Buying a PeeCee from a whorehouse - err excuse me, warehouse - would in no way qualify as "Thinking Different." I am quite sure that I don't understand the point of this post (and most others by you), but I think your gist is that you're upset that you're stuck with an iMac?! Have you seen Apple's product line?
I work with many types of computers at work, school, home, etc... I am currently working on my PhD in Bioinformatics - which I think you mention in your post - in order to specialize in that field of Intellectual Property Law (instead of the general patent work I do now). Macs are used extensively in the labs. In fact, there isn't a lab I've visited that didn't run on a Mac. Every PI (Not the Magnum, P.I. type) I've asked has said that PCs just don't cut it for what they do. Noooo, they don't use iMacs. That would be foolish. You wouldn't expect a Mini to be able to pull your RV cross-country. No, they make use of the many other configurations.
As far as iMacs being "amusing," that's the point. A lot of consumers find it cool/pretty/different/whatever. IT'S A CONSUMER MODEL... The price reflects that and the nod to fluff in design does as well. Personally, I hate 'em. No use for them unless I dumbed them down to be terminal stations connected to the network. But I love them for what they do for Apple. No professional Mac is going to capture the crappy Dell $799 market. But the iMac does and beats the pants off of that Dell.
I don't think everybody rea(l)ly love(s) Jobs, but there would be no Apple today without his return to the company. The iMac, love it or hate it, saved the company - that was Steve Jobs. A "new" operating system for the next century (actually made flesh and delivered on time). That was Steve Jobs, too. The High-end professional model I have sitting under my desk which blows the socks off ANY PC I've used. You guessed it - Steve Jobs. Beating the estimates last week. Uh huh, SJ again.
Now, I know he has a team of the best and brightest working for him, but it is his vision that leads to these accomplishments/advances.
HH, you are not "condamned" to an iMac. Check out the other models. And, by the way, I am STILL trying to figure out what the hell the original post you made in this thread means.....