All of this is predicated on real prices, not the recent blip that Walmart did when they blew the AR's out at what had to be record low prices.

So do you still dislike the M&P? I haven't shot mine enough to know much. Right now if I were AR-less, it would be M&P for low-end or Colt 6920 for medium. I don't consider that I know enough about truly high-end AR's (IMO $1500 and up) to have an opinion.