I can't say their marketing has ever been solely responsible for my decision to buy one of their products. My purchases have always been based on actually using them first. My early experience of Macs while at school made me want to smash them into little pieces with sheer frustration (partly due to At Ease). My opinion on the matter was largely unchanged until I was given an old iMac with Jaguar on it about 7 years ago. It was just refreshing to find an OS that didn't suck balls (and unlike Linux at the time, was a viable alternative to Windoze as a home desktop for me).

Since that time, I've been very happy to buy Apple. Not because of some smug 'lifestyle choice' but because their products do what I want and Apple provides the support I've needed. My thread on my experience in Las Vegas sums it up for me.

Despite having picked up an iPhone 4 recently, I would've quite happily entertained the option of getting an Android phone, but the ones on sale over here (and available to me) just didn't cut it for me. The Nexus One isn't available on Orange and the Evo isn't available in the UK.