You're an investment banker, you of all people should know how much better a PC is. I have both the MB pro and a HP and the MB is nice and fun for carrying to class and using around the house because of the great battery life and low weight. But man when I have some actual school or office work I need to do, I immediately switch to the PC.
Got a great spot for you to find hidden deals... Spoiler Seriously though, if you have a little time and are patient you'll very likely come across something good on slickdeals or fatwallet.com.
I can't compare to a Macbook Air but I do have a Macbook and I have never paid any attention to the trackpad. They all seem the same whether its a mac or pc laptop. Its funny though that I never had to service my Windows laptops as far as hardware issues go. I can take care of software myself but the Macbook had to be repaired twice - once because of a warp in the casing and second time because of a crashed hard drive and I could have replaced the drive myself but it was still under warranty. My step son keeps asking for a Mac because his uncle has one. His uncle is a producer and needs it for video editing. My step son wants it to browse the web and watch YouTube. So I am just saying, due to its high price its not for everyone.
Dunno if you have one of the MacBooks with the multi-touch trackpad but it's a game changer for me. It's made surfing the web and general usage much better. It's the first touchpad I've preferred over a laptop mouse. Hardware issues wise, you can't compare an Apple to all Windows laptops. Statistically there are going to be more windows laptops that haven't had problems. That's a numbers issue. If you think Apple makes bad hardware, that's a valid opinion. I've had my share of hardware issues with my MacBook Pro and my old Thinkpad. I was impressed with IBM's free next-day shipping for Depot repairs; they had DHL drop off a postage paid return box. I'm downright elated with Apple's walk-in repairs. I had a problem with my charger; they took a brand new one off the shelf and gave it to me. Had a problem with the battery; it was in and out with a new battery in one day. I've had over $800 worth of repairs covered under AppleCare. All done and back to me in less than a week. My sister (big mac fan) likens Apple products to luxury items. They're good products, but they really shouldn't be as prevalent as they are. From my POV, I've seen patients with no health insurance come into the hospital with the latest iPhone. I agree; it's not and shouldn't be the right choice for everyone.
