I bought an Asus Eee laptop a few months ago but it was defective and sent it back. I've been using an old Dell PC since, occasionally using my bro's fancy Mac with the 24" screen. Now, the Dell has crashed, so, I've been using the Mac for a week. I do think it's superior, but... I honestly don't know if I want to learn another OS.

My gen biz use is docs, spreadsheets, a bit of graphics, and lots of internet. However, I have one biz app that I have to use regularly that is PC only. It's some kind of remote thing where this clerk of court hired this guy to write an app so that we can research the court records online. He installs some kind of remote hookup deal on your PC. So, I wonder if booting up WinXP really does work on a Mac.

I could buy my bro's Mac but then I have the problem with the clerk of court remote hookup. Plus, I don't cherish the stress of learning a new OS. I need to reduce stress! (If I stay PC, I will not buy Vista, only WinXP.)

Plus, even if I buy the Mac, I do want another computer, small notebook to carry to other parts of the house to surf wirelessly and also carry on the job. Mac laptops are expensive, so, that is out. I wonder if the small Asus laptops (like the one I returned) are considered a good buy. About $400.

What to do.

P.S. I guess the point of this is that several friends (including my bro, who is certainly a computer expert) keep pushing me to go Mac, that I will never look back. Maybe so, but the months of learning a new OS, plus the need for PC software sometimes... I dunno. I've been a heavy user of PC's for exactly 25 years.

If you’re heavily into Video and/or Music productions go with a MAC (what they excel at)
However for everything else (Including general Video/Music production) go for a PC (Unless you like the sleek looks of a MAC) as there is vastly more and cheaper software/hardware available, that can easily be updated if required. (At a fraction of the cost to upgrade a MAC)
In addition a PC with the same performance as a MAC will probably cost about half the price.
As to OS, then XP Pro is fine, but Windows 7 blows it out of the water, (what Vista should have been) and is due for release in October. (The Beta test version of Windows 7 left the public release of Vista for dead)
Hope this helps

Bill

Ditto to much of what Brian and Abacus said. Like Brian said you can use boot camp, I have a 22 inch iMac and run "Parallels" instead of Boot Camp. Works for me.

Since my job requires a Windoze enviornment I still have an XP laptop with an additional hard drive that I can swap into the laptop. When Windows 7 was released in Beta form I installed it on the extra hard drive, I'm now running Windows 7 RC1 ( release candidate 1). I've already ordered a copy of the it's final version. Bill is absolutely right "7" is everything Vista should have been and it "blows XP out of the water."

I might add I do love the Mac, but would not spend the premium dollars to get a Mac Book. Not when I could buy 2 Windows laptops for the price of a Mac. Don't be fooled though I have seriously thought about buying a Mac Book.

And re-Ditto.....I also have an Imac, I had it for almost 3 years and I do not miss at all the "Freeze, Spy ware, Spam ware, Virus, etc..."
I see some of my friends that still have a PC and just watch how frustrating can be.
Some have switch to Mac also and they tell me all the time that it was the best purchase they done in a long time.
I am aware that many are concern about the "learning" curve, or if they used a program not available to Mac, that´s why they have boothcamp, or Fusion, that I know, Mac is the only Personal computer that you can run 2 DIFFERENT plataform Operating systems and not be in conflict.
I repeat what I have hear, "When you go Mac, you never go back".

What you get with a new Mac transcends just the machine itself. With your new machine, you get iLife, which is a complete suite of software that is NOT crippled shareware and demos. They are the full versions. Including Garage Band, which is more than sufficient all by itself to deal with most of our member's basic recording and compositional needs.

If you consider the price of Office, Acid, Cakewalk, Photoshop, and the other innumerable apps you will need to purchase for a PC (or remain using the clunky shareware and crippled demoware versions), the price gap slims dramatically.

iPhoto, iMovie, Mail, iCal, and all the others represent mature apps that get the job DONE, simply and without OS drama.

And you can STILL put Windows on it if you are that masochistic!

What's to lose?

Dont wait at all or even ask for it...just go...

It never ceases to amaze me what people are happy to put up with back there in the Windows world.

Get a Mac. And don't look back.

I have been on broadband for well over ten years on a Mac. With, for at least the first five years, not even a firewall. Now all I have is the simple software firewall built in to the OS. No virus detectors, no spamware blockers, no trojan detectors, no po-up blockers, no spyware software... NOT A SINGLE THING.

I have never had a virus, trojan, or malware of any kind whatsoever. I have never had to reformat a drive, or spend money of any kind on computer geeks to 'fix' my wounded machine. All I have ever done is switch it on, and go to work (or to SZ ). How many PC users out there can say that..? Ever vigilant, ever paranoid, ever worried... Why do you put yourselves through that? To save a few bucks?

Just what IS your time worth to you?

Ask yourself this...If Macs were so good why are they the vast MINORITY in the computer world?....there is a reason for this......buyer beware.

Because most computer users are cheap bastards with insufficient knowledge about computers to know what a PITA they are going to be, buy the cheapest thing they can, and then get stuck on it because they don't have enough knowledge or sense to migrate to the better platform.