The New York Times:

What would have happened if you had decided to purchase Apple stock, which is at around $350 a share Thursday, instead of buying the company’s products when they were announced?

Really great. The huge growth of Apple’s stock, viewed as product purchases. We could all be millionaires today.

You don’t have to go too far back to see some impressive numbers. For reference, my original MacBook (Core Duo 2.0 GHz), which cost me $1,499 in 2006, would be worth $6,248 today if I had bought Apple stock instead.

Ouch.