18 month old iMac 27" motherboard failed 500 GBP/750 USD to fix

So this week my 18 month old 27" iMac died, only booted occasionaly most of the time it just beeped continually. On one of the few times it came back to life, after doing a backup I ran a in depth ATH which showed a ROM fault. Did all the usual, checking and replacing the RAM, disk check, etc.

In the end took it into the not so local Apple store and after they had done all their checks the diagnosis was a faulty motherboard and as its out of warranty it will cost 500 GBP/750 USD to fix (install of new motherboard).

I'll leave it to your imagination as to my reaction.

Two things occured to me first a fault in the Motherboard which shows up in 18 months must have been there from when it was made, that and the fact that I've now had 3 pieces of apple kit (iMac, macbook pro & iPad) fail, (fortunately the others were within warranty), I would therefore conclude that whilst apple product look and feel quality the internals are not... caveat emptor.

Second back in my PC days when I upgraded my PC (new motherboard, processor and memory) the total cost was less than 100 GBP, even accountng for inflation and labour costs, Apple are clearly making a tidy profit from their lack of QA.

Let's hope Windows 8 puts in back on a par with Lion....