Apple does a masterful job of marketing. Many other companies in many industries could learn from them. And they have lots and lots of cash (http://www.cnbc.com/id/44203960).

I understand your issues with Dell. Same reason I'll never buy another Ford. But, I have never liked HP and will never buy one (nor anyone else now). But it will take years for the new HP owner to fix what's wrong with their products (http://www.squaretrade.com/htm/pdf/SquareTrade_laptop_reliability_1109.pdf), if ever.

Acer has always been seen by the industry as a lower-end product.

IBM ThinkPads were great products. Solid manufacturing, high quality. But it drove me nuts that they didn't have a Windows key on them. I took another look at them now that they are Lenovo and liked them, but they're too pricey. You'd think the Chinese could build them for less money.

>For a number of years I was a loyal Dell buyer. Then I had two bum Dell machines and am no longer so loyal. The two desktops at home are Dells, still running like champs, but this machine is an HP laptop. I had one Acer which was chintzy and nothing but trouble.
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>The Apple ads were classic, agreed. They painted it as hip vs. square and buyers agreed. Maybe the well will run dry some day but Apple has succeeded in promoting itself as the cool company for three decades now. They break ground again and again and are very effective in letting people know it.