Expanding on that, every Windows system off the shelf, regardless of brand, has been tampered with or "enhanced" in some way. Apple has complete control over what goes on their laptops, so they work the way Apple wants.

Microsoft gives their system to a manufacturer, who then messes with it. If Microsoft made their own laptops, I doubt there would be many stability issues with them.

Even the simple act of installing a downloaded program is an exercise in frustration! And when I search for solutions to self-perceived problems all I can find is responses like "you're doing it wrong -- you must learn to do it a completely new (backwards) way."

My first impression of the Mac is this: it does take a bit of getting used to if you are coming from a PC, and on a laptop, the bigger/better track pad and gestures do help (I still prefer a mouse over any trackpad). Other than that, I don't think it is better than Windows 7 by any means. I do miss my Super Taskbar on Windows 7 and the Dock is just a poor alternative. Also, Windows Explorer is really powerful compared to the Finder on the Mac. I have always organised my files myself and never relied on the search function to find files for me. On the Mac search is much better, and it probably needs it to be so.

I love the portability and battery life of my Macbook Air, as well as its supposed resale value a few years down the lane. As you may have already noticed, my decision to get a mac was not based on the OS choices, but the fact that no Windows ultra portables can compete with the Macbook Air.

I will never consider using Mac without bootcamp/windows as my main computer at home, however. Not because it cannot serve the purpose, just because most of my SW are Windows and I am so used to it, and I am not stupid enough to get viruses.

On the other hand, the best computer I ever had was a PC. I now have a MAC again and it's a little different but once you get used to it it's more intuitive. The thing about MACs is support. You can bring it back and they will fix it. There is plenty of free phone support. If you add in the price of free support the MAC is cheaper then the PC.

What is comes down to is, “Do I feel lucky?” If you feel lucky get a PC. If you don’t want to worry about luck get a MAC.

My big dilemmas are PhotoBooth, the ability to have all my iPhone music already synced and in the cloud and I love the look of Macs. And that I really love Word and Excel (practically live off them). In my experience, Macs don't have good versions of Word and Excel. What do I do?

My pc is apple mac pro. If you want by a mac pc I suggest you buy a Mac Pro because this is the best.

If you're trying to pick up some girls at the local Starbucks and you only use your computer for email, a Mac is for you. If you want to make money with your computer or do anything that needs actual computing, buy a PC. If you like the OSX reliability and interface, install one of the many versions of LINUX, like Ubuntu. Just because you have a PC doesn't mean you have to be stuck with Windows. You have options -- much cheaper options, and more reliable options than Mac.

If you do get a Mac, take my advice: get the Applecare Protection plan which will set you back about $350. You will need it!

So, a pc is actually some random hardware put together, and it is up to the OS (let's say windows in this case) to make sense of it, millions of drivers to have at your disposal. This is also one of the problems with android devices.

Apple makes the hardware and the OS, so they know which hardware is in the machine, and the os is therefore way more streamlined and fast.

I have used a pc always, up until now. But things are going more professional for me, so I need performance, stability, no randomness. I want to try out a mac. Maybe a macbook air, as I am on the move a lot. It is though, a big choice. I am typing this on a $200 pc. Not much, but the performance is actually kind of good. Just not trustworthy in professional situations. Something could go wrong. Cheers

You get what you pay for. If you have a high end PC system it will kick butt and there is no way a MAC can compete.

There are, of course, Power Mac Pro machines that you pay $10,000 or more for that will do almost the same thing as the power PC, but still a MAC is a MAC and a PC is a PC. Why on earth do you argue or say pc or mac is better than another?

I used a PC all my life and never had any problems. If you are too illiterate to operate a PC, simple: don't buy it, get a mac and you will be happy. But to me, macs are just too limited in resources (as of now at least). Maybe in 20 years a MAC will be better for my use, but as of now, no thank you. Macs are just simpler and not better, got it?

Just visit a mac store and see the kind of idiots asking how to access the Internet on a MAC. Wow. This just makes me sick. It's 2012 and our society is behind monkeys 50 years. It is like comparing apples with oranges. Do you guys know the difference between those two? Good luck.

I can't be happier with it. It rarely freezes up and if it does it's only for a moment and then it recovers. Windows XP and previous versions of Windows just didn't do that. A program crash usually sent you to the power button to reset the system. They truly were piles of crap, after having them run for a for a few months.

As for the Mac systems, I've used them back in school -- the old Macintosh systems with that 90's interface. They just had the wrong feel to them then, but I didn't give up on them, and here, 20 odd years later, I've given the OSX another try. I installed it on this PC I have now as a Virtual Machine, just to see what all the hype was about.

I can't say I'm astonished or blown away by what OSX had to offer. Maybe I'm just too far gone down the PC path to see the OSX for what it can do. I was lost in the new Mac environment. Stuff was not where it was supposed to be, and the programs seemed oddly foreign and unsatisfactory. Sure it looked cool and all, but I just can't get used to my windows control buttons being on the left side, and that "start" menu thing, no thanks.

To each his own I say. If you're a Mac user, keep on keepin' on. I'll stick with my PC. Skyrim for the PC is awesome, give it a try!

You will have the benefit of a Mac without the price.

(I run Linux Ubuntu off of a 16 GIG USB flash drive).

As for the stability of the OS, the Mac is more stable than Windows. I'm not saying that Mac OSX is without fault, because that would a lie. Is Windows rubbish? Of course not. If you are into serious gaming, then Windows is for you. If you are into serious graphics editing, etc., then the Mac has an edge. This is not to say that you can't game on a Mac, or that you can't do the graphics stuff on a PC, just that each has its strong points.

Some say that a Mac is too restricted and can't be customised or tweaked. Seriously guys, you are clueless.

Networking - incorporating a Mac into a business network and exchange server is not a problem. So called "IT managers" who say otherwise are also clueless. I'm aware of dozens of companies that do just that with no issues.

Software prices do not differ greatly, and most serious productivity apps are available for the mac, and are comparably priced to the windows version. In the last couple of years I've no longer needed a Windows machine for specialty apps, as they are all available for my Mac. The Mac App Store now offers a great range of software, with many programs available at amazingly low prices. The software argument is not one you'd be choosing the platform on.

But to the guy who reckons USB cables cost more for Macs, I mean seriously dude - you are deluded. I don't pay a premium for peripherals of any type to use with my Mac at home. Printers, hard drives, scanners, cables - they're all the same for both Mac and Windows.

In summary, if you want cheap, then a cheap Windows machine will do all basic web browsing, email, office stuff. If you have more demanding requirements, or you want a machine with a bit more grunt, then spend more and get more. My preference is with the Mac, but my best mate loves his Windows PC.

If you want to take some advice from this forum, then I suggest you ignore those who are all or nothing for either OS. Their bias will not help you. I also suggest that if someone has been using a Mac for just two weeks, then they are a little short on valuable data.

Me? I've been working with windows every day at my workplace for 10 years, and bought my first Mac around 12 years ago. My preference is with the Mac OS, and that is a balanced decision based on a lot of time with both platforms. But like I say, that is my preference.

There are no downloads, everyone else is miles ahead in image editing and I can't get a simple download! I hate MAC!

Another point is boot camp. You can buy a PC and it runs windows. If you need some Mac program, you're out of luck. But if you buy a Mac, you can run both. Sure you can download a modded Mac OS X and install it. But the thing with Mac on a PC is that it normally only works for a few PC's and it is not always legal.

And the argument that Macs last longer than PCs isn't true, either. I have had this same laptop for five years and in that time my "Mac fanboy" friend has gone through two Macs. They crash, they break just like PCs. And the virus thing isn't a real issue because that has nothing to do with the PC's stability. That just has to do with the volume of people who own PCs.

More viruses are out there for PCs, simply because there are more PCs out there so more viruses are made for them (put simply). Also, since there are more PCs you will hear more horror stories from ID10T errors because more people own a PC to tell those stories. I have had plenty of experience with Mac computers over 10 years and I can say from experience they are not going to be any more stable than a PC. They are just a little bit more ID10T error proof because of how closed they are. That's my 25 cents.

