i will give the same answer i gave in a different topic ( windwos vs linux )

FIRST look at the software you are going to run and THEN pick the OS and associated hardware.

I personally don't use a mac , simply because none of the applications i need / want do exist on a MAC platform. ( photoshop, Paint shop pro, Premiere , CAD software for schematic, pcb board layout ,simulation, chip layout , verilog for Altera FPGA , basic c# and crosscompilers for ARM and 8051) Ok photoshop is now available again for mac, Premiere also i think but it doesn't support the RTX-2 HD video processing card (which i have and costs 1500 $. this is not a graphics card , but a card that can take in up to 6 videostreams and perform color correction , titling , effects and animation. The card handles HD video in realtime. there is no waiting. A must if you want to edit HD stuff from your videocamera. Software only solutions have hours of rendering time. This board is realtime). That is pc/windows only.

For work related stuff ( work from home) i run Solaris. Simply because all of our tools are solaris based.

I also have a home storage server and webesrver. There i run ubuntu.

I also have a mediacenter hooked up to the Pc. I was in doubt between an apple tv and XP MCE for a long time. i eventually went with XP MCE simply because it has more posssibilites and isn't as tied down as the apple TV or Frontrow. ( apple TV or frontrow could not handle HD video at the time , 2 years ago , when i bought my first HD videocamera. I shoot video underwater (scubadiving) in HD and want to be able to play it on my LCD TV in HD. I have the MCE hooked up through a HDMI port. works flawless. i play HD directly form harddisk without stuttering (1080p)

So again , analyse first what you are going to run as APPLICATIONS, or what you want to use the machine for. Then look at the operatng system that supports that and then pick the hardware.

It's like buying a car. I really want the supercool slick 2 seater ferrari or lamborghini, but i have 6 kids and mostly drive offroad and dirttrails , and i can't really afford it either ... then buy a ford 4x4 and if can spend more, buy an Escalade or a lexus SUV.

On a MAC you can always dualboot with windows. so that opens doors. on a PC you can always dualboot with linux / solaris . so that gives other possibilities ( there is even people that succeeded in installing MAcos on their PC ... )

My opinion on this might actually be worth less than what you paid for it because I am not really a "computer guy" just a computer user. I just picked up my first Mac a few months ago and I am loving it. I still use a XP loaded PC at work and have no issues there but that is a work computer and so it is basically a word processor. My Mac was easy to learn (despite some of my friends insisting that the learning curve might prove fatal) and I have enjoyed it. It took some getting used to--the minimize/close out icons are located in the top left corner as opposed the the top right. There is no right click on the mouse so you do manual or "file" commands to copy and paste.

But where there are subtle differences there are some very cool features. Safari isn't bad (though I am huge Firefox fan) and I have no issues with any of the pre-loaded software. iPhoto and iMovie are great. I run MS Office for Mac without issue and I love that my iTunes library transfered without issue.

I guess for me the real issue here is that it does seem to work. I don't tinker with my computer (I did more on PCs but even then, not as much as some) so I just need it to run nice--not throw me error messages every four hours and allow me to do what I need it to do.

So far--I've been very impressed. I am sold on Mac but I have nothing at all against PCs. I know that if ever again I want to game, I'm going to need a PC. Such is life.

-Drew

Because they are so far superior to a PC!

Yes, there is.
Unless you are still using an Apple mouse from 2003.
Hold "Control" and click.
Or you can get a USB optical mouse with two buttons and a scroll wheel these days for less than $20.

You got that right!

I've heard Mac's don't catch virus / spyware so fast or quicky as pc's do.. is there any truth to that one ?.



As quickly? They don't catch them at all!