[easp]

No, you really aren't paying a great deal for OS X. If you are buying a Mac because you like the hardware quality, then you should compare it to Windows machines of similar quality. If you were to do so, you would see that the Mac laptops are competitively priced.

Even if there was a few hundred dollar premium, keep it in perspective. How smart is it to be fretting over a few hundred bucks with respect to a tool that you will likely use for a year or two, for a significant % of your waking hours, and upon which you depend for your most of your income?