[awaage]

I was a big linux user that switched to MBP too a couple years ago. I was very skeptical myself, but I'm very happy with the switch. Besides looking cool, here's some other points from my experience: It just works better. Granted, a couple years ago, ubuntu wasn't as nice as it is now, Mac OSX just works so flawlessly, never restart, never shutdown (just close the lid), sleeps and starts up in literally 1 second, great battery, connects to wifi flawlessly, and LOVE the multitouch mouse features. I also really like certain programs including iMovie, Logic (music production), Photoshop. I've tried switching to Gimp, for example, which just doesn't feel right to an old-time Photoshop user. On Ubuntu, I was pretty happy with overall experience, and if I was ONLY using it for development, it would be just fine. I would recommend Mac to any developer, but if you are already very comfortable with your Linux laptop, you're probably not missing anything THAT compelling. BTW, I got my mbp for about $1300 and would not think it's worth it for much more than that.

[smokestack]

Thanks. I like Macs exactly for the reasons you listed -- battery life is awesome, great touchpad, great boot/wake-up times, and the box is undeniably beautiful. I just found OSX's window management really clunky and unintuitive, but that's coming from a 15-year linux/windows user.

Is your MBP a 15"? How did you find one for $1300?

[awaage]

I have the 13", and I would strongly recommend this if you plan to be taking it around a lot. It's the perfect size / weight for me, and I don't think twice about bringing it around. In regards to the window management, I have to agree. It took a while to get used to, but now that I'm used to it, it's no problem. It's really just what you're accustomed to. Another note is that Mac devs love TextMate, but I've always just used VIM, so Mac is no better to me in this category!