Or is it that Mac developers are more vocal about their OS beliefs?
I'm honestly wondering if theres something magic that I'm not seeing (considering the fact that my 650$ laptop is more powerful than a 1700$ macbook pro...)
For reference I mainly use Linux dual booted with Win7.
So what I like about the Mac is OS X and all the handy *nix based tools that are still available to me, all packaged in a nice and slick package where stuff just works.
RE: "Or is it that Mac developers are more vocal about their OS beliefs?" The question you should be asking is what makes Mac developers so vocal about their OS beliefs? I think the answer you'll find is that they are so pleased with their Mac they feel compelled to share.
There's also a handful of fantastic development tools unique to OS X, two of my favorites being TextMate (RoR editor of choice by many), and Coda. There's also obviously been large growth in Objective-C developers since the release of the iPhone, again something (unless you count mono) unique to OS X.
Developers make software that they want to run on all hardware, especially the best hardware. They appreciate software when it works, and is designed well. Some developers value design more than others. Those, developers understand and appreciate the value in Macs.