The only really “special” thing about Macs is that they have a much better operating system than anything Microsquish puts out. The hardware nowadays isn’t really any better or different than what goes in a Wintel box.
I went the Newegg route and just finished assembling two butt-kicking gaming machines for about $2400 total. Expensive, yes, but a single 24” screen iMac with similar (slightly lower) hardware specs would run around $2000. I like OS X, and like seeing Apple competing with and pushing Microsoft in the marketplace, but I can’t bring myself to pay that big a premium for a better operating system...especially since I can always, should I no longer require Microsoft Vista for gaming, reformat and load a Linux distro for free.
}:-)4
I think you could make Windows just as stable and reliable as OSX. All you would have to do is start with a known quantity hardware platform and optimize the OS for that specific hardware.
It's simply a question of whether you're willing to pay the extra cost for the MAC and live with the limitations of having to wait for them to catch up with new hardware technology before you can use it.
On average, the MAC will be more reliable and more stable than the PC, but there is a cost and there's more to it than just the difference in purchase price.