Boy I love reading how polarized people get about Apple and its products! Only religion and politics beat it for weeding out the meek from the truly opinionated (pro and con) - and we won't go into those taboo topics here! Since the thread seems to have cooled off, I'll see if I can fan the flames a little with my experiences and opinionation:
A recent
CNET article says Mac deskops cost just 13% more than comparable PCs and the margin shrinks to 10% for laptops. The operable word here is
comparable - as in similar hardware and bundle.
Contrary to popular belief, you can open the case on Macs and replace some parts (like memory, disks, graphics cards, etc.) - you just have a very hard time getting Apple parts unless you're certified. For people who tend to be like your typical CDer, that last part may be enough to keep them from buying Apple, but I'll bet a box of Krispy Kremes that the majority of computer owners (Mac or PC) never replace anything inside the box.
I used to believe that Macs stayed usable longer than PCs for a given set of uses, but I think the gap has narrowed a lot since WinXP. Still, the only reason I have to look at a replacement for my 3 yr old TiBook is so I could dual boot and ditch the clunky hp DV4000 I had to get to run some Windows-only apps I need. For everything else the 1 GHz G4 still hauls the mail.
As for reliability, I'm glad I bought AppleCare for the TiBook, because it needed a new logic board last year to cure a weird wake from sleep problem - the protection paid for itself there. It's also needed a new HD (1 mo) and battery (1 yr) which were covered by warranty. I don't think that's unreasonable service for a heavily-used laptop, though my wife's Dell laptop hasn't needed any service in 9 mo. (I bought the extended warranty for it, too). My daughter's AluminumBook (just doesn't roll off the tongue like TiBook), a couple of fruit-flavor iMacs and an old Dell desktop have never given problems, either. Not a statistically valid measure, but it's what I have to go on.
My next computer purchase will be a MacBook Pro for my other daughter, but I don't have any problem recommending a PC to someone who doesn't need that level of hardware and just needs a $600 Internet appliance - or a mega-powered system if they want games. So for me it really boils down to how important look, feel, design and being "different" is to you, and whether you're willing to pay 13% more for them. I could have bought a Subaru WRX for less than I paid for my Audi, but I like Audis (okay, I love it, but don't tell my wife).
Edit: There is one area I believe Macs are superior to PCs: long-term power-up stability. I leave my TiBook on all the time. Literally. Every couple of weeks I clear the caches and reboot for kicks, but otherwise it's either in use or asleep. I cannot do that with the hp, which also takes an excruciatingly long time to wake from sleep (the TiBook takes a few seconds, including re-connecting to the wireless LAN) - another area where Apple continues to lead.