Mac or PC

[Vishenka69]

Our home computer is on its last legs and I'm dreaming of a new iBook. Mac are pricey though. PC are much cheaper but I'm so sick of dealing with the virus crap, that I'm very close to paying the extra bucks.

What do you have and would you get it again?

[SuzySunshine]

I have a Dell laptop both at home and at work and I would totally get them again. Of course I've also said that as we get closer to having kids I'd consider an iBook because their photo and movie capabilities are so much better. I've had my Dell since I was in school getting my MBA, so probably 5 years and it still works great. And the PC software for pictures/videos is getting better.

[alison]

Macs look so much nicer than PCs. They don't crash all the time like PCs.

I have a Powerbook.
That said, they aren't as sturdy as Apple would like you to believe. The AC adapter plug (the part that connects to the computer itself) is crap and I recently bought a new part - for $80. And that's just after 1 year...

The warranty is short (90 days), and no one (at Apple) will look at it unless you buy Apple Care extended warranty.

They're expensive... And expensive to maintain.

[alison]

I have always bought the extended warranty, but I feel it's nuts for Apple to only cover their stuff for 90 days to begin with!

[Vishenka69]

We have a 6 year old Dell desktop at home that crashed 3 times (had to be completely rebuilt from scratch) and semi-crashes weekly. We did have a 2 year warranty on it but it started crashing shortly after passing that milestone. At this point, I'm afraid to use it for more than Word and internet.

I have an IBM Thinkpad at work. I've only had it for about 6 months, so it's hard to judge it. But the damn thing is so heavy, I wonder how they ever thought it as portable. Even with all the firewall stuff we have at work I've still managed to get a Trojan on it.

I'm just skeptical if Macs really are immune to 99% of stuff out there.

[Michele]

We have a PC but when it dies or becomes too obsolete we're going MAC b/c Russ says so. I just think MACs look cooler.

I've always used DELL in the past laptops and PC's, I bought the new MAC book in Novemeber and I absolutely LOVE IT!

[alison]

I'm just skeptical if Macs really are immune to 99% of stuff out there.

I have NEVER gotten anything on my Mac. Knock on wood.

Dh has a computer that runs Vista. They're trying so hard to make the computers look like macs - with widgets, and so on. They got rid of that hour glass when something loads and have a circular timer (like a Mac).

Macs are the lesser of the two evils.

[madeintaiwan]

We have the G5 that came out early last year. Before that we had an iMac (DS uses it now to play his games). We love Mac. Had PCs when I was in HS and they always crashed. My parents have a PC and always have problems with it. We have the the 3 year apple care warranty. We (and our friends and family who have them) have always had great experiences with their customer service. Like Allison said, DH has had apple computers his whole life and has never gotten any type of virus. Knock on wood.

[DCJenn]

I grew up with macs, went to the dark side as Tara so aptly put it and have gleefully returned to the mac world. There is nothing that you can't do on a mac these days and it's such a nice interface with the iPod, etc. Their photostuff is fantastic and EASY.

We have an iMac and a laptop. My mom has the eMac and everyone else has the iMac.

My dad was hip to apple from way back because his company did desktop publishing back in the 1970s.

jenn

[Stella]

I love HP for PCs - I have a widescreen laptop that I got in December '04 and it's still hot stuff. I've never gotten a virus on it and it does well for my photo/media work. That said, I wish I had gotten a Mac anyway, but I love my HP, too.

[DCJenn]

I can add- the absolute worst computer/customer service was with Gateway. Holy Crap they sucked.

Jenn

[Sheherezade]

We have 4 Macs now. Obviously, we love them. We usually carry the extended warranty -- or buy it when something breaks (online at Apple) and then take it in to the Apple store here. We have had more breakdowns with the newer computers....which makes me wonder if their new popularity isn't hurting the product a bit.

My only gripe is that there is lots of junky cheap software for kids made for PC only. I'm tired of telling the kids that this "won't work on our computer". We've had a PC simulator, but the cheapo games often don't work with it. Our newest Mac will supposedly run PC software as well as Mac. We haven't received it yet. That would be nice. Software for girls is hard to come by, and many developers don't go to the trouble of developing "girl" games for Mac since their market is already so small. It sucks for my daughter.

But.....we also won't go to the dark side for home use. Macs, Ipods and airports all around here.

ETA: We've never had a virus either. In 15 years of use! I do hear that viruses may come to the Mac with an extended market share.....it isn't worth the while of the virus maker to go after 10% of the market now. Far better to target PC.

[Auspicious]

It's funny that most of the votes are for PC but most of the comments are for Mac.

I voted other bc we have both, but the truth is that the PC only gets turned on once a week to DL something. I will only use iTunes to DL onto the macbook we bought last fall.

Like other said, my gripes with the mac are:
1) you cannot find cheap accessories / programs
2) my bluetooth device is already out for repair and this thing is only 6 months old

I bought the apple care protection plan to extend the warranty. I don't have an anti-virus on my mac.

Is anyone a member of mac.com? It is worth the annual fee?