SOFTWARE: Macs since 2006 use intel processors and can run everything a PC can run, and in addition software that PC's can't run natively. Bookcamp - Windows natively; Parallels and VM-Fusion with XP , emulation that runs MS Office faster on my 2006 Mac than my 2004 IBM Thinkpad (last model of IBM make.) There are others such as "wine" etc.
SECURITY/VIRUS: I will have to disagree with a couple of my friends who posted ahead of me. There are NO viruses for the Mac in the wild for OS X. In concept yes, released in the wild, no. Under the old OS waaay back when, there were a few. With OS X, - no. Security through obscurity is a myth. At Hackers 'conventions', higher rewards are attached to the Mac OS because it is much more difficult to hack into. News services do report these hackings of the Mac OS, but in the fine print - that is after they are given root permission and passwords. Duh! IF THERE IS a virus on the Mac, you better believe that the entire news world and PC world will make it Headline News for days on end! There will come a virus someday and probably soon, but not yet.
BTW: We do a lot of "tight communication security" and VPN work over here and computer talk is common at meetings. I used to be amazed at the replacement rate of PCs as compared to Macs among respective owners. The "acceptance" of
replacement rates of PCs is common, and these folks talk about Macs being more expensive. At an informal comparison at one of our meetings - more money was spent over a 4 year period for hardware replacement per PC user than per Mac user. To be fair, there were the Business class PC owners who also spent less on average than the cheaper PC users.
QUALITY AND DURABILITY: On computers themselves, the cheaper PC computer hardware, the more chances that they will have to be tinkered with, repaired and even replaced. Tinkerers don't give this a second thought, but to the uninitiated, it is a nightmare.
Lenovo Thinkpads and the Business line of HP and Dell are OK, but get down to the
cheap[ lines that PCs are known for among consumers, the
percentage of problems goes up. Again, tinkers can often fix these but the average non-tech consumer doesn't have a clue. By the time you get a high end PC that will last and give less overall problems, the pricing is on par with that of a Mac.
Beware, there IS a huge difference in Business vs Consumer computers. You get what you pay for, unless you are a tinkerer.
WISDOM: I learned long ago to not recommend a "build it yourself - anything" because the next person may not be up to it like I or other tinkerers are. When I do/did, I then became their support person.
There rarely is company support for tinkerers if something quits working! (The tinkerer is blamed) If a person is not up to tinkering, support becomes dependent on finding someone local (And I have been that person. :EEK
Local help support price needs to be figured into the cost price of that computer.
WHAT DO YOU WANT TO DO? As pointed out before, it depends on what you want to do: Just operate a computer and get the job done, or enjoy tinkering along with work? If you like tinkering with hardware, the PC is the way to go. (There are plenty of tinkerers in the Mac world, BTW.) I work with Macs and PCs and have to maintain XPs and Vista's along with Macs. I have far more problems maintaining Vista and XP personnel than I do with Mac using personnel. I also find that the non-tech minded PC folks (that I work with) use their computer considerably less than the Mac folks do due to several reasons. For tinkerers and geek minded folks that come our way, I tell them to get a PC if they want, but for others, I tell them to get a Mac because my time is too valuable to be helping them with learning computer usage and fixing problems. (We don't have an in-country IT resource.)
I personally could care less about a brand names. But I recommend Macs because they just work, the OS is much more transparent than Windows for me. IMO, The Learning curve is much less because the focus is on the end user "productivity." Transparency of the computer and OS is essential for this. If the Mac OS didn't do this, I would not be in their camp! I probably would be over in Linux camp with "Business" quality hardware. .
One of the Mac's downfall UMO, is its overall longevity. Overall, the machines will last past their software usefulness. I still have a 14 year old tower and it still does Photoshop well, but it is hard to find a printer that will work with such old hardware and an old OS. My 2000 Mac Powerbook still works. My 2004 Powerbook is still in use by my youngest daughter. LOML's 2004 iBook is still in use by grandkids. My 2005 Thinkpad is still in use too. Our consumer PCs (HPs) worked about 2 to 3 years for us before having to be replaced. Are we hard on PC's? Not anymore than the Macs. They just don't last even though we don't use them as much.
LASTLY: Look at what switchers say. Is the same appreciation spoken both ways? Why or why not?
