Are Apple's machines really more expensive than they used to be?

[JoeH]

No, I would call it nVidia's fault. Their GPU's have not functioned as well in the dual-GPU role needed on the high end MacBook Pro models. The only fault I would ascribe to Apple is their failure to keep some of their models like the Mac Pro up to date. nVidia has failed to keep their chips attractive to Apple for some time, that failure flows downhill on them.