There are several emails out there that address the fallacies in the original article. I'll leave them alone. Every time I hear this whole security thing though, I'm reminded of the old statistic we used to hear to encourage us to wear our seatbelts. It went something like this: 80% of all car accidents occur within 20 miles of home.

Duh. 80% of the driving you do is within 20 miles of home. Sheesh.

But if the overwhelming majority of viruses attack PCs, wait, when you stop and think about it, they're all PCs. Let me re-phrase, if the overwhelming of viruses attack Windows-based PCs (c'mon Mac fans, you have Intel processors, hard drives and graphics cards and monitors made by the same manufacturers, and probably the RAM, too, most of which are made in the People's Republic of China), it's because the overwhelming number of PCs run Windows.

If you're writing viruses, you want the biggest bang for your buck so you go after Windows.

My own personal experience? I've never had a virus infect my PC in over 20 years of using Windows/DOS-based systems. Lost one hard drive, but that was a hardware failure, not an OS failure. Crashes? Never happen on my PCs. I do mostly run-of-the-mill stuff on my work PC, but at home do lots of photo and video editing for personal stuff.

I dunno. I just never bought the "Macs are better for graphics and video" argument, and I've never had any problems doing that kind of work on a Windows machine.

Am I just lucky?

Your blog article is quite a bit flawed. By paying more money you can get a less capable computer in the Mac.

The small saving is offset by the fact that even on the mac 512mb of ram simply isn't enough. You will need to upgrade. The low end models,imac and mac mini, are not always easy to service. Also you will have to pay a significant price premium to keep up to date with the Mac OS. There seems to be a new one each year or so and it costs around $100.

Macs cost more the total cost of ownership is simply greater in dollar terms unless you sell it.

The mac is made to be stylish and easy. The BMW is the perfect example. They come with a bumper to bumper warranty that covers all items and except tires. You bring you car to the dealer and it is taken care of no question no bill.

You pay extra for the design of the OS, style of the computer, ease of use, streamlined service centers and stores. You will always know where to turn for Mac help. You know when you computer is to old because apple will tell you by not including your computer on it's newest os support list.

The mac is more expensive but apple provides service for the extra cost that is unmatched by any other company at any other price.

The mac vs. pc debate always generates multitudes of opinions, some calm and logical, others heated and frothing. It will go on. I have to admit that I enjoy working with my macs, have invested a lot of time in utilizing them to the fullest, and draw on a myriad of fav shortcuts in the OS, productivity apps, and pro apps (mostly FinalCutPro). I've used various flavors of Windows through the years and they are okay. I will continue to pay the premium for a mac for the simple reasons that I like working in the OS X environment and enjoy the ease and intuitiveness of the hardware. Case in point: notice when you buy things like wireless routers, hard drives, printers, etc. they come with software on a CD. That software is only for PCs. If you have a mac, you just plug the thing in and it works--no drivers to install, etc. Of course installing drivers isn't hard to do, it's just nice when things truly are plug and play and most of the time we get that with macs. Or this: bluetooth-enabled phone, meet powermac G4. Powermac, auto-detect my phone and put all my contacts on the phone. Done. Nothing to install, upgrade, tinker with. Just works. Can you do that on a PC? I assume you can. If so, enjoy. Nothing to argue about :-)

PCs, both IBM and Apple based, exist to run software.

If the Mac does not run the software you need it is worthless. Next year resale value does not matter.

Apple has a nasty habit of obsoleting entire computer ecosystems every 5-7 years which makes the software thing an even bigger problem. I can run any software I have ever purchased or written on my latest Windows machine. Try that on a Mac.

Today I repaired a over $200,000 4 color printing press that is controlled by a DOS application running on a Cx486SLC with a 1994 BIOS. If it hadn't been a simple card failure I could have replaced the entire computer with much newer hardware that is still available. Without a functioning computer the press was worthless. From call to fixed was under 3 hours. Try that with Mac Classic era hardware.

Computers run software. Until Apple wakes up and acts like that matters that they will always be behind in the "real" world.

What MAC users fail to realize and always have is that with Windows you have choices. With a MAC you must do it the MAC way or no way at all and even then you can only do it the MAC way if the MAC feels like allowing you to do so. Everything I want to do with a pc has endless possibilities to achieve those tasks. If you don't want to actually learn how to use a personal computer and don't mind being liberally brainwashed into the "We know what's best for you" mode of computing, get a freaking MAC and vote for Billary. She is your goddess! If you like having CHOICES and believe that thinking for yourself is the best thing since beer around the burn pit, custom build yourself a pc that'll Sunday stroll circles around the best MAC. Here's another little factoid MAC abusers overlook. Just about every slice of software available for the pc is offered in a trialware version. You can try it before you buy it and pick what suits your own style of computing. Farhad Manjoo, I think your logic is as flawed as any past argument for MAC VS PC. One really isn't better than the other. It's about preference and choice. Most people understand that but the majority of MAC users fail to and that's why the MAC still captures so little of the market.