The browser is not the primary intended use of the RPi. It's for kids to tinker with and write their own programs with. It's $35 because the kids' version is only $25 and leaves off the ethernet port entirely.
As for a computer-like experience, it depends on the computer you like to experience. If we didn't already have a desktop or laptop to access this website on, we wouldn't be able to post here.
Web-browsers try too hard to be Swiss-Army knives. A better use of memory would be to use a separate application for each protocol and a separate protocol for each use.
