To a degree Apple is a poisoned brand. "Everyone" thinks their products are way more expensive than the alternative. It's a mindset they've had to work to undo.
Even as an Apple fan, I always thought the 8-core Mac Pro was expensive compared to the alternatives, yet the Dell equivalent is about $800 more.
It's quite obvious that the Windows brand is burned; people hate Windows -- and Microsoft know it better than anyone else!
They had a campaign some time ago where they tried to demonstrate that people actually liked Vista, if only they didn't know it was Vista.
Of course, what it really showed was that people are incredibly prejudiced against the Windows brand.