A Question for Apple Users

A talk with a co-worker of mine left me wondering just what it is about Apple Computers that drives people to love them so much. I’ve always wondered this actually, and since the usual response isn’t too helpful for someone as clueless with macs as me, I’m wondering if anyone can help me figure this out. I wouldn’t consider myself emotionally attached to my operating system.

I use Windows Vista on two computers at home- – my desktop runs Vista Ultimate and streams videos and DVDs to my Xbox 360 via MyMovies and my 3 year old laptop runs Home Premium very well, although I don’t do anything to intensive on it.

That being said I haven’t stuck with Windows out of necessity or any devotion to Microsoft, but because it had the major features I was looking for — namely a media center server and an OS with decent development tools available for it. Although I’m not looking for a new computer at this time, when my laptop does eventually die I’ll be looking for the best laptop for my needs rather than the best operating system laptop for my needs.

So what it is that makes Mac OS X Leopard more of a draw than Microsoft Windows Vista and keeps people coming back over and over? I’ve heard that the interface on Vista is more cartoony and less uniform than Leopard, which from what I’ve seen I’ll have to agree with, although I go like the look of Vista more than XP. Another difference people note is the helpfulness of keyboard shortcuts on Leopard. This might be a little hard to understand for those of us not using them, but what shortcuts directly in the OS are so effective? Or is this a program specific advantage?

As far as Mac only programs, the only one that stands out to me is Textmate . Although I would love to have Textmate on Vista, E Text Editor seems about the same, and even uses Textmate shortcuts and themes. I’m sure there are differences of course, but I’ll have to dig deeper to get there. What else draws you to Macs? Low viruses? Unix based? A default setup that works? The small product line means stronger individual products? As someone who hasn’t spent any serious amount of time on Mac, is there any way to figure this out without just using one for a few weeks?