Geek comment aside (pet peeve) I'll chime in here. I need to break up hardware and operating system to properly explain both. Apple's are generally just as reliable hardware-wise as PC's. Expect any repair cost to be 1.5x that of PC's if you have to take it into the Apple Store. Just the way Apple rolls. Expect the total price of the unit to be about 1.25 - 1.5X that of the comparable PC in the store. Again, that's the way it is. If you are looking at a laptop, Apple will beat the battery life of a PC all day long. Short version on JUST hardware: if you don't mind dropping the extra coin, an Apple's not a bad investment for what you're after. As you are finding out, the software on PC vs. Mac is widely different, and this may not be a bad thing. PC software is only as reliable as you are. If you are on the internet all day and click on things you don't understand, you will be one of those people that perennially have problems with their computer. I've had to have quite a few sit-downs with my users and explain over and over again how you downloading that free screensaver with the cute puppies is the cause of those weird popups you're been getting. Apart from that, you've probably been using Windows in one flavor or another for years, so you know you're way around. Try to shy away from Vista, or see if you can get someone to downgrade you to Windows XP until Windows 7 gets put through it's paces. Mac software doesn't have 80% of the aforementioned "crazy downloading" issues, that's in no small part to the fact that its got 15% or so of the market share. Finding software for Mac isn't that hard, you'll just have to do a lot of downloading. Very little in-store. Software reliability is a lot better, just because it takes a lot of the guesswork out of the user experience. There is a learning curve, but I'm pretty sure you're intelligent enough to work your way around. There is a good reason why newer computer users in the labs I used to run in college gravitated towards the Mac's. If it were me, I'd pony up the cash and get a Mac.