Apple or PC?

Get the Apple. Your loss in forgoing the PC is that you are going to deny yourself 80% of all independant software unless you get some software that allows you to run Microsoft-based systems on your laptop. This can be annoying for a number of reasons.

If you can get past the above then you will find with the Apple that all software is seamless with the Apple and you won't find yourself stressing over all of the conflicts in a PC that should be really simple but that are always in conflict. Just doing documents in different programs like word perfect and Microsoft word can be annoying.

The Apple notebook gets great reviews. I have been running OS X since the first week that the Apple G5 became available and, yes I did experience some software degradations. The amazing thing was that I was able to re-install the original operating system without spending the evening re-customizing and re-installing everything that I had added over the years. I was also able to upgrade the Panther operating system the same way with no extra work whatsoever.

You will be getting lots of other advice hereabouts as the PC people have many really valid points, too.

I just bailed pc notebooks (IBM & DELL) for the Apple iBook G4 a few weeks ago...it's a bit different in the way that it does things so I have a bit of learning to do...but I like it more and I'm not looking back nor do I regret the purchase.

When I lived in Seattle I had LOTS of friends in the computer industry...they all worked on PC's but always told me that they felt Apple was a better computer as they write their own protocols (whatever that means)

I went to Best Buy looking at laptops...they sold Apple but only through the website and had none on display at the store...I looked at all the PC's for a few hours walking back and forth & to & fro...had they actually had an iBook on display...I'll be willing to bet that PC sales at the store would drop considerably.

I have three Apple computers, one of which is a 17" PowerBook.

All the comments before mine are valid, but I would like to remind everyone that Microsoft offers "Office" for Macintosh and with it, you can run Word, Excel and all the other terrific Win programs with equal ease as a PC based laptop.

As for comments about spyware and virus.

My son is a computer science major, and as smart as he is about software and PC's (his system), he has to regularly clean out his drive, ridding it of these invaders. He says these can be picked up through email, downloading games and imbedded in music downloads. However, with active housekeeping you can keep the system running fine. He says there are free programs that will eliminate these problems.

I think Mac's are pretty much free of these, have visited Mcafee and Symantec and allowed them to probe my computer, looking for access and the report comes back that not only are ports "closed" they are in "stealth."

Here is a quote from a discussion about these issues:

Spyware is third-party software installed without your permission that transmits information you assume is private. Windows PC users are all-too familiar with the problems presented by spyware applications that display browser ads, or that reset the browser to a different home page. While these issues do not affect Mac users, you may find that some Web browser cookies fall under this broad definition of spyware. You can maintain your privacy on a shared Mac by clearing the browser history, removing all cookies, clearing downloads, and emptying the cache.

While virus issues are similarly less frequent on a Mac than on a PC, it is wise to run antivirus software - particularly if you run Microsoft applications on your Mac.

I agree wth all the above, I bought a MAC when XP came out as my old PC was shot, I have never looked back! I just ordered the 12" Powerbook fully decked out, and you as a student can go to apple's website, or likely an Apple store and get the student discount, it took off ~10%.

I also use Microsoft Office, and if you want to take notes, the new Office 2004 will allow you flexibility to record and take notes at the same time.... would have been great for med school!

I guess my final thought is just buy it, spyware won't slow you down, viruses are almost non existatn on MAC, and let's face it, they even look cooler!

Be prepared for strong opinions on both sides of this. It will be obvious from the responses that this is a religious issue, not a technical one.

Having said that, I can give you a very personal recommendation. I use both operating systems, myself, I've got a PC laptop as my main machine and both a desktop PC and desktop Mac at home. I've managed for a long time the end-user technology issues for a group of more than three hundred people, most of whom use PC's and the rest Macs. I know exactly what the support and maintenance costs for both platforms are, in both dollars and staff time, because I have to budget for them.

For anyone who wants to do the kinds of things you say you're interested in, the choice for me is clear. The Mac is going to be much, much easier to use, especially for music and image management. As a company, Apple has better customer satisfaction than any other, by a considerable margin. Your satisfaction with a platform is going to have more to do with the software than the hardware and Apple's applications are still dramatically more intuitive and elegant than any of the PC copies of them.

Compatibility issues are actually quite rare. Again, there may be a specific application that you must have a PC for but, for the average person, that's not an issue. Our folks happily exchange Word, Excel, graphics and Powerpoint files across platforms with no problems, whatsoever.

If your computer guru is willing to be on call 24/7 to deal with your issues then the PC might be an okay choice. If he's not, I'd go with your idea of the 12" iBook. It's an amazing machine for the money and the bundled applications, iPhoto, iTunes, etc., are genuinely fun to use.