My only problems with Windows OSs is that they come out with Systems that the general population will not use same with Apple. I mean Imacs and MacBooks are expensive. Then again there are people out there who uses Macs so therefore I really don't hate "Macs". They are not user friendly so I will never buy one.

Windows isn't good for multitasking. The toolbar gets insanely cluttered, one program freezes, they all follow. I end up sitting for several minutes for it to unfreeze. OSX is just a solid OS built on UNIX and is a really great to work with.

I also like Obuntu but not nearly as much as OSX. I just hate it is locked into Apple hardware. I would gladly pay $200 to install it on a PC just like people do with Windows.

Over the years my Windows based PC’s have served me well. I even have an old 2001 Model IBM R30 laptop running Windows Xp, with no major issues, however, it is slow. Which isn’t surprising for its age as it was made for Win2000. Having said that I also own a desktop as my main PC.

Here are some of my issues I have had: blue screens of death, viruses and malware threats, constant IE failures and other program failures. A ton of registry errors. For the most after trying to sort it all out, you just give up and format the C drive again and reload Windows.

Windows is truly unstable, and this is coming from someone who has never owned a Mac. When windows works, it’s fine. The other issue is that a PC, over time, will slow as newer software requires more speedy processors and then a new version of Windows.

Indeed, a PC is cheaper than a Mac. However, a PC does not come with the applications (software) that the Mac has as standard. If you factor this in the price it’s not that large a difference.

A friend of mine recently had her PC infected with about.blank Hijacker and she visited her local PC shop, which promptly sold her an anti-virus suite to remove it. Four hundred dollars later, it wasn’t fixed. Microsoft, error messages were sending her to sites to pay for removal tools, system tune-up tools, etc., etc., all for a price, of course. She finally did what I told her and got the machine reformatted.

After all my issues, a PC is a PC. It does what i need from it. I use it mainly for e-mail, online chat servers, MSN, surfing the net, playing the odd game, viewing my pictures and videos and printing from it.

From what i have read so far, a Mac does all this just as well, with the only difference being its uses different OS and applications. For that reason, a PC person like myself will look into buying an iMac. It’s true you may pay more than for a PC, however, with a PC you eventually pay later.

The truth be told, I have used Linux and found it a lot better than windows. Like many PC users, we can’t stand Microsoft and all their crap. I once couldn’t even validate my genuine copy of windows to get updates. Just sick of it all. I will try a Mac.

For all you people out there who say I’m an Apple fanboy, well I have never owned anything from Apple before so you have no basis. Lets hope the New Snow leopard OSX is far more stable than Winblows. A very disappointed PC user.

A PC can out perform a MAC doing anything. Run four or five applications on CS5 master collection at the same time, also fire up FL9 or 10 and do a trance tune and play COD black ops while switching between the web for game tips; you get my drift. Can a MAC do all that? Almost forgot: two 39" flat screen HD TVs and a 19" monitor. Start up time is 87 seconds and takes less than a minute to shut down. Internet security software these days are are very good. I have had no virus attack at all. Not even worth a discussion. Price: less than £3K. Otherwise I would use a MAC.

Windows is familiar and has ubiquitous software. And the latest OS, Windows 7, is quite good and stable, and the idea of building my own Windows computer is fun. There's nothing my Windows 7 machine cannot do pretty well except feed my cat when he meows. Many of my PC family are Dells, and all still work, with the oldest being seven years old. All components still work, and Dells are very easy to fix as needed, although none have needed it, and their BIOS is user friendly for those who like to set up dual booting.

Mac? What used to be mysterious and almost too different is now fast, secure, and beautiful, and less different. For my art and music, it's Mac. It too is stable. And durable. My oldest Mac is 20 years old and still works well. I like legacy software so much that it still gets usage. Apple makes quality.

Now to Linux. It's not for geeks. It's for podcatchers, artists, scientists, web surfers, businesspeople, movie watchers, gamers, etc. Being free, it's fun free shopping when I feel greedy for new software. And Terminal isn't something hidden like underwear. It's accessible for anyone who wants to do programming. I've built an Ubuntu environment that grew enormous and has become greatly useful as well as entertaining. I've even set up one Linux from an elderly Dell that was really too old to run Windows XP Pro well, so I gave it Linux Mint and set it up as my language computer all in French as an immersion environment.

So, which do I choose? All of them, any day, any time. They are all awesome.

If you just want to get down to business and not put up with annoying crashes having to defrag your disk and all those other annoying things that PCs have, then a Mac is the way to go. It's like a car. I don't need to know how it runs; I just want to use it, not waste all my time fiddling with it.

My son now has a mac for school and he loves it. The kids had a choice a Mac or a windows based PC and the kids who made the PC choice are all regretting it and wanting a mac. Yep, you can play games on them just the same as a PC and he has never had a problem with his mac. The techies at school have not had to look at the macs -- only the PCs.

My other son has a PC and yep, you guessed it -- always something going wrong and when it does I thank god he has PC nuts for friends who like looking under the bonnet to fix it because I am totally over it. Bring on the macs, I say. They have a better design better for getting on with what you really want to be doing. Not wasting all that time under the bonnet. You get what you pay for and I haven't wasted a penny.

It seems with macs, the functionality and ability to customize has been removed for simplicity of use. It's like buying a car and not being able to look under the bonnet! Apart from the screen and fewer cables, definitely a backward step from my five year old windows desktop.

I am a technical engineer in charge of end user support for over 500 users.

In general, MACs are great, unless you want to do things in a customized way. They may be reliable perhaps due to their rigidity. This is both good and bad. Both PCs and MACs have their pros and cons, depending on who uses them and how. Saying one is better that the other is like saying that blondes are sexier than redheads. It really depends on who you are.

At work (cons): MACs are generally simple to set up right out of the box, unless you wish to place them on a windows network, configure them to interact with any specific exchange server or have them use customized PC based applications.

Some resort to VMware or parallels to run a windows environment within the MAC O/S. My solution is to use thin apps to run the program from the MAC desktop.

Printing to a Windows server hosted device is challenging too. But there are solutions. Most IT folk running a windows environment hate dealing with a MAC because it just is not built to easily interface with anything non-Mac and there is so little online help available.

It's difficult to lock down options on the desktop. This means that users will experiment with every option until they call you to fix it to working order again. I get more trouble calls from MAC users on my network than anyone else. They cost so much more and stress me out making a business case to purchase them over a PC that cost four times less. Their peripherals are so much more expensive. Even the usb cables for MACs cost much more than their PC counterparts.

Servicing is a nightmare. With a Dell or HP one phone call results in an engineer visiting within four hours to replace a faulty part. I have to take the MAC to an Apple center far away and wait a few days.

They don't ship with any preventative maintenance programs compared to PCs that generally give you options to scan a drive for errors and defrag.

They are difficult, almost impossible to conform to group policy controls. Therefore, every MAC has to be configured, despite being on a a business network.

At work (Pros): They are great for graphics artists and audio visual engineers, who probably trained specifically on MACs. You just can't compare a 32bit 2GB RAM PC with a 64bit 8GB iMAC or Mac Pro. The more stable 64 bit platform doesn't crash when they open four extremely large programs at the same time. Experienced PC users often close large programs to avoid this. Apple users can't wrap their minds around the concept.

The users feel special to be given a MAC. They are proud to use such a sleek and sexy, stylish machine.

There are indeed fewer virus impacting MAC. However, many MAC users do contract malware and just don't realize that they are infected because they choose not to run anti-virus programs to indicate that they got infected.

Using boot-camp, parallels or VMWARE MAC users can also enjoy PC desktops. The downside of this is the IT department having to manage the additional software licenses for doing so.

At home (Cons): Expensive software. MACs ship with some great apps. However there are fewer freeware options available online should you need something more. Fewer programmers and companies write software for Apple due to its lower market share.

There is less online help available. If you run into a problem you have little choice but to go to the Apple folk and put your support contract to the test.

Everything Apple is more expensive. All peripheral devices, software, cables, anything.

