Last week I received my first my first Mac laptop. I could give specifics, but let’s just say it’s nice (I’ve nicknamed it Extenz).

Anyway, it’s my third major Apple purchase in less than six months. And as much as I hate to admit it (actually, I’m proud to admit it), I’m becoming the snob I make fun of PC enthusiasts for being.

Thus, it’s not really a surprise that I scoff at the new series of Windows commercials—you know, the ones where they hand a kid or college student a wad of cash for finding a computer that’s within their budget. Surprise, it’s a PC!

I only wish the cameras were still rolling when those same people fire up and wait for Vista to load.

It’s true: a direct comparison of hardware and processors will show that Macs are more expensive. What’s not calculated, of course, is ease of use, efficiency, vulnerability (as in, I’m not running four anti-virus programs anymore), brilliance (have you seen these screens?), and so forth.

Curious at whether the expense was justified, I decided to calculate the savings in time I save when putting the new laptop to sleep. My Dell averages five minutes to power down, whether that’s sleeping, hibernating and shutting off completely. Don’t even think about closing the lid without selecting one of those. The Macbook Pro, on the other hand, averages less than a minute, and that’s only if powering off—going to sleep is instantaneous.

So, if I save five minutes a day (hypothetically), five days a week, 50 weeks a year, at my billable rate that’s $1,875 a year.

Hardly scientific, I realize, but who cares. The reality is that I’m now much cooler.