Ok, you've proved that a new Apple holds its value better than a new PC. But the very same data also demonstrate that a used PC can be a much better value than any other computer out there. I'm still happily pounding away on the keyboard of the six-year-old IBM ThinkPad R31 I inherited from my wife three years ago. It probably cost $1500 new (her company paid for it); I got it for the price of a new hard drive after the original one bit the dust (roughly $100 and, let's say, an interesting afternoon). How can any Apple beat that? The best part is that installing the new hard drive cleared out whatever viruses might have been on the drive in the past. It has worked perfectly well (and has remained bug-free) ever since. Ok, it has one drawback: though it has a dvd drive, I can't play movies on it. Crappy video adapter. Then again, that "limitation" forces me to avoid the temptation of vegging out in front of the screen...

The key point here: you only need as much computer as you are going to use. I'd never use anything but a mac to edit a movie... but I'd never edit a movie, anyway. An used PC is as good for typing (or surfing the web) as the latest speed demon might be. For word processing and email, an old clunker is the best bargain you'll find.

There has always been a lot of disparagement launched at Macs. In my experience, most of it has come from Windows and Unix powerusers whose problem is less with the Macintosh platform itself than with annoying people who use the Macintosh platform.

I'm reminded of a tech I knew back in the days of Windows 3.1. He came into the lab where I worked to pick up a PC in need of repair and saw me working on a Quadra.

"Have fun with your MacinToy," he said on his way out. "But don't expect me to fix it when it breaks."

"Denny, has anyone ever brought you a broken Mac?" I asked.

I'm not positive, but I'm pretty sure he said, "Fuck you," as he went down the hall.

Denny was actually a pretty nice guy. I don't think he disliked me. I don't think he disliked my computer. But I do think that he disliked how much I liked my computer-- and I really, really liked my Macs back then. Considering that our lab had five Macs and only one Windows PC (used exclusively for Lotus 123), we weren't doing a very good job of keeping Denny in business.

If anyone cares, this was in 1994. That Quadra was connected to an Applied Biosystems DNA sequencer and an ABI DNA synthesizer. I was able to telnet from my own Mac at home to the lab's Mac and initiate new sequences and oligo sythesis cycles. At the time, there was no Web as we know it today. What passed for the Web back then was a bunch of academic machines running Mosaic... slowly and not very interestingly. Considering that, it amazes me that I was able to do everything I did, with such scant resources.

This is how 'fanboys' are created: make it work; make it work all the time; and make it work better, faster and easier than the competition. Apple did it back then, and it's still beyond me that it was during those Win3.1 days that MS gained ascendancy.

While I also thought the headline promised a more thorough analysis including time & money saved by virtue of better security, I am getting the sense from the few posts here that maybe most folks don't feel comfortable using craigslist or ebay to buy computer equipment.

I bought my very first Mac laptop for $650 in late 2000 and sold it in mid 2002 for $600, bundled with a peripheral item that I paid $100 for. I then upgraded to a new Mac laptop and felt great that I had paid out a mere $150 for my intro. to the Mac OS and almost two years of continuous use. I have since bought and sold other macs and mac gear using craigslist. While I am less inclined to consider dealing in these items through ebay, I'll admit I have browsed at the possibility of buying an iPhone from an ebay seller local enough to perhaps consider a face to face deal.

Plus I thought everyone (at least in the SF Bay area) knew that perhaps the best time to look for Mac gear on craigslist is just after the new stuff gets announced at Macworld. Gotta love those early adopters.

First off, to begin a piece with phrases like these:

"people waking up to this fact"

"Everyone who's used it agrees"

"This simple truth"

"debate is over"

"Mac has won"

...is no way to open a discussion. On top of which, it's inaccurate: most of the examples of success provided upfront are for Apple, not for the Macintosh. The iPod and iPhone may be huge successes, but the Macintosh computer is still used by a tiny minority of people, and in no danger of taking over anytime soon.

As for which system is superior, that's a limited framing of the question. The only question that matters to a computer buyer and user is "which system is right for me" and "which system is right for my budget". And the answer is different for everyone.

The idea that one system is "right" and "best" is just Apple's closed, proprietary thinking rubbing off: to think that just a few models, not easily customized, are magically right for everyone is silly. To compare the cost of PCs with similar configurations to Macs is to look at the issue backwards--millions of people are just fine with less power because it costs much less, an option that Apple doesn't offer.

And we can talk about the Windows "monopoly" all we want, but even that's disingenuous. All that Windows dominates is the market--and that's because it's available in many forms on a huge variety of machines made by a vast number of manufacturers. Macintosh, on the other hand, is perhaps a truer monopoly, for it only exists on one small set of computers made by only one company. If the Macintosh was dominant, it would put hundreds of other companies out of business. Heck, Windows creates a bigger secondary market for computer manufacturers than the Mac's entire market of its own.

What no Mac fan seems to want to admit is that their system is only subjectively better, and only to certain people. There are millions of people out there who aren't just functioning in ignorance of the Mac's untold genius--they simply prefer Windows. They like the way it works, they like how it does what they need, and they're not interested in what the Mac has to offer. To suggest that anyone who doesn't want a Mac is ignorant of an objective truth is a dangerous way to think.

I use both Macs and Windows machines every day. I've used Macs and PCs at work for many years, yet have always had a PC at home. Quite simply, I prefer Windows. I've always felt the Mac interface to be a bit childish, cartoonish, and dumbed-down, which of course is only my subjective opinion. I'm a very heavy internet user, and I've never had any problems with viruses or spyware.

I also keep my machines 'til they simply can't do what I need them to do anymore, and then I donate or recycle them. This resale-value argument also seems like a symptom of Apple-think--the mad rush to outdate its own products, make them difficult to upgrade (or in the cases of portable devices, replace batteries), convince the masses that they need the flashy new item. I'm doing lots of professional graphics and audio work on a 5-year-old Dell, and I'm doing just fine. Landfills are bulging with the results of this disposable-tech mindset, and it's slowly poisoning the planet.

So if you love your Mac, fine. If you love your PC, fine. If any debate is over, can it finally be that one?