At home (Pros): If you don't intend to do anything ground-breaking its great! Surfing the Internet, writing letters, sending email, playing videos and music is all that a lot of people do. You can do these forever with a MAC with few to no issues.

If it's simplicity with little need for doing things differently you want, a MAC may be for you.

I broke down an got my new Mac14". called a few times for advice on how to work programs, they answered immediately as opposed to all other brands put me on hold half hour or more or hung up. I think I will like my new Mac and its service.

I did buy two dells 15' four or five years ago for my kids and grandkids. with a bit of service work needed, both still work fine. go figure.

In my opinion, Unix is a more reliable operating system. I am familiar with the commands, and very productive with the bash shell.

I had used windows until windows 98, I learned a great deal about computers using it, I did not have issues with it, but I switched to Linux because a Unix platform better suits my computer needs. From Linux, I switched to Mac. The reason: I just do not want to buy a PC only to format the hard drive and install Linux: spending money for an OS I will never use.

If you are trying to decide which computer better suits your needs, ask yourself what you want to do with a computer. If you only want to browse the internet, play games, watch movies, check your email, and chat with friends, shelling out over a grand for a MAC is not wise; however, if you want reliability, configurability, programmability, and a powerhouse of tools, buy a MAC and learn Unix.

In my opinion, the average computer user will find a PC to be the better choice.

I should mention that I was an avid gamer and I enjoyed using peripherals.

Here's my take on Macbooks.

I'm going to talk about Macbook Pro Laptops.

I bought a Macbook Pro for college in 2010. I do not regret it.

What I found was that there are several pros and cons for both.

Macbooks are simply put, easy to use. You can download several applications and install very easily for free and some have properties such as Aero quicksnap and maximize. So it can open exactly like Windows.

Also, Macbooks have "Spaces" or multiple desktops and easy trackpad usage.

The trackpad is the best part. Simple swipes have a multitude of commands and it makes life so much easier. The dock is also much simpler to use for general computer users. It turns on faster. It's intuitive, and files are very clean and organized.

It's aluminum body is very sexy and light weight. It's also very hard to crack. Unibody.

It's very fast. Great processor.

Cons- a medium learning curve.

It's aluminum. Aluminum bends and creaks. Some can squeak!

Also, what is the microphone doing in the body (voice chat causes huge echoes), and why are the speakers internal (echoing music in chatting), and why the hell do I have to take it to Apple to replace the battery? It's also expensive compared to PC laptops.

Then again, you're getting a well put together piece of equipment. And seriously, why are you upgrading your freaking laptop anyway?

Buy a new one. You upgrade desktops, not laptops.

These laptops, even the dual cores, will last you for a very long time.

Say that you don't destroy you PC laptop in three years. If you carry it around, by the time you need a new one, there will be processors and parts that will be worth buying to replace this one. However, hardware hasn't and will not advance to that stage in a long time. So Macs are a strong and safe investment. Macs are well put together. They will not fall apart

Besides that, Mac is good for the general public.

It's fast, gets fewer viruses, and it lasts long.

The battery life is amazing. It can go up to 11 hours on idle, but I usually get about 6 hours when I run Microsoft word. Why? Because I don't need multiple programs running in the background taking up processing power like anti-viruses.

For the gamers: A serious question these people need to ask themselves is why are you playing games on your laptop? If you are playing games, you must be playing simple ones that are most likely readily available to macs like Minecraft, League of Legends, or WoW.

If you have a gaming laptop, then get a PC laptop, not bootcamp. It's that simple.

If you want to run special programs, get a PC.

Otherwise, Macs are great.

PC laptops are also very good if you take very, very good care of them.

Sometimes the good brands will surprise you and have the same excellent qualities as a Macbook.

I am still an avid PC gamer and I love both my Mac and PC.

But I have to admit that Macs are good for simple things like incredibly easy simple programs. It makes a great different in everyday life. You don't want the complications or the 14 extra clicks to find things. Also the navigation is easier once you're used to it. If you use your laptop everyday, you'll find that the mac is sooo worth the investment.

However, other programs for avid windows users, are much easier on Windows.

As for repairing a Mac, you should not be buying such an expensive piece of hardware without a warranty. If you break it, you send it in for repairs, bring it to Best Buy, or bring it to the Apple Store. Free repair depending on how expensive your warranty.

Dells and other companies all have horrible stories about computer repairs.

Apple is very good with its customers and they love them. They honor their repairs and their words.

Overall, get a Mac if you're super busy, want easy use, have excess money and don't care about very specific PC programs.

Get a PC if you want the most varieties of peripherals, games, and etc.

Side note: I have to admit, Mac users are usually always snobby. Don't be that guy/gal. They both have pros and cons.

I got a mac because I just wanted simple and sexy. I'm tired of windows security pop ups and annoying windows crap. This never happens on a Mac.

Also, Macs are not just for idiot PC users. Just because they want simplicity doesn't make them incapable of opening the same programs.

I have a difficult life and its very stressful. I don't want to deal with PC problems and its annoying OS. I want ease of use.

They're both very good. Take your pick.

I am not about to "dis" PC's. I like them. However, I am being blue screened to death, thanks to my inability to re install my Windows programme once a year. Time for a change. I will clean up my desk top, try the new iMac 21.5 wireless and come back here next year to let you know if the "old dog" has learned any new tricks!

I will go whole hog, airport express router, track pad etc and let you know what I think. I will always be loyal to Windows but I am frankly curious about the Apple products. See you all next year.

I’ve recently changed to a MacBook pro after always owning PC (Windows). Unfortunately for me it has not been a smooth transition so far and the “cosmetic” benefits really don’t hold ground.

The biggest problem I’ve had is with the transfer of files and folders into the mac system and the corresponding restrictions. I keep finding myself saying, “XXXX I can’t even do that!”.

For example, there is no delete on a mac, only a backspace. You can't view anything full screen by just clicking the “maximize button” -- you have to drag out the window. You can't just open one photo in a folder and then flick through the folder; you have to first select all the photos you want to see. The list goes on and on, and although these are all small issues, I find that it's all very restrictive, very time consuming and just unnecessary.

You feel like you've been punished for being a pc user and the mac is saying to you “do it my way or it's the highway," whereas a pc says, “Just tell me want you want and I'll do it!” As a consequence, I've had to spend days reorganizing all my files, folders, photos and music into the mac way of doing things when I actually preferred the way I had it before. And in my experience, the system is not really all that stable and when it crashes I normally have to power off the computer and restart because the force close has also crashed.

Obviously, I was expecting some teething problems changing to a new operating system, but I'm also struggling to find the benefits.

As I've already said, I only got this MacBook recently (two weeks ago) and I'm willing to give it the benefit of doubt but with windows 7 getting Microsoft back in the game, I am seriously considering going back to a system where I'm the boss.

Any words of encouragement from other who've gone through the same process would be appreciated.

At work, I could reconfigure printers, and knew how to problem solve for minor program glitches in word, but every new upgrade, windows reconfigures the task bars and the menus and the help section so I have to refigured out how to use it. Keeps the tech busy and employed at work though.

I finally had it and spent the extra $ for a great MAC over three years ago. Never had a virus, a slow down, a programing glitch. Oh, and before you choose a PC, you might want to check how much you will spend on programing. All the programing a regular household user needs comes on a MAC, no extra cost. I had to buy lots of programs to edit photos, make/edit DVD's etc on my old PC, but that all came with the MAC.

You can buy a windows office version for MAC if you need to, but I just taught myself the MAC system and found it more intuitive. Their programs are also simply prettier to look at as well.

As others stated, only you can decide, but sometimes you get what you pay for.

I am an average home user, do lots of photos and documents, online banking, spreadsheets and I made a great DVD without even looking at the tutorial: music, photos, everything.

I recommend MACs to the average user who wants to use the computer as a tool to make life easier. They really are more user friendly.

I found that PC's made my life more complicated. Who needs a slow/broken computer when we all do online banking now? And who wants to have to buy a new computer every few years?

In my opinion, they each are great machines and it doesn't matter which you buy, as long as you do research for what you want. Just make sure you check what you need for what you want, and make sure the computer you buy can run/do it well.

