I typing this on my iPad. It's a really nice device. It's great for consuming media, browsing, email, and I have started reading books again for the first time in years. It's not a PC or a net book and it's not trying to be one. Don't knock it till you have tried it. So far I'm impressed and seem to be more so every day I use it.
I owned an HTC smartphone. Had everything and more than what an iPhone could offer. It used windoze and although it was an open standard the software I installed on it cost a fortune. Sat nav was £150 on the HTC and a better version of the same software on the iPhone was £25.
The difference between the iPhone and the HTC windows smartphone was that although the HTC could do everything it was impossible to use properly. Tap tap with a stylus, crash after crash. When I bought an iPhone it just worked! I was so impressed with the device and the quality of the experience I finally took the advice of a friend and I bought a Mac.
When I owned a PC I never understood what the hype was about, windows was fine, I had bought the software and change was difficult so why change.
The Mac is not the perfect computer. It sometimes makes me mad, but when I use a windows computer I find myself wanting to throw it out a window a few times a day as apposed to the Mac which I want to throw out the window only every other day!
I'm not trying to covert people or push Apple because I remember hating that as a pc user. I didn't want to try a Mac precisely because some people told me I had made the wrong choice and should change.
Apple control the quality of the experience and match the hardware and software. The use of their products is almost fun, they don't get in the way of what you are trying to do - at least most of the time. I'd highly recommend you try using them for a few days and then make up your own mind.
You get what you pay for. If you value quality then you will not only experience that in the ease of use but also in the physical design and quality of the product. My pc was a cheap noisy plastic overheating box, while my Mac is a silent solid aluminium object of design perfection
it's not for everyone but it's like ehiem spray bars vs cal aqua glass Lilly pipes
(not the best comparison actually as spray bars probably work better than lilly pipes)
I have windows 7 on my Mac. I was scared I would not be able to do everything on it unless I had access to windows. I never use windows now after 8 months, a waste of money paying for the OS to run on the Mac. I can't go back to windows now that I have been bitten by the Apple bug.
Try it, you are unlikely to be sorry....