Mac vs PC : Soliciting Opinions

This is Jean, posting on Pasco’s blog because he can’t seem to find the time to update it and I wanted to get some advice on something completely unrelated to my health matters so rather than post this under my side, I’m bogarting Pat’s space, as if he will even notice…

Here’s the situation - We are in the market for a new computer – a laptop for me to use while in the hospital and also once I am home it will become my personal machine. Mostly it will be used for internet access, but the other big part of it will be for my photography – storage of my photos but also editing, cleaning up, etc of my pictures. I have software that I am very happy with that works well on a PC – Google’s Picassa. I’m not a fan of Adobe Photoshop though that could be because I never mastered it hence it frustrates me. I have spoken to many people who are trying to convince me to switch to a Mac for this stuff. Mac is better I’ve been told. You can do so much more with a Mac – it’s the only way to go if you are serious about your photographs. But when I ask for reasons why I should spend two to three times as much money for a Mac, no one has yet been able to convince me.

I know I’m stubborn, but on this one I really want to be convinced to spend three times as much money for a MacBook or MacBook Air. I’ve always loved the sleek simple design of a Mac and am not against switching, but I need someone, anyone to explain to me why I should spend $1500 or even $1000 (for a used machine on Craig’s List) rather than $500 for a brand new Dell laptop. The machine will be used pretty much for 4 things – surfing the web, watching DVDs, organizing and editing photos, and iTunes. It will be my primary source of entertainment at the hospital, but once I am home the DVD viewing will be a very minor aspect of its use – so don’t bother telling me anything about the graphic quality, I won’t notice the difference. Keep in mind I’ve been a PC user my whole life so there will be a learning curve to switch to Mac, but not one I am averse to.

So here’s the challenge to all you Mac addicts out there – Convince me!! Tell me why I should switch?? And don’t tell me it’s because Leopard is more stable than Vista, I’m not an idiot, if I get the Dell it’s with XP, not Vista. Write directly to me or leave me a comment here. I’m serious about this. In the next 2 weeks we are buying a new machine – tell me why it should be a Mac.