No, it's exactly what you BELIEVE Apple is doing, not what they ARE doing.
First off, a $180 discount from an $1100 device is 15%, which is pretty significant for a device guaranteed to be better than new. You may personally believe Apple's products are "crap", but that doesn't mean they are to anybody else. I also don't consider a refurb as a "used machine" simply due to the fact that most of the time their original failure was within the first 90 days, though AppleCare may choose to replace an older one should the failure be significant. The price reduction on the older machine is also higher than one on a newer model.
I will agree, somewhat, to your statement about photo editing; but not due to any technical changes, only due to software comparability. I believe the Apple is still faster on average, but the difference is measured in seconds rather than minutes. This is more due to the differences in the operating systems than the hardware, though even there the Mac is faster than an "equivalent" PC of equal or lesser price using Windows on both machines.
Your final point is more prejudice than fact because that $180 savings doesn't take into account any corporate discounts that may also apply--as much as an additional 15% for some companies. That would make his example show a total of $360 off the retail price.
The Mac is not necessarily going to replace a server--HP and Dell seem to have that market stitched up pretty tight--but rather the desktop used by secretaries, managers, whomever. The desktop environment any more really doesn't care what OS is used, though Apple has more than once demonstrated that the Mac shows better productivity than a Windows machine in the desktop environment. Why? Primarily by fewer desktop support calls and more reliable hardware.
