly better than anything someone could build with off-the-shelf commodity parts. That, mind you, is on top of top-notch industrial design that few companies even begin to approach, much less match.

Furthermore, the MacBook Air uses a range of specialty parts that come at a premium (such as an off-roadmap Core 2 Duo CPU designed for a smaller footprint), and the engineering that went into making it so thin and yet strong is nothing to sneeze at. If you look at other notebooks that attempt the same thing with similar parts, such as the Voodoo Envy 133, you’ll find similar prices as well. Given the market Apple was aiming for – that is, business users who want a very light computer without sacrificing screen real estate and keyboard size the way notebooks do – the MacBook Air’s price is actually rather reasonable.