Apple and HP are a different beast. HP tablet was pretty late to the market having released just weeks ago when iPad had more than a year to build the customer base. (tablet has been around for some 20 years but it was virtually nonexistent before iPad)
PC has razor thin profit margin with lots of companies out there and lots of local custom PC stores. If you build it as cheaply as possible, you risk high return due to faulty component that aren't detected during QC (if there is still a QC dept). If they used quality parts for longer PC life, they'd either have to charge more & risk losing sale to other companies, or selling them at a loss.
I still wonder what will happen to Compaq, will HP also end Compaq PC lines?
