If a little schadenfreude helps, Apple hardware has poor reliability. I just picked up my laptop (a "Macbook Pro") from repairs today, because the fan decided to get loud again, and hte display had backlighting problems. (The motherboard was previously replaced for the same reason, and IIRC so was the display.) This laptop's AC adapter also caught on fire on a train. ("Boy, someone's food smells weird...")
And it's definitely not just me with these problems.
That said, I think Macs otherwise are very nice and usable, though buying AppleCare is a good idea, at least depending on whether you see a showstopper in the first year...
All the best, Tayssir