People buy Apple because of the brand name.You can take any crap around and put an Apple logo and tell some people that is the new Apple whatever and they buy it with blind eyes.I've been on the train with my tablet and people have told their kids when they asked, that's an Ipad.They just think everything is Apple. Apple consumers are so blind they don't look around to see what's new or better. And yes there still people around that buy Apple products because they think is a sign of status and they brag about it. Remember the main post is about kids and kids like to brag. Even adults like to brag. I fix computers on the side and I don't deal with Apple computers and when people ask why and tell me Apple is the best I just tell them to go to the Apple store to get support where they bought the product.Since they are the best they could fix it better($$$$$$$).
Some people probably do. You will find people who are brand loyal to a fault with any product. Apple makes good products. You don't earn brand loyalty like that by building crap. Does Apple have clever trendy marketing? Absolutely. But to dismiss EVERYONE who buys an Apple product as an ignorant victim of marketing who could have bought a $389 Dell that's "just as good" is asinine. Apple's stuff is expensive and its not always best in class in terms of specs alone, that's why I don't buy Apple everything myself. But you do get more than an Apple logo when you buy their products. Some people, myself included, prefer Mac OS X to Windows. Others like the hardware. There are plenty of legitimate reasons to buy Apple's stuff. Another is being able to go to an Apple store and get top notch service instead of going to Geek Squad to get ripped off or to some random freelance guy like you with unverifiable credentials and no accountability.
Maybe we should try not to get so upset about the purchase decisions other people make or make assumptions about them.
I own an Apple MacBook Air, a Lenovo Think pad, an Asus Android tablet and a Nokia Windows phone. I chose them all for different reasons and I don't think I'm better than anyone else because of any of them and I don't know anyone else who feels that way about their electronics either.
The bottom line is hating a brand and labeling all the people who use it as smug trendwhores makes you just as much of an ass as the people you're complaining about. The truth is most people, Apple consumers included, just buy what they like and don't give it much thought beyond that.
Most Apple customers are normal people, not elitist hipsters, just like most PC customers are normal people, not socially maladjusted nerds like the swingline stapler guy in Office Space.
Let it go. High school is over.