Erm, do you really consider Apple a monopoly? Something like 5-10% of PCs, iOS covering maybe 40% of smart phones at most? Compared to supporting Microsoft, who have a far greater market share? Unless you're Linuxing up your laptop, in which case you do have the moral high ground here ;)

Anyways, I don't want to go too much into Apple defense in /r/gaming, but I will say that you do have to remember that you're buying more than specs. Screen quality, keyboard quality (chiclets are divisive, of course, but the size and layout are great), >>trackpad quality<<, design, etc. A lot of people seem to think that devices are all internals when comparing them - "oh, check out my new quad core Android tablet with a Tegra chipset" etc. - yet a device is so much more than what powers it. Not to open a whole 'nother can of worms, but it's generally accepted that until recently (Galaxy Nexus seems incredible), most Android phones did not have the same perceived speed as an iPhone - their specs were often higher, yet there was still more interface lag, longer bootup time, etc.

I never ever thought I'd touch an Apple computer until I decided I wanted a laptop, and realized that the Macbook Pro was exactly what I wanted, even if it was way more than I expected to spend. One nice thing about Macs is that their resale value is huge compared to your average PC, so if you can afford it up-front, you can probably sell it for half to 3/4 of the price four or five years down the road (if you don't believe me, look up used Mac Minis, iMacs, Macbook Pros, etc.).

Of course, their cables and accessories are still insanely, indefensibly overpriced, but that's another matter entirely, right? ;)