These days, who can afford a Mac?

This ad is currently running in the States. They took a (tele)visually pleasing member of the public, Lauren, who was in the market for a laptop with "speed, a comfortable keyboard and a 17-inch screen". Microsoft said, "You find it and you can keep it". How generous of them. We then follow her as she shops for her dream laptop.
Her first port of call is an Apple Store (isn't it everyone's?) the ad brutally cuts straight to her walking out crestfallen. "They only have one computer available and that has a 13" screen...I would have to double my budget, which isn't feasible...". Then, in her car, she depressingly announces that she's "...just not cool enough to be a Mac person".
This is the sad truth for most people; they can't afford a Mac. Anyone in Lauren's position has a choice of thousands of notebooks and netbooks that look as cool as a Mac but are hundreds of pounds cheaper. My old 12" PowerBook G4 that my wife uses is now so unbearable to us, she wants a new one. For a start, Apple have no modern alternative to it and the cheapest MacBook is £720 but that's made of plastic - one drop and it's done for. There are some 1st generation MacBook Airs going for £900 at Micro Anvika but that seems a little excessive. Why should I pay more for a stronger laptop when I can spend £329 on a Dell Mini 10? OK, I'd be spending a good fortnight of evenings getting the damn thing to stop asking if I'm sure I want to run or install an application; I'll have a few dozen apps to un-install too; I'll have to fork out for McAfee Virus Barrier; I'll also have to peel off all of the Vista and Intel stickers; but on the plus side, it'll be much quicker to surf the wifi; it has a webcam, so I'll be able to video chat when we're apart; and I wont be too bothered if she drops it - I can buy three of them for the price of an alu MacBook. Yes I know my Mother-in-Law had endless trouble with her Dell Desktop but it runs fine now I've stuffed in a few more gigs of RAM. I can even buy one that runs on the Linux-based Ubuntu without the bloatware.
The truth is, in Lauren's words, we're "not cool enough" to own a new MacBook.
Back to the ad...Lauren chooses an HP Pavilion and Microsoft paid the $699.99 (but that was instead of her acting fees. She wouldn't know about that, she's not an actor). Lauren isn't cool enough to be a Mac person, but she looks like she's just walked out of a GAP ad - she wears dark nail varnish, has cool hair (for a 'ginger'), has definitely been to Specsavers, drives a Volkwagen and now owns a cool Windows PC. Honestly, who's going to think less of her if it's not an Apple?