I suppose it's not a matter of opinion at all, but rather a matter of a "real wages" point of view.
We both quote US Dollars as currency, but where I live, you get slapped with import fees and VAT on top of everything(not mentioning retailers' markups). I would like to rely on a computer to be operational for more than the 1-year warranty that comes with it, but even within that one year, retailers where I live will try to wiggle their way out of servicing a machine like they're fighting for their lives.(no official Apple presence here) That's regardless of whether it's defective or damage has been caused by the customer. So yeah - $150 actually makes a hell of a difference! Sure, it's psychological to a very large extent, however, 15% off the initial price knocks out import tax and VAT down as well. The end result is a noticeably cheaper machine, especially when it costs what you earn in two months combined...
Oh - also, the student discounts do not exist where I live lol!
Here is an example:
I bought my HP laptop for work that sports a 256GB SSD, 8gigs of RAM and i5-8250U with a FullHD screen and decent connectivity and port setup for an equivalent of $499 (after all the import tax, VAT, etc.) An equivalent MacBook would have cost me double that if not more. Maybe if it were less than double I would have thought twice.. or maybe I would have bought the HP regardless so I can hack it, who knows - but we're talking roughly equivalent performance for half the price anyway. I reckon this is what they need to target now, but with no competition - why bother, I suppose..
Anyway, I'm rambling. Happy Hacking!
littlegreen