The way Apple has set themselves up with OS X actually does make themselves a class of their own. The decisions beyond just looks (e.g. will the software I need run? Do I prefer OS X to Windows? Do I need antivirus software?) make it so that comparing an Apple to anything else really is like comparing a Hummer to a Porsche.
Yeah but so is Linux or whatever. They are not significantly better than other PCs, just different in matters of taste. Come on, they even use the same hardware as other PCs (CPU, GPU hard drive...).
