This thread is ridiculous. Somehow its turned into like 3 different threads on its own. The parent-son/daughter relationship argument, a Bose thread (which never end well), and an Apple vs PC thread.
First of all, you're mom just wants to spend a ton of money to impress people. This should be all the indication anyone needs to know that she doesn't know what she actually wants or have any clue about the quality and cost of what she's going to be buying. Since Bose is a name that the people she's trying to impress will recognize, she wants that. I'm sorry, but that is just plain stupid. Buy some different speakers that sound as good for much less (or better for less or the same money), and then buy some fake Bose emblems and slap them on the new speakers.
There's no reason to try to defend the stupidity of the mother in this case. As her son, the OP should be trying to get here something that is a quality product, especially for the price his mother is paying. To try to accuse him of being a bad son because that is what he was trying to do is ludicrous.
Furthermore, the reason we "internet audiophiles" are concerned is that if people keep buying a shoddy, overpriced product then the company will not change its ways and will continue to sell subpar for the money products to consumers who don't know any better. At this point in time, the Bose name is known well enough that they could stop spending so much money on marketing and instead develop a high quality product worth buying. This situation is exactly why and how Bose stays in business, because people who don't know any better buy their product, either because some college dropout at Best Buy is trying to get some comission or because they go, hey, I've heard of Bose, I'll buy that since its expensive it must be good. Bottom line is if people keep buying an underperforming product, that company will keep selling an underperforming product. This is bad for consumers (blah, blah, blah, I know you'll retort with the, but they're willing to buy it for that price, so its just simple economics, but that is just stupid, and ignoring the fact that there's more to it than just sticking your head in the sand).
No, Bose is not total crap, you do actually get somewhat of something you pay for, but you can get just as good looking and sounding for much less or maybe even better sounding for less.