Someone like you, with such specialized applications, would be much better off with a Mac.
My oldest daughter at home is in college and uses OpenOffice. She is required to submit her documents in .doc or .xls format, and receives assignments in MicroSoft format.
She has reported no problems with OpenOffice.
I listened to enthusiastic claims much like yours twenty years ago and made the very expensive switch to a Mac II. I waited a year for the RAM I needed. I had it for about five years and endured that little bomb more times than I care to relate. I couldn't get a good CAD system (Pegasys, what a piece of crap). As to getting boards for various machine controls and instrument interfaces, make me laugh. Not only were there few, they cost a fortune.
I was forced to make the very painful switch back to Win. I lost a lot of work that I never recovered.
About the only thing I could say positive about the Mac was file efficiency. Now that I have another fifteen years' work to lose, no way.