Which is Better, PC or Macintosh?

I'm not going to touch this one -- but I will give you some information to help you decide for yourself.

One important fact that many people are not aware of is that computer manufacturers do not make their own parts or components. Inside a typical laptop, you might see a Toshiba or Sony LCD panel, a Seagate or Hitachi hard disk, a Samsung CD/DVD drive, an nVidia or ATI graphics chip, memory by Samsung or Hynix, and of course a processor manufactured by Intel or perhaps AMD. The vast majority of these components will have been made in China. While there are clearly some differences in quality, each of these manufacturers has its reputation to protect, and none of them intentionally sells problematic components.

And here's the real kicker:

Internally, Macintosh computers are made with virtually the same components as a PC. In fact, these days, most PCs can be made to run Mac OS-X, and most Apples can be made to run Windows. Apple computers now use the same kinds of Intel CPUs, memory, displays, and hard disks as PCs.

The evidence suggests you will experience little if any difference in hardware reliability between a PC and a Mac.

So are there any differences at all?

Absolutely. Simply stated, Mac OS X is a fundamentally different operating system from Microsoft Windows. There are numerous arguments on both sides, but in general, Macintosh computers are considered to be easier to learn, more intuitive, more stylish, less popular -- and more expensive, albeit with a higher resale value. With the recent release of Windows 7, some pundits are claiming that even those differences are beginning to evaporate.

It should be noted that Apple's service and support are often superior, though with higher out-of-warranty repair costs. For the vast majority of computer users, the higher purchase cost of a typical Macintosh (often at least double) is the deciding factor.