It also helps that you can tri-boot a Mac. If you're a multi-platform developer, why wouldn't you go with the high quality option that allows you to run OS X, Windows, Linux, and a Unix terminal? Macs are the only computers out there capable of doing it legally.

PS. Most of my developer friends own at least one Mac as well.

1. Great marketing which means more people thing "Apple" when walking into a store.
2. Since Apple products are so popular and of high quality, odds are you know someone who owns an Apple product, which increases the chances of you buying one as well.

And even if MS didn't things wrong every other version, most businesses and a large number of individuals too would stick to every other version of Windows, because they want a longer life cycle than what Microsoft would like to impose them, and a longer period of platform stability. The fact that normally even a good Windows version really becomes as good as Microsoft promised after a few years and Service Packs (it happened with Win2000 and WinXP, and even if Win7 was a lot faster to reach the desired reliability, it's still a new experience for Windows users, and they don't feel they can trust MS for this becoming the norm yet) doesn't really help the crippled versions to go beyond what they can reach with the preinstalled copies. BTW XP reached its best shape and was accepted very slowly before becoming MS' greatest success, with over 1B copies, while Win 7, being very good almost since the start, following one of the worst Windows versions ever, and arriving on a market that despite slowly than in the past, still grew a lot, will probably reach an even larger installed base, so the resistance to Win 8 adoption will be even stronger.

And all this if it won't happen the worst for MS, non-Wintel platforms-derived PCs that start superseding old Wintel ones, chewing MS' monopoly from outside.

They are fashionable, thats why me & my (non gamer or tech people) friends get them, no joke.

Its a bit sad but if you dont have the new iphone you'll be slightly looked down on in my social group, its an expectation to have it... really

The pro-corporate mentality is everywhere, including gaming. People literally derived more enjoyment from sales, reviews & metacritic scores instead of their gaming experience. 

I travel to China frequently and Apple's products, more specifically iPhone, are well-regraded as a wealth status symbol.

In my social group you get looked down upon for having an iPhone =P

It's pretty much all Android and WP7 devices for my (rather geeky) group of friends.

Haha, lucky, I wanted one of those sony playstation phones a while back, but couldnt get one because of my group, now I have an iphone 4S, huge disappointment (because its so close to an I4)

In many cases people are prejudiced and will just mock Apple products. I just read the first few posts in this thread and there's been a ton of misinformation.

1) Apple notebooks are low spec.
This is totally wrong. The 13" isn't a very high spec machine but you can get about the fastest CPU's available in the 15" and 17" models. Just look at Ivy Bridge CPU's: All of the high end ones will be in the new MacBooks. The reason Apple puts dual core CPU's into their 13" models is because they need less power.

2) Apple Notebook for $1500 doesn't have a discrete graphics card.
That's wrong. You cannot get a $1500 Macbook without a discrete graphics card. Just look it up on Apple.com

3) Apple being "behind" to Android when it comes to features.
This was the case with the iPhone 4s but it's not a general trend. When the iPhone 4 was released it was praised all over the web for being the best smartphone. The current situation is caused by Apple's "tick-tock" cycle where they release an "s" version each second year. Also the notion of "bigger screen = better" needs to die. I'll scream if Apple decided to put a 4.5" screen into their next iPhone because anything above 4" is overkill for a phone.

In general Apple products are very high quality. Their notebooks are thin (!), light and reliable and have a great design. They also boast great battery life (my Macbook lasts all day and I never need to bring a charging cable with me) and are very well equipped machines - not the fastest ones on the market but they are definitely among the faster notebooks you can get. The design of Apple's notebooks is being copied in a lot of cases and they didn't have a design overhaul since 2008! If rumors of retina display MacBooks (1800p screens) are true we will see the first major redesign in June.

And to make a long story short: A lot of people laugh at Apple computers at first. Then they use them and say they are alright. Then they ask for the price and say it's too high. Then they buy one anyway. You have to look past pure specs to know why people buy a product.

Apple sell primarily to people who can afford to splash the cash on products that look cosmetically better than their competition. Apple is known for being a market leader/innovator. IPhone, IPad, MacBook/MBA all look better than their rivals. If you have the money to spare Apple products are well worth the purchase, are easy to use, high quality and have 24/7 customer support. However if you are on a budget, there are non-Apple products that will suit your needs and budget.

Luckily in my group nobody judges the others by the phone they have. Although there are some d*heads that instead of dancing prefer to cluster by the side of the dance floor to criticize how the others dance. But they don't belong to the group of my true friends, just to the larger one of my acquaintances.

PS: The last Macs I tried were still worse than other PCs just in one thing: right click.