If you play games, PC is better than Mac, but I could give a rat's ass about games. That's what my Playstation is for. I don't think I've actually HAD to re-boot my Mac (OS X 10.2) for 6 months. I do it every week or so just to make sure all my external hard drives are functioning correctly (multiple back-up sources), but, other than that, my Mac rarely crashes and I have an older G3 iMac that is SERIOUSLY being pushed to its limits. That's why there is a new 20" iMac to the rescue. Woo hoo!!!
I have both a PC (a SFF one that is plugged into my TV, mostly for watching TV, and playing games), and a Powerbook G4 that's a couple of years old. My personal preference is still for the Mac (it's a better environment for my job, which is software development), but the PC is OK. If you're going for a laptop, and you're considering a PC one, here's a caveat: battery life. It's really worth checking. I'd guess the Dell that DaDa recommended would have a fairly short life, which may or may not be important to you. That's one area that the Mac portables really excel.
Off topic, but after looking at KS' screenshot, I have to get this off my chest: am I the only guy in the world who cannot stand a metric tonne of icons on their desktop? I have four icons on the desktop (only because I can't get rid of three of them (Network/My Computer/Recycle Bin), plus two tiny ones in the lower left hand corner of the taskbar (Mozilla/Winamp). Anyone else appreciate the streamlined look?
You can get rid of My Computer for sure. I think you can also get rid of Network. (This is for XP, which I assume you're talking about.)
To get rid of them in Xp: -Right-click on desktop background -select Properties -click on Desktop tab -click on Customize Desktop button -check uncheck what you don't want.
http://personal.stevens.edu/~achadzyn/powerbook/files/thepowerbook.pdf a funny story about a "powerbook"
Just a little reply: I own a 8100. Very similar specs. I got the true 15 inch upgrade with a great graphics card for playing games. Problems that make me want to sell it now for a powerbook: 1) Low battery life. Those big screens and powerful graphic cards drain it fast (I average now about 1.5-2 hours). 2) LCD had to be replaced twice. Apparently this is a common problem. Regardless what laptop you get, BUY A EXTENDED WARRANTY. I got one and it has been a life saver on this dell. 3) Cheap construction. My opinion. I have friends who have dropped their powerbooks and seen no problems. I think if I dropped the dell it would shatter into a million pieces. 4) Way too heavy! I mean it's like 10 pounds. Utterly stupid for a laptop. 5) I think the driver support is iffy. I had to rummage around the web for a bootleg windows 2000 driver since I did not want to run XP. Dell had no drivers other than the XP one. I know that they don't have to give out drivers for OS's they don't support, but this just bugs me. 6) I hate windows. It just sucks if you demand true productivity. Yeah, its cheaper but I would rather spend the extra dough for something that consistently works, is ultra secure, and isn't forced upon me like a goddam computer tax. My two bits. --rhad
I also cannot stand numerous icons on the desktop. I have none on mine. Everything is in the dock. I love the dock. Also I see you can do this in Xp but it takes 5 steps. To achieve this in OSX it takes a mere 2. 1. Finder Preferences. 2. Uncheck the items you dont want on your desktop That is what I mean by subtle differences. It seems that everything in windows always takes 3 or 4 more steps to achieve the same result as it does in Mac.
I'm always trying to clean up my desktop. Sometimes when I'm working on a couple of projects, it gets messy, but I'm sort of a freak for keeping it neat. Wish I was a freak for keeping my office and house neat too!
1) The 8100 and 8600 are completely different beasts. Their battery lifes are not comparable. The 8600 I stated above is around 4 hours or more. 2) It does not weigh 10 pounds. It weighs around 7 lbs. If you want small and smaller screen, you can get a Dell that clocks in at around 2-3 lbs. 3) Ten pound laptops are DTR laptops - not meant to be travel laptops for the road warrior, but some people still use them. People on the run usually buy something a wee bit lighter.
