I have been around computers my whole life, both my  parents are PHDs in computer science, i helped my dad build my first computer at 7 years old, build three or four since then (my current desktop is iller /claim)
and i've been through 4 windows laptops, 2 fujitsu, a dell and an HP.  in december i bought my first apple computer, a 13 inch macbook pro, and i love it to death. completely worth it.  first of all, the build and components are of a much higher grade than my previous computers,  monitor, keyboard, trackpad, even the onboard camera/microphone.
but if you're paying over a grand for a laptop, it had better be good quality.  what really makes it worth it is the OS.  When it all comes down to it apple makes a much, much, much more convenient OS than microsoft does.  coming from someone who knows windows backwards and forwards, mac runs better, and is nearly a million times easier to use.
It saves so much time/headache, and yeah, you pay a premium for the "apple" image, but time is money and the convenience is worth the extra few hundred