I don't own a Mac and I am not a Mac fanboy, but here is my opinion. My friend's family only uses Macs and every time I go over his house I never have problems with it. In all honesty I think that Macs are much more attractive than your average PC (technically a Mac is a PC but most people use PC to refer to a Windows based computer). For example the iMac is only a monitor with the whole PC built in including speakers (this is one of the reasons the price point is higher than tower PCs with comparable specs). This means that there are only three cables to manage assuming that you chose the wired keyboard and mouse options which in the case of the wireless option you would only have one cable to plug into a wall socket. Three cables is much less than your standard Dell desktop with the tower, keyboard, mouse, monitor, and speakers all requiring seperate cables.
I think that OS X is attractive and runs really well and is much faster and more user friendly than any XP based PC I have owned. However Vista is very comparable and my personal opinion is that it is more attractive than Mac OS X. Although many people complain about problems with Vista, most come from people who base their opinions of the operating system on heresay and what other people have told them. When I finally used Vista myself I never experienced any glitches, slowness, or crashes. With the release of SP1 there is even less problems with the OS than the minimal amount there was before. Look up the Mohave experiment for more information to base your operating system decision on. Again I have used OS X and it is great for editing movies (iMovie and optional Mac only editing software), music (Garage Band and optional Mac only editing software), or photos and is great for surfing the web, checking your email, listening to music (iTunes) and doing homework (Mac supports Microsoft Office and optional iWork software). However Vista is just as capable of doing those things with its proprietary Windows software and optional applications.
Hardware wise a Mac is usually very reliable. By purchasing a Mac you have the benefit of excellent customer support as opposed to a company like Dell and the piece of mind that your software WILL work with your hardware. The same people that made your Mac are the same people that developed the operating system and software. While a Mac is not virus proof there are virtually no viruses that will affect a Mac based on its design and with the added benefit of security software built into OS X there is really no threat of getting a virus. Although Vista is much more prone to viruses based soley on the fact that it is a Windows OS it also has more extensive built in security feature than XP and with third party programs such as Norton Anti-virus the threat of viruses is greatly diminished. On a hardware and software standpoint you may have to contact several different companies if you have a problem with your PC although most of the time the company from which you purchased your PC such as Dell will be able to assist you in problems involving hardware and software that was included in PC when you purchased it. Macs usually cost more but they are quality products and the cost usually pays off in the long run although you may be able to find an equally well built PC for cheaper.
I hope my extremely long post will help you make a decision on what computer is right for you. Hopefully you will or have done reasearch in other areas from other sources which will help make your decision more informed. I tried to make this as unbiased as possible and hopefully you take some opinions with a grain of salt. Good luck on your purchase.
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