One thing I rarely see mentioned in these discussions is your proximity to an Apple store. Macbooks are great as long as they just work. But when they stop work

One thing I rarely see mentioned in these discussions is your proximity to an Apple store. Macbooks are great as long as they just work. But when they stop working, life sucks if you can't walk your machine into an Apple store. Most of us use our machines every day, and it's pretty hard to mail your computer away for a month of service. I'd consider a macbook more seriously if I lived anywhere near an Apple store. Fortunately I'm quite happy on a Thinkpad (T430s currently).