Like someone already said, they sure know how to get viruses and the dreaded blue screen, slow down when i need speed and of course just crash when they feel like it. Wow. I'm really looking forward to a MAC. Oh yes, hope Dell goes bust.

I have been a PC user ever since I can remember (15 years or more) and I have only ever had troubles with them. They're slow, laggy, always get viruses, errors, the whole kit and caboodle. I currently have a Dell laptop with Vista on it and it's a bucket of crap. In the first month I was already having problems with the sound card and I still do.

After a year, the keyboard and track pad stopped working. I have errors that pop up on my screen and a virus that is corrupting some of my files. I contacted Dell when it was still in warranty and they wouldn't even send someone out to have a look at it. Never again would I ever buy Dell.

On the other hand, my friend has a Mac book. One that's aluminium cased. She takes it on her work trips and holidays. She has dropped it about five times - by accident of course (you can see the dents) and the damn thing works perfectly! If I did that with my Dell, I hate to think what would happen to it. She's had no issues with the OS whatssoever.

My PC overheats all the time (I only bought it in mid 2009), takes forever to load up. The fan is running constantly and I have had to buy an extra fan and it still has problems with over heating.

I know internally MACs have the same hardware as any other computer and that it's only the operating system and the outer casing that's different, but clearly apple is doing something right if everyone is starting to turn their backs on PC's.

I was at JB-HiFi store a couple weeks ago and the guy selling the computers told me, 95 percent of computers that they sell now are MACs. The PCs are just collecting dust these days. Seems like a lot of people are getting fed up with PCs. They look like crap and they operate the same way. The winds are changing.

Thanks for all your posts.

It was the best $200 dollars of technology money I've spent so far.

My wife's iMac (6 years old) is still running OK, but it's a dog with fleas when it comes to performance and price. I can't yet convince her to come over to the good side (PC), so our household continues to be divided.

Both are good choices depending on your personal preferences.

i read a lot of crap like government agencies and universities don't use mac. Both colleges i attended did, and i work for the government and all 12 in our office have government issued i-phones so don't believe everything you read.

The truth is I'm 32 years old and owned about six or seven pc's and I'm sick of spending $700-$1000 every three years. i know the imac would crash a lot in college, but i have to try out the new product because pc's are designed to fail so you are constantly upgrading and it makes me sick! Anyone reading this should know don't be swayed by biased posts. No computer is perfect, so go out and ask friends. They *might* tell you the truth.

You might be able to brainwash helpless old women and small children that your expensive plastic toys are superior, Apple, but you don't fool me!

P.S. This comment was written from a Mac. I kid you not.

I have had to spend three months out of my life with my mac in the air to get repaired by apple. I had sent it to Salt Lake City six times in under a year. Replaced almost every major component. Optical Drive(CD-DVD Drive), audio card, video card, system cooling fans, logic board (mother board) and a battery that exploded.

My problems started the day I got the mac. It wouldn't burn a CD that would play in anything but my computer(would not finalize disk). After a year of problems (and a computer that could have flown free to first class to Australia on frequent flier miles) they sent me a brand new mac.

I haven't even had my new computer a year yet and already I am sending it in for a new optical drive(CD-DVD rom).

I regret every day my purchase. OSX is awesome, but macs stink. If you want a mac, you should rethink it hard, then make a hackentosh for a fourth of the cost and better components! Trial by error done for you.

I bring in my alienware laptop that works 10x better than a mac and do my work on that. I got a bunch of adobe programs on my laptop along with various video editing software.

While the Gnome UI has more developer type apps and utilities, the KDE UI is very pretty and easy to use.

I have taught a community class for several years on putting Linux on older PCs to give then new life. And by the way, - WalMart's webstore used to sell linux PCs for $200 (they may still have them).

If what you want is an easy to use system, for web, email, video and audio editing that looks good, take a look at Fedora (free). Sounds like Mac? Hint - Mac runs on top of Linux.

They rule the market because IBM developed them and in the corporate world - "You don't get fired for buying IBM". IBM and ex-IBM execs sit on the boards of most Fortune 1000 corporations and that was when the explosion came and fueled the production of the clones (and the drop in prices - the first XTs were around $10K ea).

I use a PC but am considering a mac and am playing with it in VMWare. $30 for the OS at Best Buy and run it in VirtualBox. iWork rocks - I got it for my iPad and want it on my main box now.

A PC has been evolving for decades and it's just getting started and there is no limit as to what it can do because it runs on software. Sure, use your 5 year-old Mac to watch a DVD while I'll watch a blu-ray on my brand new PC.

Not only is the interior reliable, but the exterior is easy on the eyes. It has a beautiful unibody case that is better built than any windows laptop. Windows laptops slow down and break too easily, but the Mac does not. Windows also has a big problem with viruses. Everywhere you go on the internet you're bound to get some sort of virus. But the Mac is virtually safe from viruses. Of course, there is still some threat but nothing a cheap anti-virus can't protect against.

Also, for all the people saying gamers should go with a PC, that is not true. I use my Mac with games all the time and to be frank, it runs hard core games better than any PC I've ever used. Of course I have to use Bootcamp as some games are not Mac compatible, but due to the hardware of the MacBook Pro, it runs games without a problem.

I use to hate Mac all because of that stupid "it has no right click" thing, but it turns out Mac does have right click and really is better than any PC out there.

P.S. It runs games better than an Alienware laptop, and looks 10000x better too.

The Mac I recently replaced was seven years old, and hadn't given me any trouble--and the G4 533 I bought around 1998 still runs! Yeah, it's slow, but it's 14 years old! So is my dog that I got the year before!

The thing about Macs is that they truly do "just work." The learning curve is a very small hill, and help is readily available on the Apple website and in various forums elsewhere--if you have a problem.

To the guys who say, "build your own PC cheaper the way you want it" I'll say, that I will never build my own computer--I don't want to do that. I'll take my new Mac out of the box, put it on the desk, and be doing what I want in about 10-15 minutes--20-25 if I'm migrating an old machine. Graphics and sound included.

And it works with every digital camera and camcorder I've ever owned effortlessly, and plays nicely with Palm devices I've had, and my parents (aged 80 and 76) have used Macs to digitize old 78RPM records onto CDs. There's just no downside except the latest and greatest online gaming, which I won't ever do. Once you go Mac, you really won't go back.

1. Mac's are pricey for the hardware you get. Build a PC yourself with the same specs as a Mac and you will save money.

2. Windows does what I want. I don't understand people who say that they have loads of trouble with windows. XP was awesome, Vista was kind of a let down, but with windows 7 I basically never get errors.

3. I don't think I've ever heard somebody say 'Does it run on windows', but 'Does it run on a Mac' all too frequently.

4. Macs have better software. Well, but new software for your pc then. Duh. Sony Vegas, Photoshop. Awesome?

5. Macs look pretty. Buy a decent case for your PC.

6. Yes, you've guessed it. I don't like macs at all. A PC has done everything I need it to, for cheaper than a Mac.

7. Macs just work. Oh really? Nah, mate.

I decided to switch over to a Mac because for me personally, I have had many bad experiences with my windows PC's. Now don't get me wrong. I know there are many windows users out there who never have problems, but for me I did have a lot of problems.

What knocked me towards Mac the most was when I bought a laptop running Vista. That for me was the final straw. I spent most of my time dealing with errors and slow performance, then having to defrag my drive every month or so.

My new Mac is similarly spec'd to my pc, but it handles things with less problems, which in return gives you higher performance over a pc of the same spec. Of course you could buy a higher spec pc lower than you can buy a good Mac but is the extra money for a Mac worth it? For me, it most certainly is.

Not only does it run great, it looks great and it only comes with things you'd want. I mean, I didn't have to uninstall all the trial software that came with my Mac because it doesn't come with any trials, only good software that you will want to use, such as GarageBand, iMovie and the whole I life suite. Not only that, but even on the lower end Macs, they almost never struggle to cope and by that, I mean unlike windows PC's when you push them to their limits they continue to work instead of becoming unstable causing windows to crash. This, I think, is down to the fact that Mac OS X is designed around the Mac hardware and is designed by the same people that pick the hardware which ultimately gives apple the opportunity to optimise the OS to run on their hardware.

