They have come down significantly in pricing. The iMac you are getting for $1700 is really good. Not the most expandable but it comes with it's own screen and up to 2 gigs of ram.
The low end iBook starts at $1000 and for $2000 you can get a very nice G5.
I agree that Apple has been over priced but you pay for what you get and now they are just making it better.
A good site to check out is
http://www.systemshootouts.org/ They compare (very fairly) 2 of a certain price point usually an Apple and Dell.
-me