This nails the situation. Macs score high on the "cool factor" and have very nice interfaces. Even at my school, the digital art majors use Macs to do their work, rather than PC's. Apparantly Microsoft thought it could compete with this when it rolled out Vista...while the latter is shiny and pretty, that's about all it has (and even then, I'd prefer a Mac).

If you take the time to learn how a command line works and are willing to tweak things, Linux is the way to go. It's not as vulnerable to security issues as Windows since the latter is more widespread, and you can customize it to suit your needs. And it's free!

I'm a Linux supporter, but I use XP. I also am a fan of the Mac OS X operating system for many reasons. It looks better than Windows ever will for one. It is based off of Unix, so it is stable, because Unix itself is stable. OS X though lacks when it comes to programs, I have had few problems installing programs on my Linux when I had it, and very few when installing on XP. With OS X though, I had alot, of course I was on a school computer. In my honest opinion, I find Mac OS X to reign supreme between Windows and Mac, but Linux beats them both for alot of reasons.

Yes i totaly agree with you. Mac, I would totaly use it for design, I'm a web designer and windows doesn't run the Adobe programs like MAC can. I would spend the 2 grand on a laptop in order to do my design work easier. I love macs and i have the adobe products for the mac just need one lol.

Hi, it is always the same discussion. Now that Windows Vista is "stable"(as much i know) i think that there is no much diference between Mac and Windows. Both are good looking, both eat all your RAM and CPU time, and none of them will run in a PC older than 2 years.
I always was impressed about the good look of Mac and the high stability with the included security. Well, as we know it is a Unix, one of the BSD, so we cant expect less from such operating system.
Apple has developed an exclusive operating system for graphics designer and maybe gays .
In the other side Microsoft developed an operating system for every home and sell it while they can. This operating system called Windows has been always unestable and has always been unsecure but very simple for people.
Apple has moved Mac from powepc to intel and this is now helping to stop making mac so exclusive and is encouraging people to install it on their pcs.
Now there is another one called Linux, that is getting inside of desktop pcs and is really pretty and it can be installed in old pcs, so i would recommend to also try it because it is very stable and has compatbility with windows driver, so it is as much supported as windows is.
It also has a windows layer compatibility so you can run your windows programs under linux.
Well, i has written pretty much, i like philosophy and computers so well, just that, a reflexion about this two operating systems.

Regards, Seba

I always agree that Microsoft is known for compatibility, ease of use, and being universal, and Macs on the other hand very simple and graphical, almost stunning. But now with Vista and the upcoming Windows 7, the gap of good graphics is closing. And also Apple has 'gave in' to Microsoft with Boot Camp. They might be equally prefered in a short period of time, and Apple has to have something to show. Personaly I dual boot, with the best of both worlds.

As I said before, Macs are fantastic for audio/visual jobs. Here, I can point out that the creators of mac (apple) created probably the best image package out there - photoshop. I'd sum up that macs are the best if you want something for creativity and recreation. Macs aren't set up to manage lots of programs at all. However, macs are v. visually appealing; you only have to look at the screensaver to get a taste of that (search "mac screensaver" on youtube to find out).

On the other hand, if you want to get the job done, easier and more powerful in some aspects, go for Windows XP. Businesses use it, schools use it and its the most widespread OS in the home. Its great at word processing and internet browsing, and generally is an all-rounder. Most software companies support windows. Networks use windows XP because it can manage many users, macs couldn't do that (or run a big network).

Microsoft = All rounder - good for businesses.
Macintosh = Specialist for Creativity & Design.

In regards to the pay-for-apps thing, Every new mac comes with iLife installed, iTunes, Garageband, iMovie, iDvd, iPhoto,

All good apps.

I don't know what you mean by Windows Vista is stable. Please i have Windows Vista and it freezes on me when i'm just in internet explorer. Last time i looked thats not stable. Mac, is a big diffrence from Windows. From when some of you say that you don't see a diffrence between the two. You obviusly have not spent time with MAC. I have worked with MAC, Unix, and Linix. I know that there are big difference between MAC operating system and Windows operating system. I will soon start a topic about the security features of windows and unix base os. There are diffrent thing each operating system has, i agree with that but when it comes to stability Unix which is the bases OS of MAC. Windows has never meet the stability that Macintosh has.

MAC computers are much visual better than windows vista, I think but there are much more software for Windows

There are a number of books written even on the difference of Mac-heads and windoze users... (The Cult of Apple, I believe is one). It gets to an interesting phenom - that mac users will actually proselytize non-users that they are basically going to hell, and they spend their time, like religious fanatics, "recruiting" and "converting" windoze folk. (disclaimer, I user a mac - I feel dirty every time I user windoze).

From the end point of usability macs are just more straight forward. windows constantly throws unexpected curves at you (try having two drives in a windows machine and taking one out... or scrub a drive and put it into a windows machine - get ready for 8 hours of fun - "Disk Error...No OS found..." (no crap Sherlock, but of course you can't install the OS then either). I spent 2 hour ripping down and reinstalling Leopard into a mac. In equivalent terms (same level machine, same level OS) I spent 12 HOURS re-installing XP and updating it (Service Packs are never compiled into "all in one" there are like a billion pieces).

And windows notorious attitude (under the software hood, I mean) of railroading users into their system is always annoying. Take the recent implementation of Silverlight - supposed to be the next Adobe Flash killer. MS and NBC (under MSNBC, duh) joined forces and crammed this down folks digital throats when they discovered the ONLY way to watch live video around the world for the Olympics was to install this plug in. They even made it for Mac users. Problem. It ONLY works on *very* high end (recent) macs AND pcs - Macs *must* be Intel-based for example. So, in an opportunity to show case new software they pissed off about 90% of mac users that don't have intel machines, and probably 50% of window users. And all during a time when people would REALLY want to be watching something they can't get anywhere else.

So for me it's a no brainer - but mac (apple, more correctly) has been following some of these monopolistic cues as well - like iTunes, iWeb and the recent launch of iPhone and the Apps store with Me.com that all but eviscerated all mac.com users usual experience with dotmac for a bunch of new folk getting shiny phones (and the launch was an abysmal mess - which they admit). But on the other end still macs provide start to finish product control. Their design is simply unparalled. Windoze boxes (until recently with HP and Dell maybe) have been some of the UGLIEST pieces of industrial design EVER conceived. They have always been something you HID from view. Macs are meant to be on display! Now folks might think that's quibbling but that means a fundamentally different relationship with the materials you are using = and the likelihood you'd use it more (the washing machine is usually in the basement for a reason.)