I think it's a conspiracy to sell hardware, to be honest. I just found an old text file with the spec of a PC I was thinking of buying back in The Year 1999. The phone I bought last year (HTC Excalibur) has as much oomph, but fits in my pocket.
I'm at university now, so I want small, light, efficient, and (above all) inexpensive. The budget laptops these days are big and heavy, so I'm looking forward to getting an ASUS eeePC (about £220), probably after New Year. .