4X the price for 8X the performance could be a good deal for some people.

I think one of the great things about the Raspi is that it is not competing on being powerful, it's got an community aiming at an accessible and fun experience.

it actually has a plethora of ports, they're just all in that one 50 pin header. GPIO, SPI, I2C, UART, etc...

Thanks for point that out. I honestly thought it had IDE, and seeing that, even now, new MBs ship with LPT and serial it wouldn't be out of place.

you can get close enough through various adapters. really not a significant difference.

$130 vs $35 is not a signifigant difference? The difference is the Pi is an impulse buy (when you can get it). For me, anything over $100 gets asked 3 questions: what am I using it for? How much time can honestly spend with it (the most important question)? Is it worth the price? Negative on 1 and 2 and yes for 3.

The thing about the Pi is I don't feel guilty when I don't use it. Nor do I when I leave it on for weeks.