Well aware of this, and I have bitched-and-groused here extensively on the matter.
I hate knowing "it's as good as it's ever gonna get" (and that you have to spend more than you'd like, and a nutty, painful premium) on the day of purchase vs. the "old days" of buying a stock model and then, on your timetable/budget, cramming it full of (affordable) RAM from Crucial, OWC, etc. (and also easily replace the hard drive down the road if needed). But, again, those days are gone and ain't coming back, so we just deal with it and factor it in to our buying budget (if you want a 16GB iMac, you better save up an extra $200).
I don't like it either, but they don't check with me on this stuff.