I don't think that windows is in any way "inferior," but for me and many others who don't want trouble from their computer or for people who need to work on their computer for things like video editing, photo editing or anything productive that requires you to be able to get on with what you are doing without any little hitches along the way, a Mac is better.

On the other hand, a PC is cheaper and good enough for most day to day users looking to browse the web or enjoy some media and is certainly the better option for gamers and system modders.

As for the subject of upgradeability, Macs don't actually tend to lose speed or drop performance over the years like some PC's do so usually actually don't need upgrading.

So before anyone goes out and buys a PC, consider for a moment how much you are going to end up paying for a PC after you buy security protection over the life of the machine, buy software for video editing, photo editing or music editing that would come installed anyway on a Mac or for telephone support and you might just find out that it will work out more.

A: PC. Positives/ Negatives

B: Mac. Positives/ Negatives

OK. Now computers. What is the hoo-ha about macs?

If you want to do something with more specialized hardware that no other computer can do then buy the cheaper one.

Apple pretty much admitted that their OS wasn't as good as Windows when they announced boot camp.

The mac will last longer with you and it doesn't lose its value quickly which means you can sell it at a good price.

If you notice, most pc users replace them every two or three years and sell them for like 100-200 bucks while mac users can have their macs for five years plus and it's still working and looks like brand new.

On the other side of things, if you need a controlled, predictable, stable user experience then a Mac is much more hassle-free, user-friendly. It's almost like an appliance, nobody needs to update or reformat their fridge! For someone who uses a computer for a few repetitive tasks, a mac may provide exactly what they need.

I've built probably a dozen PCs, and use an Alienware laptop and an iPad, and spend way more time than I like to think about running around and troubleshooting other people's PCs to see the value of a mac, plus they look pretty too, and some people just need that to have an enjoyable computer experience.

Just get what works for your needs. I feel like PC's are tap water, and Macs are bottled water. You can argue all day about how much easier it is to buy a bottle of water then have to call a plumber, but at the same time if you use bottled water to cook spaghetti than you're missing the point.

As far as Windows being pre-installed, you'd have to talk to the people at the Apple store. Personally, I wouldn't use a Mac without Windows for Mac.

I don't think any peripherals like a camera or printer are absolutely necessary, but printers are cheap, and come in handy for printing out papers, so you might think about spending an extra $80 for one.

Also, about upgrading the RAM: that's another one of those questions you'd need to ask the Apple people. I'm running 2 GB of RAM on my PC with Vista Home Premium 64, and it runs just fine. I have an AMD Athlon dual core processor. I'm not a big gamer. I use my PC at home mostly for word processing and surfing the net. The little gaming I do is stuff like "Diner Dash." LOL. So if you're not a gamer and your OS isn't a memory hog, whatever the Macbook comes with is probably sufficient for your needs.

I'd recommend at least 2 GB of RAM, though, just so you have enough juice to watch a movie or other videos.

Just a personal note, but if you do decide to go with a PC, try to go with the AMD processors. IMHO, they are so much better than the Intel processors. They run and run and run and run. All of my tech head friends way prefer the AMD processors. I've had motherboards and hard drives crap out on me, but never one of those AMD processors.

I am considering buying a mac for college but it seems kind of pricey and i still have a lot of questions.

1: Are there certain accessories that i have to use (example a printer or a camera)?

2: If i were to buy a macbook would i need to upgrade to the 4BG RAM if i am just a casual user?

3: How do i get windows on mac? or does it come preinstalled?

Thank you.

I find PCs better in every way. They have better games, more and better software, they are faster, simpler, much easier to customize, both when it comes to hardware and to the individual settings you want.

Don't see how macs have better editing software for videos and music etc. You look at the top people in the world and they're on PC too.

1)they are simple and effective. Macs are far easier to navigate compared to pc's.

2)Macs look amazing. You can clearly tell apple has put a lot of time in the casing (unlike other companies) you can clearly see they take pride in their computers.

3) many people say they crash, and yes they might, but so do pc's though. One person posted that all the macs in their school broke. Hey that was in the 1990's and mac was a new brand. They are a lot better now.

Finally and the most important: Macs are future proof, they have built in A.V unlike pc's (no more £40 a year for protection).

Also macs don't decline in speed as much as pc's.

i have had pc's all my life, and i used to think they were amazing, but now i have realized macs are the way forward! they are a better all around machine.

My family has used a "PC" for the last 18 years and in that time, I've only had three computers. My first desktop, a Daytek, ran from 1993-2003. We then purchased an Emachines in 2003, which we still use up until now. The third PC is an ACER laptop my daughter purchased for university three years ago. We have never had any problems, except the first computer was so old, it eventually became hard to upgrade.

I have several problems with Mac:

1. It may be more secure as of now, but as its market continues to expand, Mac will have increasing troubles with hackers and other forms of malicious software. Not only that, analysts have said Mac will "get hit harder", per se, since their enterprise isn't versatile.

2. In this day and age, who wants a computer that can't be upgraded? I mean, if you're going to shell out $1500+ for a Mac, wouldn't you at least want longevity and up-to-date technology?

3. As someone else said, why buy a Mac if you are going to run Windows on it? Why not just by a PC for a hell of a lot cheaper? That just proves some morons buy these things because it's trendy and 'pretty'.

4. They market themselves as the brand for dumb yuppies who don't know anything about computers. So as long as you want to be ignorant about how your computer runs, but look cool, you should buy a Mac.

5. Macs crash, and crash hard. Try fixing it yourself, and you might void your warranty. A person on another forum stated she had to pay $1000 to get her computer working again.

Lastly (but I can go on), government and businesses don't use Macs. If leaders and corporations, who no doubt invest an abundant amount of funding in research, do not use Mac (or iPhone for that matter), that is good enough for me. They need to look beyond propaganda messaging for their own interests.

I like to say, "once they go Mac, they'll eventually come back". Cheers

Macs, as far as I know, are as good as Windows and Linux. Macs are very good for casual users, people who don't need to keep changing the hardware just to get a slight increase in the frame rate of a game, or people who work with photo, music and video editing. Do some research and you'll see that most of the people who work editing videos use Macs.

However, Windows is good too, but is very different than Mac. Since Windows has a bigger market share, more people use it. And the basics of Windows are very simple, so people like it. Although, Windows is better for applications that aren't so "glamorous". Windows is very good for gaming, office work (with Microsoft Office, obviously) and basic use, such as social networking and buying stuff in the internet.

Linux hasn't been mentioned in this post, but still I'll say it: Linux is for advanced users and is good only for programming. Linux isn't as good for games as Windows is and isn't as good for photo, music and video editing as a Mac.

So, bottom line: Macs and Windows are both good for basic use.

Macs are good for photo, video and music editing.

Windows is good for gaming and office work.

A friend got an iMac six months ago. She couldn't even get it out of the box and plug it in. I unboxed it, plugged it in and in less than 10 minutes, I was on the internet downloading Open Office, Thunderbird and Firefox. So in a total of 20 minutes she had all the software she needed. OK you say it only takes 40 minutes longer to get to the same point on a windows box, but here's the clincher. In those six months, she's never once asked for help with her Mac.

Will I buy a Mac? I'm seriously considering it. One reason is that I could make some money supporting people with Macs, but on the other hand I'd be like the proverbial Maytag repairman.

The biggest drawback to a Mac, is if it fatally crashes and won't turn on, Apple will have to repair it. With a PC, you can test it until you determine the problem and repair yourself, maybe shell out 100 bucks for parts. Macs not so much, since you'll void the warranty if you even open it.

Apple Care is vital to protect it for up to three years at about a few hundred bucks. After that, it's not a fun feeling being at the mercy of Apple for pricey repairs; some can run up to $1300 I've seen. That's a pretty huge reason to stay with a PC alone I think. Since with Windows, you kind of know when it's starting to goof up. With Apple, it just dies without warning, so definitely back up your data!

