For home users and small business owners that are torn between a tight budget and technological obsolescence, Apple largely is a dead end. PCs, on the other hand, lend themselves to upgrading with a bare bones system and recycling many of the parts from the old computer. The end result can be a new, current technology PC without throwing away hundreds of dollars worth of parts that still had plenty of life in them.
Large businesses typically don’t want to spend the time and money needed to do this with a large amount of PCs so this isn’t really applicable to them, but there is an even bigger albatross around Apple’s neck in this arena: competitive bidding. If they go with a PC platform, they can use their volume purchasing muscle to pit rival PC manufacturers against each other to get the best value for their money. If the go with Macs, well, they get to haggle with Apple without the implied threat of taking their business elsewhere (other than to a PC platform, which is my point).
Macs have a longer life span than the average PC... thus your argument is without merit. The Mac owner gets to use his computer over a longer time and can therefore amortize out his investment over a longer period. You are basing your comments on hear-say, not experience.
Further, the idea of "recycling" parts from an old PC to an upgraded one applies only to those PC users who build their own systems.... a very small minority of computer users.
I use a Mac for my small business, photography, and would not consider a PC. I don’t have time to screw around with a computer, changing cards, etc. That’s for people who don’t have enough business.