I've spent 25 years either actively avoiding Macs, or considering them and deciding "they're good, but they're not so good it's worth paying 50% more."
The MacBook air is better than its competition in every aspect but the touchscreen (which I don't give a hot damn about), and is, unbelievably, either cheaper or the same price as any windows machine that even comes CLOSE to the same specs. I've gone from someone who simply didn't have time or budget for a Mac to someone who uses his mac in preference to any other machine in the house… in the space of a month and a half. Amazing machine.
If you’re buying a new laptop this holiday season, you should probably get a MacBook Air. Its build quality is best-in-breed, its 12-15 hour battery life (on the 13″ model) absolutely embarrasses the competition, and its operating system is extremely reliable and polished. Plus, despite what you may have heard about Apple products, it’s actually quite affordable compared to the competition.