For a consumer like me, who has no desire to have all the latest products, Apple has one major fault.  They stop supporting their previous systems very quickly.  So, you might buy a £1000 laptop, thinking it will last you yonks.  And it would, in terms of the build quality, but, sadly, Apple will make sure it is effectively redundant very quickly.

To get maximum life, wait for the next issue of anything (pod, pad, whatever) and get it early.