I finally broke down and did it.
I've wanted to do this since Apple did the smart thing and started building their system on top of a real operating environment, and since my workplace will "rent" my laptop from me while I'm working, I broke down and bought myself a MacBook. So far, I absolutely love the thing. Software that does pretty much what I want without fighting with it! A simple way to access BSD Ports! Not much negative to say *yet*, but I'm sure there will be something eventually.