Quote:
Originally Posted by radix
Windows is for new users that don't really know much about computers. OS X is definitely for the more advanced user.
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I'd argue that this works both ways. It's possible that for someone who's been recently introduced to computers, a mac would be easier to learn on. To the more advanced user (again, depends on what you need the machine to do), Windows is more restrictive than Mac OS, but often has more powerful programs available.
IMO, this isn't that big an issue. I purchased a unibody Macbook (shortly after renamed MBP) when it first came out 3 years ago. I immediately installed Windows (natively, no parallels/bootcamp bs) and used windows only up until 2 weeks ago. Now I have an SSD running Mac OS and my original HD with WinXP. With Mac, I've found you pay $200-300 on top of a comparable PC. I'd lean away from Dell and towards Asus (not sure how much is available in the US).
I'm still getting used to the Mac OS (and I have plenty of linux exp.). There are certain tasks which I just can't do nearly as efficiently as I could with windows. For example, downloading mp3s, editing their tags, and adding to my perfectly organized itunes library is nearly impossible in the manner I've done it on Windows. I've tried seemingly all the tools available and they're all shit. Editing video, the whole file management process is still inconvenient to me. Still don't have some keyboard shortcuts down.
The variably-sensitive mouse is good conceptually, but my wrist feels like it's doing 2x the work it was in windows. This was my biggest complaint when I tried my friends' MBs. There is no setting native to Mac OS where you could go and switch the damn thing off. Better to just get used to it.
Battery life is better. Many things which may have required drivers/setup on windows (though this aspect has gotten MUCH better with Win7) work automatically with the Mac.
Sharing media with X360 (big deal for me as I streamed everything to my living room in this way with Windows) works perfectly with a 3rd party addition (Connect360).
Warranty service is actually pretty convenient with Mac. If you buy new, you can add 3 years of warranty by buying Applecare for ~$50 on eBay (everyone should do this), and then when your battery turns to shit in 3 years, you'll get a free one. If anything breaks (such as one of my 2 USB drives), you'll get a replacement motherboard (with new CPU, GPU, etc., etc.) Kicking myself for learning the value of it AFTER my original warranty expired.
If you have the cash, go Mac. As I've said, you can either setup a dualboot setup with Mac+Windows, use parallels/Wine to use Windows apps from within Mac OS, or just screw it and go for Windows only, as I originally did. Since the use of intel chipsets ~3 years ago, all the windows drivers you need are included on an install CD, and there will be absolutely no difference in operation between windows on the mac and any other laptop.