My Mac laptop has always run my Adobe software and loaded the internet much faster than the PC desktops my family has had over the years.

In addition to that, it offers other little perks like the multi-touch trackpad that lets me never need a mouse (even with Adobe), the handy screen-capture options, the ability to zoom the screen, and the automatic spellcheck that works on the internet and most other text-intensive applications.

also, macs have so many brilliant applications like iphoto or garage band that make it so easy to use your computer more than you would if you were just a casual user. macs are also virtually virus free and their design is so much better than a pc.

1) A large portion of users now spend much of their time on social network or video streaming sites, which any OS can handle.

2) You can access Windows through virtualization or boot camp.

My issue with the Mac is this: looking through my taskbar application list, I see very little (various compilers, development tools, stock market trading applications, a few games) that has a Mac version. Therefore I would have to access Windows through the Mac and expose myself to the flaws of Windows anyway.

So why should I buy a Mac?

The Mac vs PC is a bit of a false fight - still only a small percentage have a Mac and a much smaller percentage still have a Mac some alternative means of accessing Windows (another machine/virtualization/bootcamp).

It is largely a rivalry that occurs only in the minds of Mac fanboys.

This was not the case though -- all of the macs were like this. That's 80 out of 80 macs, all continuously being sent to get fixed. Our school has never had a problem like this with windows. Yes, there have been problems, but it's usually with an individual computer. One of our teachers had their own MAC hacked and someone was watching them through the web cam! I've never had a problem like this with a windows computer.

Yes I may be at more of a risk for a virus, but I am smart with how I surf the web, and with two computers over the past four years I have gotten 0 viruses, that's even with my desktop having no anti-virus program.

I hear a lot of people use the MACs for graphics and media, and even in this section I have doubts as to whether they are superior. Windows may not come with things like garage band, but does a professional use it to create media? I doubt that. I'm sure they buy professional programs designed for their field, and those programs will run on a windows or a mac.

So for my personal recommendation, I would suggest a PC. I haven't had a good experience on a MAC yet. I am not a fan boy. I really wanted to give the MAC a chance, and I plan on looking into Linux also and see how they run, but I cannot recommend a Mac with the experiences I have had with them.

I would not discourage people from buying a MAC, but I would suggest if you started with Windows to stick with it. Windows is just as good and when you get changed over, you need to relearn a lot, so why not stick with what you know (Which is perfectly A ok)?

A couple of years ago I purchased my first mac, a macbook pro laptop and I love it. All of the comments about being hassle free etc. are very, very true. I won't spend time repeating what everyone else says (except to reiterate that I certainly know what I am doing and still spend time fixing things when a virus/malware squeaks by and hoses the whole system).

Someone here mentioned problems at work with the macs, but not the pc's. Generally, I have only seen this happen when the networking is not set up correctly. There are a lot of specifics to know and follow to properly set up and manage both on the network you describe.

Find a mac dealer (not an apple store) in your area and ask them to consult on the architecture.

Lastly, someone asked what is the point in needing two machines: a pc and a mac. I have a macbook pro, a dell laptop (for a client), and a windows box I built. I am about to drop some money (by the way it priced out the same for a mac or pc for the specs I need) on a mac pro desktop.

On this I will load parallels to run a window environment when needed (one box, two os's). I will need this at times because there are a few programs I cannot run on a mac (proprietary and written only for windows), and I also need to be able to test software in both environments for my clients.

(Unix underpinning, root separate from admin, Viruses will never propagate in the wild).

Despite it's age i continue to run CS4, Lightroom, InDesign and Dreamweaver and while it does slow down occasionally it's only while saving large tiff files. The marketing of Mac is great and when i decided that i needed a new laptop i did look at the MacBook Pro, but the more i research it the more i know I'll buy another Vaio.

I'm on my second year with mac and I ain't going back. It's more expensive but I will save the difference in antivirus software and other software trying to keep the PC going.

Pay now for a mac or pay later for a pc, not to mention the frustration.

I never feel rushed and even had someone call me the next day to make sure I understood and everything was working ok. I now own 2 mac mini and dropped cable tv and stream my shows we like to our 42 inch tv in our bed room and now with family share all the movies and music are on stored on a 2 TB hard drive in one room and we can still watch it in our bed room via the mini there.

The customer service for one year while you get used to the mac system is amazing now we play Lord of the rings online for one game. took a copy of xp home put it on the newest mini and it runs fine ever get better graphics then my pc. the gpu card in the mini is amazing.

I have two video outputs on that mini and i have it hooked to my 64 inch samsung tv amazing picture no fan noise like a pc just a small silver box. Next we will buy a 27 inch imac and play out games on that and everything else will be ran on mac os.

what i really like is plunging in a device and not getting the message unknown device. you have a driver? plugged a old video camera in to a mac and it says oh this is a video camera. don't know it please use the manual buttons.

Yes i lean towards the mac my wife who plays pc game leaned to pc, but last week saw the 27 in each and said 'get me out of the store before i grab it and drop my pc" if she can do it so can you.

Best of luck on what ever computer you buy, or by the way buy a mac and you can take it back with in 14 day and get full refund. just say i want my money back they say ok poof. customer service like windows never has done.

Good Luck and best wishes

Sure, there were about six days of the new macbook pro and I not liking each other very much, but then - eureka! the light bulb turned on, and it has been wonderful ever since. Initially, I did partition the hard drives to run Windows via Parallels, but I just removed them both because I haven't needed to run a windows based application in years.

I will never go back to a PC. And, I am a graduate student, so I am using my computer(s) quite a bit. I am so glad I have Mac. I have so much more free time now that I don't have to waste hours every week trying to fix the PC based computers. Also, I have never had to call Apple support - so, both the imac and macbook pro have been, and remain problem free.

It has gotten a little sluggish over the years (almost four now), but still performs the tasks we want it to perform.

Anyway, we were trying to decide between an HP laptop with 4g ddr3 ram, 500gb hdd, intel's dual core i3 processor, and sweet battery (up to 6 hrs) or macbook.net and we decided to go with the HP. Fifteen days later, I'm standing at the customer service desk at best buy, returning my frozen laptop.

I chose not to purchase the buyer protection plan (why would I, since my desktop HP PC has been a rock) and missed the return window by one day! Thankfully, the customer service manager had mercy on me, and let me exchange it. I opted for the Macbook with the buyer protection. No problems yet!

A smart and safe PC user will never get a virus or spyware with a little education on safe computing, even without running any anti-virus software or installing any updates.

A Mac user will infect their machine by simply opening a bad piece of e-mail or visiting a malicious website the same as a PC user would.

People who buy Macs either buy into the marketing hype, have money to spare and want something trendy, or are serious graphics/music engineers (and this is not as true as before as Linux equivalents of MAC softwares are infinitely cheaper and work better, just ask ILM and George Lucas who have switched their workstations to Linux boxes).

I laugh at how hard Mac has to market its hardware in order to survive, and laugh even harder at how they blatantly lie about their systems which completely undermines non-tech savvy computer users.

Why would you want to run Windows on a MAC if MAC OS is so much better? Oh yeah, it's because it's not better, they only fooled you into thinking so.

Only person that a Mac should be recommended to, is someone who wants a computer that looks good when it is off.

I am a school teacher and have used a PC forever, and after buying three of them, and averaging only 2.5 years of good use, I finally bought a Mac about six months ago, and it's incredible. I can't believe anyone would even buy a PC now. I go to my parents' house and use their new HP laptop running windows, and it feels like i'm stepping back in time, and I even laugh and tell them, "I hate to sound like one of those people, but my God, the mac truly is a superior technology. It's amazing."

I feel hogwashed by Microsoft and Dell and Gateway, and all of them, and their malware, spyware, cleanup crap, that never really removed anything anyway! You will not be disappointed, and even better, you will really fall in love!

I am searching the web for reasons to buy a MAC for no other reason that I have some hard earned money and want to treat myself.

One thing that keeps cropping up and puts me off buying a MAC is this: people keep saying MACs are better etc. etc., and windows is rubbish. Yet in the next sentence people say if you buy a MAC you can dual boot it with Windows. Why would you want to if Windows is rubbish?

