Ok, I'll chime in since I'be been avidly researching and using macs lately. Personally I'd say go for a Mac. If you can't do something on the mac you can always use Parallels and run windows. That's one of the LARGE advantages to the Mac, as it will run both Mac OSX and Windows. The program is about $70 retail, and depending on where you go you can usually get a discount if you purchase a computer.

An apple is MUCH less prone to virii and malware. I've checked quite a few security websites and there aren't any known issues for a mac except for the macros that are used in M$ products, specifically Office. So they are MUCH safer than a PC, and if you run windows in a Virtual Machine using Parallels you can always blow away the changes that you made.

Definitely for portability I'd say go with a Mac. Their batteries are EXTRAORDINARY (at least for the Macbooks) as they last an average of 4.5-5.5 hours on a full charge. The middle line Macbook is the best deal for the laptops, that I've found, unless you need the powerful graphics card or the extra screen space.

I found out today that you CAN right-click with the mouse on a new mac, but only on the external mice. It's a simple option you can select in the mouse properties.

Overall I'd say go for a Mac as it's a better deal, and the quality (even though the expansion of the hardware is almost non-existant) is much higher, and if you are getting a laptop, it doesn't matter what brand you get, you only get limited upgradibility with hardware, such as RAM and HDD.

That's my professional opinion, and if you have any questions, feel free to ask.