Part of the issue with pc/windows users, I believe, is that the only thing they have to compare to is a pc. Thus, a computer must have a massive power supply, many fans and heat syncs. It must be in a large rectangular box and should make lots of noise. It must be fully "upgradeable".
I laugh because that's the way I was. I ended up talking to a really knowledgeable Apple rep, and realized that there is a whole new dimension if you "let go" of some of your pre-conceived notions. My iMac does not need a massive power supply because it is very efficient and doesn't need 1200 watts to operate. It doesn't need five 8 inch fans in the case because the whole case acts as a heat sync and heat rises out the top. How many people thought of a "round" computer until the new Mac Pro was announced? Upgradeable? For 27 years I only bought or built "upgradeable" PC's, yet never once did I upgrade one, other than to maybe bump up the RAM. Nobody upgrades in the pc world. There's always a new board with a new chipset that only takes a new format of RAM or expansion card or cpu. I found most PCs to be obsolete after 3 years and pretty much throwaway after 5 years.
It just seems that all of the arguments I hear are based solely on the idea that the existing PC is already perfect, thus everything should be compared to it. Expensive? Maybe if all you look at is the retail price tag. Maybe if your time isn't worth anything and you enjoy stress. I have two PCs (one of which is getting donated to charity and getting replaced by a Mac Pro), an older Mac Mini, and a 27" iMac I7. The ancient Mac Mini is more stable that the 2 Windows PCs. I spend literally hours fighting with the two Windows machines. One software clashes with another. One day a pc won't boot up. BSOD after BSOD. Well, you guys know how it works. I got fed up with one of them, formatted it, re-installed windows from scratch. Then installed Acronis so I could do backups. After that, pc would never boot up. After 8 hours of Googling, restarting, trying this and that, I finally got it into safe mode and got Acronis off of it. However, now, every time I right-click in Windows explorer, it crashes. Hours and hours and hours wasted mucking around with these things.
Then I sit down at my iMac with two glorious 27" displays, SSD, 24 TB in RAID 5 boxes that retrieve data faster than raided SSD's. Hardly any noise, whatsoever (biggest pc sounds like a helicopter taking off). Everything I do on the iMac is enjoyable. Even work. No time is spent scratching your head and trying to figure out what driver goes with what, what tweak to make so that my app doesn't crash, why my printer won't print anymore, whether to re-install Windows and spend 3 days re-installing all software because it's getting too slow to be useable. It's acting weird... wonder if I have a virus... Anyways, I could go on and on, but we all know how much fun a Mac is. The whole experience is just more enjoyable. Everything just works. Everything just looks good. It's fun.
So, I've invested close to $10,000 in my iMac. Compared to the $2000 mega pc I previously built, the Mac is a bargain. I've saved 4 times that amount in hours that haven't been wasted trying to get it working. I've added clients and new lines of business, because I have more time and have the tools to do more. I've actually sold customers on an idea just because they looked so impressive when displayed on my Mac. Mac's aren't expensive. You recover the cost in no time.
I'm not really anti-Windows... well, maybe anti-Windows 8... I have 2 PC's at home and I have to work on one at a client's site. To me, a pc is like a 1997 Pinto. It will get you there and doesn't cost much up front, but a 2013 Mercedes is a lot more enjoyable.
I guess I'm likely preaching to the choir, so should probably stop ranting now
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