I also dislike using Mac OS X because I find it fails worse than DOS when managing windows. They get lost and seems like it takes forever to find them again which just makes me so angry. Windows isn't much better, but at least all the damn windows are on the taskbar.
expose. end of story. if you're not using it. you fail.
you can set it to show just desktop, all open application screens, or screens open in a specific application.
also look at quicksilver for search/opening apps/absolutely everything.
greatest program ever.
also adiumx is full of win. (im program that includes all protocols)
macbookpros are really nice, but they have serious overheating issues. i can see the new macbook aluminum casing having similar issues, as well as issues with wifi reception. (aluminum is not the best for that)
also, apple rev a's tend to be fairly buggy, so purchase the new macbook at your own risk. if you browse any apple forum, you'll find numerous complaints about issues on rev a's. almost every mb/mbp/g4 pb rev a's had issues, some severe, others patch fixable. apple is good about taking care of said issues, but yeah, they are present with every new release.
i'm still on office 2004. while there are some issues converting ppt metafiles, it gets it done. you can also choose which version you want to save it to (mac/pc/older versions/etc). i've heard 2k8 is buggy so i've been avoiding upgrading, will prob get around to it later this year.
the great thing about mbp is, you can use it as a media hub. i'm not sure if the macbook come with the apple remote, but my mbp did. and it's pretty sweet.
but if you can afford a voodoo envy...