Also, If I buy a Windows machine I don't need to buy a MAC. Yet some people say "well you could use a MAC for this thing (for example) and then have a Windows machine for everything else". Why should you need to buy two machines? A MAC or a PC should do everything you want it to. Otherwise it's not worth buying. --Michael

Linux on a PC offers nearly all the same advantages pointed out for the Mac:

1. Quick start up times.

2. Lack up support for many software titles.

3. Due to #2, you 'catch' very little if any viruses.

4. Linux's interface can be made as pretty as a Mac.

5. It just works.

Plus, you enjoy all the advantages of using a PC:

1. Lower cost of ownership.

2. Easy/possible to upgrade.

If you're new to computers, you don't need to buy a Mac to get a computer that 'just works'. Save yourself some money and buy a PC loaded with Linux instead of Windows. I recommend the pretty/user-friendly Linux versions such as Ubuntu or Mandrake.

I would only recommend a Mac to people who are in video editing, graphics design, currently use a Mac and don't want to learn something new, or simply need a Mac as a status symbol.

In closing, when you buy a Mac, you're mostly paying for marketing -- those funny ads aren't free, you know!

Yes, PCs can be annoying, but so are Macs. I have a daily struggle with the one I use for scanning photos. It was moved about three feet (on a wheeled cart) from one place to another, and now simply refuses to link with the main network. In order to save photos so I can access them, I have to save them to a special folder on the Mac, then go to my PC and drag them from the one drive the Mac will connect with into the photo editing program. Before, I didn't have to do this. I saved the photos directly to the software folder.

Before that workaround, I had to trot my flash drive back to the Mac, unplug the keyboard from its USB port (the USB port in the keyboard itself wasn't powerful enough to support my 256MB flash drive), plug the flash drive into the USB port, scan the photo to my flash drive, unplug my flash drive, plug the keyboard back in, go back to my desk in the next room and insert the flash drive, then drag the photos to the editing folder. I've never had that problem with a PC.

All the PCs in the building play nicely with all the main servers and drives. The Macs, however, are temperamental and routinely "drop" networks, meaning the operators have to save their work, reboot and reconnect to the drives. The Macs in question were purchased in September, so age should not be a factor.

Both machines have their uses, and their good points, but personally, I prefer a PC. I could afford to pay cash for a Mac, but no thanks.

Oh yeah and i know that Macs are PC's. Stop trying to make a point. I think I got the point. Bottom line: PCs crash and get viruses no matter what the hell you install on them, and no matter how much you stay on top of their ridiculous updates and whatnot. Trust me, been there done that and know too many people on that same boat. Macs just do what there're supposed to do. They're quiet, fast, tranquil, no headaches, no defragmenting ever, no error messages, no crashing and definitely virus-free (at least for me, and i have even downloaded 533 songs in four years off of LimeWire without ever catching a virus!). I'll bet it sounds too good to be true for PC users, huh?

Well, let's just face it: Most PC users out there are just too poor and envious to purchase a stress free Mac PC.

The only reason i stopped using it in Nov. 2008 is because i needed a better high end computer that could run the newest games with the best graphics. I'm still using the old one, but mostly as a multimedia machine.

We used to have mac laptops on the school. For me a Mac is too limited. If i didn't play games or use that many different kind of programs, I would certainly use a Mac.

I've never really had any problems with Windows until the VISTA release (bought a new laptop six months ago) I'm glad ACER will give me Windows7 for free. Because I really hate VISTA. I really understand why people are leaving messy Microsoft (Windows) for Macs.

You get more for your money with a PC as opposed to the over priced, plain white box of a mac that really isn't for anyone accept the average web surfer and email user. Either way PCs rock and there is good reason why more than 88 percent of the world's computers are PC. You go to any office, hospital, or whatever and PCs are picked because they are just plain simply the fastest and best.

Apple can get viruses just as easy as a PC due to the fact that a programmer can write malicious code for an Apple just as much as he can write a useful tool. Building your own PC is also an option and it is amazing to see the great custom PCs that you can buy or build. Check out "custom" or "modded" PCs. Apple are nice, but compared to a PC they are loaded with worms.

In particular, I was talking with client last night who is an actor and he wants a laptop that simply works. Everyone he works with has a Mac. His kids have Macs. He's leaning toward a Mac and I was hard pressed in recommending otherwise.

I'm a Windows user and I'll probably be for some time. However, it's hard to not be realistic about what Apple has to offer.

I do all my hacking on my windows pc and play my blu-ray movies through my pc to my tv since mac does not have blu-ray playback on the yet.

But If you put a gun to my head I would pick my mac without even thinking about it. My mac gives me very few problems and when it does its so easy to fix. The windows pc just over all is glitchy and needs some work.

I turn on my mac and in 20 secs it's up and running. My pc on the other hand takes about 7-10 mins. Overall, buy both if you got the money but if you have to pick, go mac hands down!

My suggestion is to use a PC for everyday use. It is much less expensive, has way more software for it and it is much easier to get serviced. My suggestion, however, is to buy your PC from your local computer shop, not a large chain like futureshop, bestbuy or walmart.

Your little local computer store will likely do most warranty work in-house and the turnaround time for service will be much faster. also your little computer shop will likely use better parts and take fewer shortcuts in designing your system.

My PC is six years old and still going with very few upgrades. I also have no speed issues, but I do keep a virus scan and spyware scan running.

My mac does what it's supposed to do, which is doing what I tell it to do. No strange error reports or whatsoever. It's strange to me some people just accept it when their pc's crash or get sloppy only after six months. I'm sure this comment is filled by inaccuracies, but I'm probably not all that far off the truth.

PROS:

Mac: has less attacks on it and is pretty stable. Please understand no computer is trouble free despite the adds or what fan clubs say (pc and linux too). Beautiful interface.

Windows pc: can be pretty stable, tons of programs, many hardware upgrade options, beautiful interface (depending on user settings).

Linux: (not much experience but my 2 cents)

Free or pretty cheap, great for servers, sort of fun to tinker with, upgrading is free.

Cons:

Mac: You are pretty well stuck with the system you have. Macs aren't easily upgraded. All I could find was memory and hard drive upgrades. I could not find any other components. Macs are more expensive for same performance as Windows and Linux. A new software/game release that you may want might not be available for mac.

Windows: (this could be true for any computer but I have more experience with pc) higher maintenance and over time files seem to clog/slow down the computer. Way more threats (viruses etc.) for windows systems than linux/mac.

Linux: My own 2 cents and that of almost any forum I've read is linux has a huge learning curve and is not user friendly at all. It is meant more for being a server than desktop.

Debunking the Mac ads:

All three types have support, but technically there is no "pc." There is dell, compaq, sony, etc., and those each offer their own support, just like mac supports its own but not dells, compaq and so on.

Mac does have viruses but there just aren't as many for a couple reasons, but the biggest one being that windows machines have the vast majority of the market and hackers etc. target the larger target.

In general, people are lazy and Windows by default does not come locked down tight which leaves a lot of computers vulnerable and a playground for the ill-intended. It is, however, possible to lock down a computer and still be usable and be as secure as a mac.

I personally haven't had a virus or compromise in a couple of years, which all that took was a virus scan to clean up.

And last but least "it just works." Do a search for mac problems, freezing, slow downs, etc. and you will see, a computer is a computer and like any electronic device, it is prone to failure.

To sum it up. Mac has about the same usability as windows but requires less maintenance at the cost of hardware customization/upgrading. Macs are a little more like a fenced in playground where you can have fun on it and do what you want knowing you are relatively safe but you still have to be careful because you can fall down.

Windows pc's are like a camping trip in the wild. You can do what you like, go where you want but you need to be more careful and willing to learn how to do things but the sky is the limit.

Linux just isn't in the running as far as a new or even possibly old user looking for a desktop operating system. It's just too frustrating, but not impossible.

Hope you enjoyed this and from my experience of all three have pros and cons but you have to decide which you want to work with. Do you want freedom at the cost of safety or do you want safety at the cost of freedom?

