Ive always owned budget laptops, so my perspective may be skewed, but I quite like this macbookpro ive gotten from work (with windows coinstalled, obviously). Things that stand out to me, that are specific to the laptop manufacturer:

Absolute silence, even when compiling and running cuda simulations at the same time, with very reasonable temperatures. If I hadnt opened it I would have guessed it didnt have a fan. None of this annoying high-frequency humming many laptop PSU's do either. Ice cold during normal operation.

Very responsive touchpad, unlike anything ive ever seen on a non-mac laptop. This thing is actually operable without an external mouse without incurring instant hand-cancer.

The first laptop ive owned that has both the volume and sound quality to watch a movie on, if you had to.

Sexy features like a unibody are pretty common in the priceclass you are looking for I suppose. Maybe these other things are too. Either way, if you dont mind lining steve's pockets with his hipness premium, its not a bad choice I think.

I don't know how you're not having noise issues. What size macbook do you have? I know the Sandy Bridge 13" and 15" both have quite a few complaints about fan noise, and they get uncomfortably warm, especially running windows. I do love the construction and touchpad however. I miss my macbook touchpad...