I personally HATE how Macs are built now. But then again, I've been a customer of both theirs and Microsoft for two decades now. Still, if you compare an Apple machine to a DELL/Toshiba, the PCs still have better build quality on the outside. The original iBooks were 100% more durable than the MacBook they have now.
You can easily bend the lid and screen (it was in my laptop bag when it happened), the keyboards they had back then had paint issues (I just finally threw mine away and found a replacement, but it's not for my model, yet still works), and you cannot easily upgrade them yourself without sacrificing the lid and some of the little bits of hardware attached (the lid sides have bent and it won't go back in properly).
And these are not machines that you can have next to you in a cafe or have food nearby. I don't even recommend them to students. Anything you drop on them seeps through, right into the motherboard and hard drive. Heck, even the genius who replaced my SuperDrive got a piece of the lid stuck in it.
They are expensive, but for a good reason. You know what would happen if they sold these machines to everyone? Lots! They are computers that you have to be responsible with. They aren't toys for children like the iPad or iPod can be.
I'm $699 closer to getting another one though. Heh.
And iOS 5 is being delayed because they're still working on getting iCloud ready.