Hey Freddie, I don't think anyone is "privileging idiocy" here but just offering a better option. If you would rather go through the hoops you have to to own your PC that is your business. Don't call other people idiots because they have simply moved to a better system. Yes I said better system. I am a tech responsible for hundreds of machines on a college campus. I should say that 10% of the machines I service are PC's and they require about 90% of my time. When you talk about building your superior, faster, PC for less, you aren't taking in account the amount of wasted processing that goes into Windows' mammoth OS. Half of your RAM and processing is going toward running your OS, and never gets to your Apps. I could take the same App on a less beastly Mac and run it faster and more efficiently. You can't argue the innovation that Apple demonstrates and if you are using Vista, you can pretty much thank OSX.4. Instead of rebuilding the OS they just added more crap on top of the existing junk they had before to make it look better. So I don't think it's a matter of people "not knowing how to work their computer" as much as it is people finding out that there is an easier more efficient way to use their computer.

You can load Windows on a Mac as well if you'd like, of course you could also haul manure in a Bentley, but why would you want to?

I've been using PC's since I was a kid. My first computer was a 386sx with 4MB of RAM and a 20MB harddrive, windows 3.11. I loved it and worked with PCs up until university. A total of seven years.

I switched to Mac when I started studying graphic design. I had to fork out about 1.250 pounds sterling (I was studying in England at the time) for an iBook G3 at 600mHz with something like 384MB RAM, a 16MB video card etc.

That was a lot of money for that hardware and I never regretted it once.

The reason is very very simple. It never, ever, crashed on me. I could still use it for a long time after I graduated to do work for clients... which meant running InDesignCS, Photoshop CS, and Illustrator CS all at once until two months ago. I honestly do not know of any windows user who can produce professional work using that software on that hardware in 2007. Any windows PC would have folded. The only time in those five years my computer did fold was because of a faulty motherboard, which Apple replaced free of charge (including shipping).

The second issue is the OS. OS X is by far the best designed GUI. By design I don't mean colours and textures; I mean information architecure, intuitiveness. Its less cluttered, more easy to navigate and quicker that windows. Just a superficial example is how many clicks and windows it takes to find your IP address on a windows machine as opposed to Mac.

Honestly, after five years of using my iBook to me there was no going back.

I've now bought a MacPro.

(I am not paid by Apple)

The first time your hard drive gets eaten by a virus and you have to wipe it, you will wish you bought a Mac.

this is funny, and so true.

http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=macs_cant

Here is the problem with people like Freddie. He assumes that every computer user is like him with enough time on their hands to sift through their registry, update their virus protection, label mac users and post a thousand letters of absolute nonsense to Salon.com and im sure a thousand other sites.

Some points:

Freddie is embarassed to pull out his ugly PC at the coffee shop, airport lounge, etc.

Freddie has absolutely no understanding the computers have evoloved from the basement to being an important part of our everyday lives.

Apple's stock continues to skyrocket and their market share continues to grow because they have something that PC makers and the guys in Redmond will never understand. DESIGN.

That is really what it all comes down to. The marketing and the glitz, the ipods and the specs, its all really bullsh*t when it comes down to it. The simple fact that no FREDDIE will ever be able to overcome is that Apple blows away the competition with design.

When you are intelligent enough to use a Mac, and are not wasting time replying to your own letters on Salon.com, you are amazed almost everyday at the little, to huge design decisions that make owning a Mac or Apple product such a joy. That is what you pay for. They all use the same stupid parts from Intel, Fujistu, whatever, the point is that guys Macbook shits on your winbox, you know it, your upset and you vent it on the internet, in the basement with lights turned off and the blinds pulled tight, so no one will be able to see what a sad thing your black heart has made you become.

You write:

> After just a year or two of use, a Windows

> machine gets so gummed up with spyware,

> viruses and other nasty stuff

Let me be plain: I am a Mac user (MacBook Pro, Mac Pro, Mac mini. My wife has a MacBook).

I think they are truly great machines and OS X is nearly second-to-none. But your statement lacks credulity.

I can buy a used PC / PC laptop and reformat and re-install the OS (from the disc the seller *better* be providing me!). Or I can skip that process entirely, and buy a very inexpensive PC. I don't consider that PC on par with the Apple computers I have purchased (they are budget-oriented and lack most of the hardware features I want and get from a Mac).

But I'm not sure your "resale" argument is valid.

> If people like running Unix on an intel box,
> just get Ubuntu Linux for free. It is cheaper
> than a mac or windows, and it is better than
> both. Mac people are paying for something
> that others get for free. Why? Is the
> Apple Icon really worth the extra money?

Hey! Thanks for pointing that out!!

Now, let me see here .... I will need to run Adobe Creative Suite 2, and I will need to run MS Office (unfortunately). I'd really like iTunes and video chat (iChat) and I have some video I would like to edit easily.

Oh. I guess I have to run WINE (which makes me whine) or Crossover Office ($$) or some other bizarre incantation.

Hang on, I need to recompile my kernel on my Linux box here ..... so I can use my new video card ....

Thanks but no thanks. I did that road for almost ten years. I was so cool. I ran WindowMaker and I lived by the xterm.

Today I get *REAL* Unix (FreeBSD) with Mac OS X, not some bizarre clone that doesn't provide me with what I want.