Nice article, but I think you missed the point of "good, fast, or cheap". You crossed the end result (the laptop) with the project (research, design and produce). The end product should be be better, faster, and cheaper, but in order to get to that point, the managers of the project still had to make trade offs to get there.

You could get the design done quickly by using part you already have tested (less time but slower end product) or go through the test process of new part (requires more time). If you want better parts tested and still done quickly, it requires more people (cost). If time is not the issues you reseach the best components for the price and use existing resources as time permits (slower but cheaper).

End products should always strive to be better, faster, and cheaper (at least to maintain). But when creating those end products, there will always be decisions that have to be made, and yes, trade offs to some extent (even if you have a superstar team).