Portsmouth is by Crane and a very good product, i like it better than royal.
Shakes are very expensive and that price is not high at all.
You can also try googling a crane dealer in your state. Home depot uses subs and you might not get the best install.

You don't ever want to chance it with a company that uses subs.

First of all, let me say that the shake style siding is indeed pricey, and the Portsmouth is a nice offering.
Secondly, I am not going to put words into anyone's mouth but I believe that Todd's comment is a bit facetious, and mmaresl could probably add a little bit to that recommendation. There is nothing inherently wrong with installers that are independant contractors as long as the company employing them has done their due diligence and stands behind their work. In fact, in most cases installers actually make substantially more money as subs and therefore I find that the most skilled craftsmen often prefer to be subs. That said, there are pros and cons to that debate, with employees and subcontractors each having a little of both.
I believe what mmarsel was getting at is the fact that bargain type outfits and box stores typically pay their installers far less than the "going rate", resulting in a revolving door of installers and hit or miss quality. Just yesterday I was in the home of a client that had all of his windows installed by one of these outfits, and every single one was installed out of square, many to the point that they would not even lock... Definitely something to give thought to in your decision making process.

Yes,, the subs that home depot and lowes use are very suspect because their subs are paid poorly which usually means low quality workmanship: we have all witnessed this.
Family owned companies and smaller companies actually use high quality subs that are experts and demand a higher wage; and rightly so.

Got second price quote from a siding company. It was a lot less. For Royal staggered shake, it is $7800 including insulation, redoing soffits, facial front and wrap windows. Is Royal really that much inferior to the Home Depot Portsmouth Staggered Shake. Just such a big difference in price.

Figuring that the height of the area to be sided is roughly 12', and an average number of windows, that sounds about right (the independant guy). There are definitely a lot of variables that could change that however.
On product, HD does not make it nor do they offer it exclusively. Portsmouth is made by Crane and is offered fairly widely. I like it a little better than the Royal as well, but I've not used as much of the Royal. Alside/Rever has a nice shake panel as well.