$ 3 is a LOT in terms of low-end production costs. Manufacturers usually count into the $ 0.2's here, where components are concerned. It all adds up, after all.
Considering this is a mass-market, mass-production computer, getting the cheapest-yet-decent parts possible is a major part of the equasion.
...And also consider that only about six years ago, one would have had to pay at least DOUBLE or TRIPLE the price for the same kind of deal we now get with today's netbooks, including the One! Laptops used to be EXPENSIVE.
And it's only now that notebooks go back to their harddisk-less, built-in-OS origins, too (I still have the original working laptops from 1981/1983 like the Epson HX-20 and the Tandy Model 200)!
Up till now, my experiences with the One's hardware have been pretty good, btw. Seems to hold up fairly well, in all, and looks ok too. The fan can sometimes be heard, but it doesn't do more than a light 'whizzing' sound on mine, which isn't bothersome.
Btw, with regard to fans: anyone found a nice little CPU temperature reading program yet?
Regards, R