Mac or PC?

I like this test:

Ask Mac users what they think about Macs. 99.9 out of 100 of them will tell you they love them and wouldn't consider using anything else.

Ask PC users what they think about PCs, and 99.9 out of 100 of them will tell you Vista sucks.

Generally speaking, either or...

With your need to have the standard Office products, if they have to be Word, Excel, etc., then you should probably go with Windows.  I think MS stopped producing/supporting Office for the Mac.  I could be wrong.

Of course, you COULD go Mac, and then dual boot with XP.....But honestly, why bother going through the hassle? 

Nope...MS is still producing Office products for Mac, Aand FWIW, MacOffice runs a lot better than Office for Windows.

A) If you patch your Windows system, like you say you do with your Mac, you shouldn't have security issues.

B) I have never had to scrap a machine of mine due to issues with spy-/ad-ware.

C) I had read that MS was not going to produce the Office suite for Macs anymore, apparently that was wrong.

D) I don't see how having a Mac makes connecting to the Internet any easier than with a PC.  They use the same protocols, and the same hardware and standards.  Plus, issues with a router or an Internet connection have little, if anything, to do with what OS you're running.

E) Macs can also be difficult.  I switched to a Mac for a while from Windows.  The whole one button mouse confuses the crap outta ya for a while.

This is alot of the overly hyped stuff Mac users tout as to why their machines are better than others.  Honestly, it's a computer.  A Mac is just as likely to be hacked or broken by a user who has no clue as to what they're doing.  I run Windows, and have never had to reboot or restore my machine because of OS issues.  It runs quite nicely, it patches itself when it needs it, and the only time I had an issue with security was through my own fault.  If you don't think a Mac can be broken into, go talk to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.  They have an entire section of their cybercrime dept. that specializes in Mac forensics.  Or talk to the guys at Core Security.

If you're not doing anything graphics intensive, you're probably better off with a PC.  I have both and Macs are certainly great, but they are also more expensive since Apple Inc. has opted to hang on to the the rights about as gently as a bear trap.

If your needs stop at basic home office stuff, then the bang-for-your-buck edge is probably with the PC.

bts 

My vote is for Mac.  An intel based macbook.  You can run MacOS *and* Windows XP on it.  So you can choose what you need.  You can even run Parallels software to run both OS at the same time.

All the software I need save for CompuTrainer and Cycling Peaks has a Mac version.

Office works great and is supported on the Mac.

And Apple has supported multi-button mice for several years now.

I think "Ken" uses a PC.

Technically you're right.  Blame the ad people. 

Dan:

I run an IT shop for $$.  Our environment is mixed.  In my 5+ years with this company we've never been "down" due to virus, other form of malware, bad (Intel-based) server(s), etc...only times have been due to ISP-related issues and those times I can count on one hand and the longest time down was ~2 hrs after a cable down the road was cut by a construction crew.

Point being - if managed properly, either platform will serve you well.  Like PC's and contrary to every Apple commercial that'll have you believing otherwise, Mac's DO require security updates, and a smart person would also include anti-virus software as part of his Mac "setup."  One of the primary reasons Macs have not been hit as hard as PC's (MSFT OS-based) is because they're not as ubiquitous.  ANY platform connected to the I'net is a target...and as the presence of Macs continues to grow, so too will the number of exploits attempting to bring down same. 

And, as others have noted, "dual" options exist.  Check out:

http://www.codeweavers.com/ (Crossover Mac)

and

http://www.macworld.com/news/2007/02/21/vmwarevsparallels/index.php (compares VMWare Fusion and Parallels

HTH,

Lou

Based on all the responses in this thread, I can only assume that,

You love me!  You really, really LOVE ME!!