Clearly written by a Microsoft employee. Anyone who has actually used a Mac knows that they are fast and trouble-free. I got a Dell and a Mac at the same time (Dell was from our office), same basic chips and specs.

Three years later the Dell is essentially unusable - and this is in a restricted and secured corporate environment (no torrents or games, no unauthorized installs, no personal media etc), while the Mac has been sitting at home being used for everything.

The Dell now takes about 15 mins to boot up, and opening a browser takes forever. The office "fixed" this issue about 1 year ago by wiping the drive and doing a fresh install. I had to spend a day getting everything back to how I had it set up. Worked fine for a few months, now it's back to it's old sluggishness.

Meanwhile the Mac has been happily chugging along for three years, gone through two OS upgrades (Tiger > Leopard > Snow Leopard) that have been the easiest OS upgrades I have ever performed (put disk in, walk away, come back 45 mins later and everything is done. And I mean *everything*, you can start working with it right away). The Mac boots as fast as it did on day one. Every app snaps open quickly. Never got a virus, never had a crash or have had any other issue with it.

I could resell the Mac for about half of its purchase price. The Dell I would have a hard time giving away.

I would never buy a Windows machine for personal use again. It is just too painful.

i dare you to try Snow leopard. it runs faster and smoother than any other windows based operating system. along with the fact that windows is just in denial so much that they steal mac features just to compete with the new mac OS!

I am going to try a Mac. Thanks for helping.

There were many MAC clone hardware providers back in the 90s until Apple sued the hell out of all of them.

If you guys really wanted a decent OS, then linux is the way to go, which is steadily taking over the Windows market in Europe and Asia. Quit paying for your Loss!

I was considering a Mac for creating a recording system for my music, but have found several third party software programs that work great in PC.

I also have Ubuntu linux (free)installed on my gaming laptop as a dual boot, which runs really fast if I just want to surf the web. I can't find a reason to purchase a Mac. So what's the big deal with them? what are you doing with them that I can't do?

You can tell the difference between OS and Vista just by how they both handle the drivers of a MacBook Pro, Vista has no quality to the display or the sound.

Buy Mac and install vista, best option!

However, there is a lot of ignorance out there about software on a Mac. User-friendly means that I can open a disc/drive that is formatted for PC on a Mac (not the other way 'round, however), as well as all the basic office-type files, and save out a version that will open on a PC, whereas a PC won't do that.

Part of the cost of a Mac is about $500 worth of software that you have to turn around and buy for a PC on top of the cost of the computer. When you consider that you don't have this software cost with a Mac, the PC is usually more expensive.

Don't forget that many cheaper PC's are running on older, slower processors. Before saying that PC's are faster, check out a fast PC with the same Windows system loaded with Boot Camp on a fast Mac. And make sure the processors and RAM at least match. You might be surprised at the speed of a Mac.

There are more and more Mac to PC clone makers appearing on the scene, or you can simply build your own PC to run Macs OS using a simply EFI Boot command to boot to the UNIX based OS X.

I switched to mac in my last year of university. I loved iLife, specifically for the speed of imovie and the ease of garage band. The ibook I bought was probably slower than my 3 year old dell regarding raw data crunching, but the OS and software (that all came included in the sticker price) worked so incredibly well, was reliable, fast, and highly integrated within itself and OS X. Once I got my mac, I almost instantly left my PC untouched.

Everything is so well integrated, and so standard across macs, that its easy to use. Sure there are less options for software, but because all macs have the same software, I found it easy to find help learning how to use it, as every mac user has the same software (OS X, iLife, Appleworks at the itime). There is a small learning curve; everything works a little bit different, but you'll catch on fast. There are also many tutorials on the apple website that are outstanding.

Why do you think there is the option to run windows..well so that software that you cant run on a mac will work.. so you saying that you cant play games..incorrect.. install windows and then you can.. the apple os is much better than vista.. *you think mac crashes more than vista...what*!?!?!?

*By the way have you ever heard the saying once you go mac you never go back...just wondering*

are you saying its a bad thing that macs don't get viruses..that sounds like a plus to me..maybe i'm wrong..maybe i would much rather spend all my time on a computer that barely moves because its loaded with viruses.

Macs are easier to fix than pcs btw...instead of shipping you pc into dell or hp..wherever you got..you just bring it into an apple store..apple has the best customer service in the industry....you were saying how dumb it is that you can run windows on a mac well you also talked about how everything was made for windows so compatibility was bad.. well apple answered that by letting you run windows on a mac.. what do you think the point of running windows on a mac is... for your health? and you also think the apple os is --- well apple just so happened to design the iphone which is about the most popular cell phone out today..it surpassed the razr in sales...so how is the apple os bad? and about the right clicking...the macbook aluminum lets you configure a place on the trackpad for right click or lets you use 2 fingers to right click..sounds like a good idea to me. I'm sorry that you can't afford a mac..which is probably the reason you are trashing it...but how about you use a mac before trashing it like you have..you probably have never even used a mac...and you called apple biased...but thank you for you opinion even though every point i believe i disproved in a 5 minute post..

They now have 'crossovers' to run windows? whats the point of runnin a windows on a mac? just buy a pc wit windows on it...

BTW wats up wit games? do they have any? imagine playin a FPS on a mac... *shudders*

Macs dont get viruses? Maybe thats because macs don't make up a very large percentage of the pc industry. Aren't macs about 6-10%?

Y is apple tryin to persuade naive buyers by sayin its more userfriendly? r u srs? userfriendly? and mac? AHHAHAH XD

Apple is so funny :L. From wat ive read they think they created intel! a few freakin years after microsoft used it!

macs dont crash? biggest load of bs ive ever heard of... they crash more than pcs and when a pc crashes its cause of 3rd party software. when a mac crashes its because of the bad os

Macs r harder to fix then pcs. You'll prolly have to take it back to the apple store n they'll prolly replace it instead of fixing it.

Now onto compatibility! Everything made now a days r made for windows. N how r macs coping? they r using apps that emulate windows for them to use window applications?! Y buy a mac wen u get all the compatibility on pc?

The mouse... No right clickin? Wen u drag n drop a file it simply just makes a shortcut? and the shape? ergonomically designed? pffft lies! my hand kills after using an apple mouse for a few minutes

Sorry bout this but most of the reason bout y u should buy a mac is just bs. N i should give some users a reason not to buy one since apple is so biased. Its like they cant c what their competitors have already accomplished

Everything in a mac made to work together. The hardware works well with the softwear, plus they clearly win for innovation. They are light, quiet and the macbooks (and macbook pros) have a large battery life.

Macs have now caught up with PCs in terms of speed and come with a decent graphix card as standard. It is also a well known fact that their softwarer is superior, taking up less memory and processing power to run.

The only reason i think people are staying with PCs is because of cost and software compatibility. Im sure it will take me a while to get use to the new operating systems but everyone i know who has bought one, said they will never go back to pcs. Thats good enough for me. Thanks for reading.

Macs may have added right-click functionality by now -- it's been two years since i last worked on a Mac regularly. i also really missed Windows Explorer (not to be confused with IE), and Mac’s file organization was baffling to a PC user.

Otherwise, it was just an adjustment, to translate the alt+control functions to the Apple version, and also because nothing on the Mac seemed to be where I was accustomed to it being on a PC.

It's simply a matter of which one you're accustomed to. To a Mac User, a PC would be just as frustrating -- maybe more so, since they might not even think to right-click, and the alt key might seem odd.

If you love getting right into programming and play with the insides of your computer PC's are more fun for that stuff... Microsoft operating system and dodgy cheap pc builds are the main reason the average user ends up frustrated with their PC.

for my money, the Mac I bought 4 years ago has been a great investment with no problems in that time, so no work loss and no extra costs getting it fixed.

1, PC's are unreliable and the MS updates seem to slow the machine down rather than do any good.

2, All i want the machine at home for is internet, e-mail, photos and video editing.

3, Hopefully, having a mac will stop me from downloading crap software that at the time seemed like such a useful application.

I'd be interested to hear if anybody else has converted from PC to MAC.