Hell, i've not read quite so much nonsense and speculation in ages
Right, i've used Mac's and PC's since the 1st Mac colour was introduced, and it was a revelation compared with where windows was. Everything the PC industry has done & does is 'borrowed' from the innovation created at apple. Anyone who has done there homework will know that Bill Gates worked for apple in the early days of Silicon Valley and basically robbed what they were doing when he set up Microsoft ! The only reason Microsoft is huge is that Gates was a clever businessman and was in it for the money, so he licensed his software to all PC vendors, whilst apple wanted to remain creative and retain control over there hardware & software. This is what they still do today, which is why everything just works ! No viruses, no spyware, no nasty windows and 'spit' Vista !
Basically there was a day when the Mac was hugely expensive and underpowered, but we are taking pre-imac here, before Steve Jobs took the lead at apple again. Today the mac is in every way superior to an equivalent PC. In fact if you want a decent graphics / 3d workstation, the MacPro with 2xQuad core Intel CPU's is actually much cheaper than anything that can get anywhere near for similar money ! They are in fact a bargain, which is why they are being used in the TV / animation industry more and more. What do you think they use at Pixar ? (another company set up by Steve Jobs of apple....)
Ok, the laptops are a little more expensive than comparable PC alternatives, but you pay for quality. People on this forum don't as a rule buy cheap crap RC stuff do they, it's just the same with a PC if you are into it and want to get a lot out of it.
Lastly, log onto apple.com, go to the UK store and at the bottom of the page, on the right hand side you can link to the apple refurbished store, I always buy from here, you can get some great bargains, especially on laptops, so take a look.
If you have never tried an apple, you don't know what you are missing, computers should just work and not be an obstacle to getting stuff done, so for that reason alone, i'll always prefer to use my Mac over my PC.