True, but a model T will get you place to place
. Better yet, an El Camino could get you from place to place but would you really want to drive one to work? Once people are shown that something is "better" or "faster", they adopt. Why buy an iPhone when a Nokia from 2002 would get the job done? While the Nokia gets the job done, people don't want the basic. They want features, many of which they may never use, just so they can "keep with the times".
I'm still a little worried about your first statement. Pushes to upgrade, as inconvenient as it may be, work wonders in encouraging innovation and decreases in prices. Sure, Vista is not many people's favourite OS, but it has done wonders in driving down costs in hardware and at the time, encouraged better efficiency from computers.
100 year old technology vs. ten year old technology, not a very accurate comparison. But I did just buy a 1999 Suzuki TL1000R for $500. No payments and very cheap insurance is a good incentive. Sure a 2009 Yamaha YZFR1 has drive by wire throttle tech, a cross plane crank, and a ton of other improvements, but for what I do, the '99 Zook will be just as good as the '09 YZFR1 for 24 x's less than the cost of the YZFR1.
But there's this perception (cue Justin Long Apple ads) that PC's have to be upgraded with more ram, faster processors, etc... every year or so or they won't be able to work properly, unlike Macs, which don't.
Of course, unless you're doing something like gaming, where there's always something new to push even the most up to date computers, then it's simply not true.
Just like if you're browsing the net and using work processor software, email, what have you, you could get by with a g3 imac. If you're editing 21mp photos or recording bands with multiple tracks, then you'd probably be pushing it and would need an upgrade.
The downside though, is that Apple computers are not very upgradable over all. Some are, but most aren't beyond HDD's and RAM. That's why I don't mind their notebooks. A standard PC notebook doesn't really have an upgrade path either.
Granted, companies like Dell and HP often have crappy cases with non standard mounting points and such, but you can either build your own or buy from a computer from a company, where when a new processor technology comes out, you just buy a board, a chip, and RAM and save the $1000 on buying a completely new system.
Is it possible to switch out the motherboard in a Mac Pro? If so, is there choices, or do you have to purchase an Apple MB from Apple, for Apple's prices?