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No, you really aren't paying a great deal for OS X. If you are buying a Mac because you like the hardware quality, then you should compare it to Windows machines of similar quality. If you were to do so, you would see that the Mac laptops are competitively priced.

Even if there was a few hundred dollar premium, keep it in perspective. How smart is it to be fretting over a few hundred bucks with respect to a tool that you will likely use for a year or two, for a significant % of your waking hours, and upon which you depend for your most of your income?

"You're still paying a great deal for OSX"

OS X Lion costs $29. Windows 7 costs $119-219, depending on which edition you get.

While it's possible to buy a machine without Windows, the selection tends to be quite limited, particularly for notebooks. Assembling your own from parts is an option for desktop machines, but again not really for notebooks.

The hardware is that much better. 2x the cost but you don't have to carry a damn crap-top around that weighs 4 or more pounds and blows a fan when you move a window.