I work at Future Shop in the ‘Connect Pro’ department.
I agree with a lot of what you’re saying but I’m going to say, in my opinion from first hand experience, that the plain-old MacBooks are definitely over-priced dogs. They’re extremely slow for the price.
MacBook Pros however are probably some of the best notebooks on the market. Unless you’re willing to drop the cash on getting a Pro I would say just stick with a regular Windows notebook or PC.