I have a newer, faster thinkpad given to me by my company but I still use my 6 year old macbook. I'm really more of an OSX fan vs Windows now. I could probably get by on Ubuntu or something if I really wanted to. I'm just not a fan of the aesthetics of the thinkpad, which might seems weird but it plays a part of why I don't use it. It's heavy, and ugly, and has hooks sticking of the screen.
I never found the keyboard to be much better than others but I have heard many others say it is great so maybe I'm the exception. I use a daskey mechincal on my gaming PC and it's pretty great. The track pad sucks compared to Apple's even though they are made by the same people.
I'll give you service ability (though my old macbook was upgradable). I'm really surprised I haven't had battery issues after 6 years. Being an IBMer we always had to order Lenovos. I think that is changes with our Apple deal. You could get a macbook through some exception but soon they will be available and supported for all employees. I've also heard there is a Toshiba option available though I'm not sure who would pick that over a ThinkPad.
To be fair, I wouldn't use a ThinkPad except with Linux (using SUSE right now). Thankfully, many Linux developers are big Thinkpad fans, so any 'classic' Thinkpad (basically the T, W and X series), even the new generations will generally work flawlessly (or close to it) with Linux.
Really I think the only thing that might sway me is Dell's new-found love for Linux.
I never found the keyboard to be much better than others but I have heard many others say it is great so maybe I'm the exception. I use a daskey mechincal on my gaming PC and it's pretty great. The track pad sucks compared to Apple's even though they are made by the same people.
I'll give you service ability (though my old macbook was upgradable). I'm really surprised I haven't had battery issues after 6 years. Being an IBMer we always had to order Lenovos. I think that is changes with our Apple deal. You could get a macbook through some exception but soon they will be available and supported for all employees. I've also heard there is a Toshiba option available though I'm not sure who would pick that over a ThinkPad.