I'm interested in those who have used both but prefer the Macs. What made you like them better?

I've used both, and still use a PC at work. Both are good at what the do, so I am not meaning to bash either. For my personal life, though, I find the seamless interface between the camera I use, my iPod, printer etc and the various softwares are all best on Mac.

Macs suck, unless one is a graphic designer or artist or something.

How so Frank?

macs are the best thing ever. just take the chance and get one, if you dont like mac osx you can always install windows

What gets me about the new iMacs is that there's no tower. Everthing is behind the monitor. It's almost like a big iPod...

PC for me - jut because I'm accustomed to PC's. I have nothing against Mac's, I just don't know a lot about them, or the differences between them and PC's.

PC, cause I can build it part by part,and upgrade just by replacing certain pieces.(I usually give the old pieces to friends who might need them) I also dual boot and have both linux and Vista installed on the same computer.

Or on the other end of the spectrum, among programmer types whose work normally involves using Unix (a very common operating system for larger server-type machines.) Macs made a big incursion into that world when they made OS-X into a new Unix variant (previous OS versions were unrelated). Thus, it appeals to many of the same people who would otherwise be using Linux (the free, open-source version of Unix) on their home machines, except that Linux would require them to spend a lot more time figuring how to set things up correctly. In comparison, Mac OS-X generally just works, because the Apple engineers have already done that work for you. Unix is a very powerful, reliable operating system, which I generally prefer to Windows - but it's a pain to set up in the first place. OS-X lets me skip that and just use it, which is great.

I realize that this may mean little to many of you. I just wanted to address the misperception that Macs are just popular with artistic types. In recent years they've made huge gains among many techies as well.

Personally I use both my Mac and PCs about equally. I enjoy my Mac more, but in fairness that could well be because my Mac is a good deal newer & faster than my PCs. So it's not really a fair comparison in this case. I will say that learning how to use my Mac a couple years ago came a lot more naturally than learning to use my first PC did, many more years ago. Then again, Windows has gotten better in that time too.

Interesting point. My Mac is a laptop, and for laptops it's generally much harder/impossible to upgrade anyway (other than memory and software), so this is a moot point. I haven't tried a Mac desktop yet. Don't know if I will. I doubt I'd get one of the new iMacs because if I'm paying for a new screen, I want to be able to add it on to my other screens, not have it dedicated to one computer only. With a laptop it's obviously necessary to have the screen integrated in with the computer, but with a desktop, not so much. Aesthetically, it looks impressive to have the computer itself blended somewhat innocuously with the display, a la the iMacs of the last couple years - but that's not a big enough selling point to me to justify buying a new screen that I can't use with another computer. On the other hand, I can take my Mac laptop and hook it up to a bigger screen or multiple screens, and it works great. (Same for a PC laptop, of course.) So I'm thinking that in the future, I should just buy laptops with good processors and small screens (for price & portability), and buy some more large screens for the home desktop setup, just plugging in whatever my current best laptop is.

I've used a Mac professionally for years. It was what we used at Digital Chameleon.

In the past few years, however, I've switched almost entirely to using a PC. Really, it's just because that is what I own, and finding cheap PC stuff around here is way easier than comparable Mac stuff.

I like 'em both.

I've tended to look first to PC's over the years because that is always what I've had at work. Good thing Mac disdained the business community over the years -- good call.

The Mac seems interesting, and just when I get a little bit interested in trying one, they start some new advertising push that convinces me I'm not a Mac person. Their commercials and marketing techniques either insulting, or tend to try and make me think of my computer as an expression of my hipness or identity.

I'll settle for features, price, and competition. I like the way HP and Dell are cutting each other's throats to make a better product.

Probably why I will have a Linux box first.

I've been a Mac user since before they were available for the general public (I had a friend who worked at an Apple dealership in '83, and they got a floor model in their shop in November of '83).

Wha-? You mean things like this?

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Unfortunately all we have is a PC, I started off working on a Mac at the billboard company I used to work for and when I can afford it, I'll get a Mac for me.

I'm dying for a Linux box. But the problem is that a notebook is my weapon of choice, and the options are much more limited there (such that the price is not as competitive as it could be).

What do you mean by this Jay?

As to the original question, I'm a PC guy, although I have used Macs here and there. So I guess Darin is not interested in my post. PCs are better for me because there is a much larger library of software, parts are far, FAR cheaper, and if I want to buy a whole new system, well that's cheaper too.
The myth that Macs are better for graphics designers no longer applies, as PC software has caught up in that department. Photoshop on PC is the same or faster than on a Mac.

I meant there is not a healthy market for new notebooks pre-loaded with Linux. I wouldn't be up for buying a new notebook and changing the operating system (not tech-savy). Do Dell or HP sell a Linux notebook? I did some searching and it's a more limited universe. I ended up deciding I would get a new Vista notebook pretty soon, then experiment with loading Linux on my old one.

But that would kind of defeat the purpose -- I got interested in a cheap lean-and-mean notebook by the MIT program for the third world. Plus I use almost all rich internet applications.

For me it's intuitiveness, speed of processing, and just generally more pleasant computing environment.

I worked for a company which sold both IBM's and Macs back in the early 80s. Apple's business practices turned me off to the Mac more than anything else. I've been a PC user ever since and have never looked back with regret. I've used my PCs for music and graphics applications and have never been disappointed. Having worked in the industry for 23+ years, I have always been very conservative with my machines (especially with regard to the operating system) which is one way in which people say that Macs excel. I used Windows 2000 until about a year ago and rarely had any glitches. I made a hardware change that forced me to upgrade to XP and have had more issues with XP in a year than I had with 2000 in four years. I won't even touch Vista for a couple years.

Fifteen years ago, one of my neighbors was a guy who worked for IBM and was on the team which designed the PS/2 series of computers. He had a Mac and I always chided him about being an IBM employee, using the competition's machine. He said that all of the people involved in the design of the PS/2 series used Macs to do the design work. That's certainly a testimonial in favor of the Mac if ever I heard one.