I had a desktop PC for some time before buying my Mac. My Sony digital camera was an absolute pain in the neck to use with Windows. Installing drivers (which sometimes were the wrong ones), plugging and unplugging the USB cable, system hangups, you name it. I brought home my iBook laptop, plugged in my digital camera and turned it on, and the computer automatically recognized it. It opened iPhoto and began the upload process without me having to lift a finger. I used to wait months to upload photos because of the hassle, and now I upload them as soon as I take them.
I worked for 2.5 years in college doing on-campus networking and tech support. I know my way around computers, particularly PCs. Just because I can handle problems doesn't mean I should have to! My 14" iBook has never crashed or acted funny in the 7 months I've had it - and that's with being on and networked 24/7. I have all of the Windows apps I could desire (with the exception of the Sims 2, but I digress).
I'm typing this now from my living room couch, on my iBook. It's wirelessly networked and gets great battery life, so we do a lot of surfing from the comfort of the living room. :-)
I use a Dell laptop at work and in fairness it's actually not terrible. I'd be happier with a faster processor and it does lock up more often than I'd like. There is a price differential to consider. I compared my iBook with a number of Windows-based laptops and with my fiance's student discount with Apple, the Mac ended up being only a little more expensive than a comparable PC. It's just a terribly intuitive and easy computer, and after dealing with my PC at work I'm glad to come home to something that I don't have to struggle with.
I spent about 9 years doing technical support in a campus computer lab years ago. I could almost always (A) understand what the problem was and (B) explain how to fix it verbally if the computer was a Mac. I rarely had to get up and help the student fix their problem. If it was a Windows PC, all bets were off and I'd just get up and go look at it. Admittedly, Windows has gotten a lot better but there is still so much more that can go wrong, especially because hardware and hardware quality is a much bigger issue in the PC world.