The problem with these sorts of stories is that it's always difficult to be totally objective, but I wish you luckMaybe, to add a human interest element to your paper, you could tell real stories about real people, rather than hypothetical situations that may be biased. For example, there are threads about people's "switch experiences".
I think what it boils down to for me is that "Macs make you look good". This is a result of some great software and "polish". So I can churn out a slide show very quickly (iPhoto), burn it to a DVD with motion menus and music (iDVD) or edit a video (iMovie) or write up a newsletter (iWork). Today the Windows apps are really catching up, but a few years ago, the difference was remarkable. I've done Keynote presentations and not even done anything super-flashy, and the people who don't pay attention to technology complimented me on how good a presenter I was, while the people who do pay attention asked, "Hey, what version of PowerPoint were you using? How did you get it to look so good?"
Sometimes it's what you don't see. I know the "PCs crash a lot" is cliche, but it does sometimes happen and we've become so used to seeing it that we don't even notice anymore. I've been to many presentations or school lectures where the presenter will come in, unpack their laptop, plug it in, and I watch on the big screen as they fiddle with resolution settings in the Control Panel. You get a glimpse of their Windows desktop, watch as they open up PowerPoint and navigate to their file, etc. We see that all the time and we think nothing of it. I even see that happen in church services, and nobody is bothered by it.
So when the guy with the Mac plugs in and we see the projector fade to a plain blue screen, and then the next thing we see is the first page of the presentation, we don't think consciously of it ("Hey! we didn't see any desktop - that must mean he set up multiple monitors automatically and set up his presentation to use the secondary display! That's impressive, considering this is the first time he's ever plugged into that projector!") But what we do see is a smooth, distraction-free presentation, and in our minds we think "That guy is prepared. Therefore he is a good presenter."
Same thing when I put up a slide show using iPhoto and the Ken Burns effect as opposed to flipping static images. People come up and say "Wow, that was such a beautiful slideshow." They can't necessarily articulate why they thought it was nice. But they know that they saw something above and beyond the "norm".
The Mac isn't going to turn you into a superstar overnight. But it does give you a head start
Bravo! You have tangibly shown us the harmony of ownng and using a Mac.
I would suggest to the thread starter to change the topic & focus of his thesis to why the Mac has increased in sales and marketshare in the USA over the past 8 qtrs. This way you can show not just the ease of us for using the apps on Mac OS but also for personal use of accesories I. And out of the home.
I cannot comment how many years using Win98 - Win7 in the steps I need to do to setup a projector, setup to a previously used 2nd or 6th monitor (standardized on Dell 1709fp's) for deployment after the pci/pcie video card was installed. Rearranging the desktop arrangement setup. No big deal as it provides a job for me lol.
In a corporate environment of 5000 users or more on various subnets behind a firewall with rules implemented at various internal or external locations hands down windows is king. I keep wanting for Apple to highlight more of os x server in corporate deployment wih/out windows machines alongside Mac's. I'd love to see equivalents for exchange, SMS or app deployment from the server, gpo's etc. I also feel this needs to done and highlighted outside of the USA.
To the op try to research on using apps and the machine for end user home use. If you're going into professional use focus to the arts and check out Apples Education link showing how much marketshare in education k12 Apple has which is incredible also in Universities.