PC or Mac?

[Daen]

And it'll do the right click and everything?  Same functionality as the control-click thing that you have to do with the one button?  If so, that's pretty cool.

[Spriggan]

It's been that way for quite sometime.

When I have to use Macs at school I bring in a windows mouse.

[AdrianConquest]

As someone who has spent years on both platforms, I can suggest 1 difference that keeps sending me back to the Mac - the Option Key.  The ability to type <opt-u> - u to get the ü character and any number of other special characters such as © (<opt-g>) or ¢ (<opt-4>), without resorting to the character map or needing to remember the alt-keypad number, made my 10 years of desktop publishing nice - especially in foreign languages.

I haven't read all the posts in this thread - but I searched for 'option' and nobody brought up this point, so I thought I'd add my 2¢.  :P    Everything else about using what works or what supports the software you need/like is also valid.  Just remember that many older software packages on the Mac are currently in a PPC->Intel shift, and old packages may not run on a newer machine, so you may have to consider the cost of software upgrades or availability as well if you're switching processors.

[Thorgierr]

No matter what you get,
Spend some time with the key board and layout of the device. We just bought a new laptop for my wife, the biggest consideration is that we wright and she wanted good ergonomics, and a ten key pad. that pushed us in to a 17" screen, all has worked out well, and she had the thing at Conduit 07. It came with Vista and we are resigned..... New OSs are like the weather, imposed in us by force and mitigated by equipment.
Regards,
Kevin

[Phy]

No matter what you get,
Spend some time with the key board and layout of the device.

I agree with this.  I've spent some time on the new MacBook and on the MacBook Pro.  For me, the former keys feel like scrabble tiles and I couldn't get used to the gaps between keys.  The latter feel like what I'm already used to with my aluminum PowerBook, and I like them just fine.

Many of the Windows keyboards were very nice, but just come with Vista (and the Best Buy guy I grilled said that it is deliberately very difficult to wipe the HD and load XP - he said it can be done, but not by a neophyte, and he wouldn't tell me how he did it).

[Spriggan]

are you serious?

All you do is put the XP disk in and tell it to reformat before installing, Best Buy and places like that don't want to tell you how to do things because they charge an insane amount of money (like $150 to look at your PC) for doing things anyone could learn to do.

And I don't know why you'd want to get rid of Vista, it's a nice OS and the majority of complaints I hear about it are from people who don't even use it--but that's how the Internet is, it's cool to hate even if you've never seen or used what you're hating.

[Comatose]

Congatualtaions Pemberly, you have earned my first post on this site.  You may have read my email to Brandon, it involved willow trees and secrets, and a snake named sheep.  It was posted on his blog.  As Pcs vs Macs are concerened, i suggest use waht your used to.  I have rarely used a mac in my life, and when i try to i have tremndous difficulties navigationg, and using the system, but some of my friedns are big fans.  Its true that windows has more software, but macs are more custimizable, and eventually comeo ut wiht all the games and software that windows has.

[Phy]

are you serious?

All you do is put the XP disk in and tell it to reformat before installing, Best Buy and places like that don't want to tell you how to do things because they charge an insane amount of money (like $150 to look at your PC) for doing things anyone could learn to do.

And I don't know why you'd want to get rid of Vista, it's a nice OS and the majority of complaints I hear about it are from people who don't even use it--but that's how the Internet is, it's cool to hate even if you've never seen or used what you're hating.

If you're on a laptop with a gig or less of RAM, I don't see any way around it - you're not going to get the Vista 'experience', and if you're not going to get that, you may as well run XP, where you don't have the 'new OS blues' troubles that people have with printer drivers, scanner drivers, and so on.

Vista is pretty, but that comes with a price.  XP runs just fine on less RAM and fewer compatibility issues.  Those will be addressed eventually, but the choice should rest with the consumer, not Microsoft.

[Spriggan]

if you run Vista without the graphic enhancements it runs just as fast, if not faster, then XP--plus it's more secure and has better battery management.  Thats one of the misconceptions about the OS.

True you're not getting areo, but with a lap top I'd figure the above would be more important since areo sucks battery life like nothing else.

I'm not a MS apologist, I just don't like it when people don't give things a fair shake and prefer to go off what they heard then from actual experience.

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

"OS Blues" is not something I've ever experienced. With any version of Windows. ANd I've installed from scratch and run for extensive periods on all versions of Windows since 95, including ME.

Seriously, it's fun to bash windows, but I think people bash it for no reason most of the time. Do I live a charmed life? or are the problems with Windows MUCH less rampant than people make out? I think the second.

[Phy]

if you run Vista without the graphic enhancements it runs just as fast, if not faster, then XP--plus it's more secure and has better battery management.  Thats one of the misconceptions about the OS.

True you're not getting areo, but with a lap top I'd figure the above would be more important since areo sucks battery life like nothing else.

I'm not a MS apologist, I just don't like it when people don't give things a fair shake and prefer to go off what they heard then from actual experience.

If  you're running Vista without the graphic enhancements, that strikes me as living on the top of a hill overlooking an impressive expanse and then bricking up the picture window to save on heating / cooling costs.  I have to wonder, what's the point?

I run an XP desktop and an OS X laptop.  I much prefer the latter.  I have spent a lot of time with both OS X and Vista laptops.  With OS X, I feel I can have the best of both worlds without the performance hit.

I'm not a Mac apologist, but it is getting increasingly harder to deny the appeal of what Steve Jobs and associates are doing.  I switched over from a Creative Zen to an 80 gig video iPod.  I buy my music through iTunes, and can get DRM-free versions if I so desire.  I've embraced OS X as my OS of choice.  And with any luck, in a couple of weeks, I'll be swapping out my Samsung Blackjack, itself a sexy phone, for an iPhone.  Apple is gaining a lot of momentum, and they're doing it the right way - by earning it.

[Spriggan]

Wow someone is getting a little defensive here.

I really could care less if you or anyone else likes or hates apple, it doesn't bother me one way or the other.  Do they make good products?  Well ya most of the time (don't get me started on OS7), but they're not my cup of tea--which is fine because if everything was the same and we had no choice (like El Jobso wants for us all, same with Gates) PCs would suck.  I choose windows products because I like how they run and that I can customize them and have the decisions to turn of Areo for better performance (which you can't do with OSX, but you don't notice performance because you can't run it on low end stuff like you can windows) and that MS plans for a wide array of users so people can get what they want at the price they want (you're only paying $30 for windows XP home or Vista home when you buy them with a PC at Dell, HP and other like venders).

I do disagree fundamentally with Job's vision of no user choice or control in anything they do which is why I don't buy their products.

And I disagree with saying that only apple as earned the right to be popular or that everyone else are dishonest, I think that's a rather arrogant or misinformed statement which is part of why Apple users bug me--they tend to only thing Apple should exist in the consumer electronics and PC market or that anything that doesn't work like an apple product is inherently bad and anything that does shouldn't exists because its "copying Apple".

[Phy]

And I disagree with saying that only apple as earned the right to be popular or that everyone else are dishonest, I think that's a rather arrogant or misinformed statement

I agree, that /would/ be an arrogant statement.  Happily, that's not what I said.   

I use both XP and OS X on a daily basis, and can be productive with either.  I have a personal preference of what I /would/ use for my sole platform, but ours is a nuanced world.

[Comatose]

Another pro for buying a Mac is the lack of viruses.  There are millions of viruses wating to affect windows system.  Last I checked there were tow viruses for Mac.   With the proper virus protection this in't too much of a factor, but it's something to consider.