Partly in response to a previous thread from tentative switchers and partly because of a personal experience, I strongly suggest making the switch to Mac now. It is worth the extra money, as you will save yourself time and trouble and improve the quality of your computing experience. I am posting this because a brand new PC we bought is choking two days after we opened the box. My partner did not want to spend money on a Mac and so bought a cheap HP desktop. It was $500 and fully loaded. The stats on that thing sounded great, as they often do However, the new Vista-loaded PC has been set up for two days and has already rebooted itself twice. Amazing. Networking is a nightmare. Even if it wasn't already exhibiting such problems, I would not experience the slightest pang of envy that he has the new computer instead of me, as I have been more than pleased with my MacBook and confident that it will serve me well for years to come. On paper the comparison between mac and pc means nothing. What money you save now you will spend in the time you devote to healing problems, not to forget the time and energy spent on antivirus applications and other problems that PCs tend to have. Also, my Mac has built-in capacity for such features that low-end PCs don't have like TV-out; a PC with a TV-out video card would have made the thing cost much more. When you think of it, when you compare the price for a MacBook with a PC notebook or an iMac with a PC desktop the prices are not that much different. Wait that few extra months to save extra dough if you need to, and remember that your time and quality of life are valuable too 