I will admit, in days gone by, that I was about as fervent a Mac Evangelist as you would find this side of Guy Kawasaki. Back in the 90's, this is what kept me going, what with John C. Dvorak predicting the death of Apple and Mac practically every other column.
The time I got into a serious debate (if you can call it something that rarified) was about five years ago, with a friend's roommate. She was going on and on about how lame the Mac was and how bad Apple's quality control was and how Windows had left the Mac behind, yada yada yackety-schmackety. I'll admit I may have lost my cool but, as my friend confirmed after she and the roommate parted ways, this chick was deliberately tweeking me. I finally got fed up and Whatevah'd her.
As another Mac-at-home, Windows-at-work person, I find elements to be admired and reviled in both platforms. At this point, I think it's a matter of personal tastes. As far as the difference in price, I'd rather pay the same price for a two-year-old Mac than a new PC. YMMV.
Two things I always bring up when trying to have a rationale debate as to why I prefer a PC is that a PC isn't legally restricted to one operating system, and that third party manufacturers are able to make PC hardware and sell it openly to consumers. An open market manufacture model allows for far superior PC hardware that isn't available on a Mac (have you ever tried running two GTX460s in SLi on a MAC?). Being able to purchase computer parts and upgrades that I want from a plethora of different companies is what makes a PC far superior than a Mac to me. I find solace in knowing that I have custom-built my computer to meet specs that I want, not that I have bought it pre-made from monopolistic Apple-Mart.
Fair enough. If you're tech savvy enough to want to purchase your own parts and tweak the operating system to fit, go for it. I'm just don't care about this myself, and prefer having it all at hand. I ain't the mechanic, I'm the driver.
The second is that I like to play graphic intensive games on my PC, which leaves the PC vs. Mac debate wobbly because their are not many graphic intensive games available for a Mac.
I'm not that into games; as for my kid, that's why he has an X-Box.
I prefer PCs in honesty. PCs would be near perfect if MS' dominance in OS' would be broken. The fact that Windows is far from perfect is not a slight on PCs. How can it be? Apple is the only company making Macs, it owns Mac OS. There is no one company that owns PCs, or exclusively makes them. Windows became strategic lock-in/the proprietary choice via market forces, if anything. ****, the company that created the standard PC format doesn't even make them any more.
Microsoft has the relationship with IBM that enabled them to shove Windows onto virtually every desk in corporate America. Another example of It's Not What You Know, It's Who You Know.
