as it says.. "once on mac, you never go back"
it's OS X that makes the difference!

my first computer was a MAC. i loved it. then i was forced to switch to PC when starting my professional life and slowly had to learn that there was a whole wide world out there, full of software, full of hardware, full of tools and full of actually functioning programs which i could alter, configure, change to my needs... A WHOLE WORLD.

since then i never went back to mac, although many times i had to at least use it to support friends and ill informed relatives with their issues (and as julia said further up (more or less), mac fans are so brain washed by apple's marketing department that it's hard for them to get out of the mac grip... it's all too sweet and colorful and roundish and seemingly easy in their tele tubbies world... ;-)

honestly, i don't even hate mac/apple anymore... i kind of admire them. how they managed to take captive so many intelligent and tasteful people is a mystery to me; i only can explain it by getting psychological, which i forbid myself here. because technically, there is simply no ground on which a mac can stand against PC/linux systems, graphically they are about even, their design is questionable to say the least and from a community aspect to have a mac and need support is like hacking off both of your hands when you're already sitting in a wheel chair, compared to what you get in the PC world.

i hope that hurt - it felt good to me. ;-)

cheers,
eidea

p.s. i hate windows/microsoft/intel, too. it's easy to hate them, since they act like a*%holes and we always hate the biggies. but at least they used their marketing power to make computers an ordinary item for EVERYONE, and they force us daily to at least understand some tiny bits about what's behind IT... your PC crashes, so you need to know why and do something. try that with a linux machine without studying informatics, try it with a mac - without being licensed to apple.

I use mac since 15 years and I use it until today. I use pc for work at school mainly because this is the most used in Martinique (it is cheaper!). But I'll always keep mac for my favorite personal computer. I have a macbook (white) and an emac combo.

in a word ... mac

linux happy and totally satisfied user

My experience is the opposite to eidea's.

I was a die-hard PC user for two decades. Then my wife bought a Mac because Willow used one on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I was astonished when she pulled it out of the box, hit the 'on' button, and was on our wireless network and typing in the password for her email within a minute.

If your computer takes a significant amount of time demanding regular pampering, some fettling, upgrading its anti-spyware and antivirus solutions, and STILL slows down steadily over time, then it is unreliable. And if it requires study, problem-solving and expert knowledge to fix these problems, then it is not user-friendly.

We gave up putting up with unreliability like this in our cars when Japan brought Datsun and Toyota to the West. Why do we still put up with it from MS?

Going from PC to Mac was like going from a Chevrolet Cavalier to a BMW, or a Mule to a Horse. Whichever way you slice it.....

But seriously, the hardware and software on my dishwasher, microwave, TV, PS2, PSP work in sync and flawlessly all the time. Why is a computer any different. Macs are superior simply because the software and hardware are married and have a great relationship. The software controls the hardware perfectly. If the brain is flawed, the body is bound to suffer. I suppose if Toshiba or HP tried to build a computer where the software and hardware worked together well, they'd probably fail, because the brain, windows, is fatally damaged/flawed. It's too far gone in the mad house

i use both.. it`s more flexible ;)

well, I like what works. i have a free computer given to me by a welfare charity, and it has windows 2000. It does what i ask it to do and I discovered a £20 USB thingy by Belkin drags the internet into it off some unsuspecting wireless users about the place, so i have no reason to grumble. I have used Macs before at the crisis art facility in Spitalfields and the funny thing is they appear to do pretty much exactly what my PC does, so I'm not really that fussy about which type of computer I use. In fact the only difference between them that i have noticed, is during conversations about who has what, at dinner parties.

macs are an intelligent product, "promising" achieving a better social / cultural / whatever status, with their better design than a usual pc has. so, basically, to me, it's a hype thing that obviously costs a bit more than the 'normal, functioning ones', but offers this visual equillibre. most of the people i know who own macs are poser-dumbasses, who need to show off even with their personal computers (c'mon, how many people will see that?) of course, they are the ones who take the pc even to a bar downstairs, as if they couldnt read their mails at home and drink a coffee reading a book at the bar.

so far to the design matter. as for the software, i go for standards and interchangeability. more of this is given by a usual pc (at least in my profession). of course, theres also the question of capacity and functionality of the machine. maybe macs are better, but still i make my artwork and architecture projects on my dual core pc and its functioning perfectly even if i dont switch off the computer 2 weeks long.

that was my opinon. subjectively as always.

Both. Why not take the best of each? It depends, as someone wrote much earlier in this string, on the application or applicability of the right tool for the job. I do use Parallels on one Mac laptop, but value all of my systems. And right now? I'm writing this from a horizontal position -- to rest my back -- from my iPhone. Ain't life grand! -Jan

mac <3!

in my school we got a lot of macs and i HATE them. simple reason: they have no right mouse click. it drives me nuts!!

I don't know nothing about hardware, but I just got a 24' Apple and I love it great image, and I use a H.P. at work with XP & I like the Mac much more.