Apple has turned computers into luxury items. They are not simply computers, there is some status and image projection involved.

As a hacker and tinkerer I could never justify the cost of purchasing one of their machines, but I see people around me trying to sell their old Apple machines and phones at absurd prices (I do live in a peripheral economy and Apple stuff is even more expensive here).

So it makes sense for Apple to segment its market like that. It makes sense for their audience too.

When I shop for a car, I find the same issue: most analyses have very little to do with the car's technical attributes and there's a lot of gibberish about design and lifestyle.