You know, there are several things that truly bother me about the whole Mac vs PC argument, so I've decided to blog about it.
In recent advertisement campaigns, Microsoft has given "real people" money to go out and choose a laptop that suits them (I guess they aren't really interested in selling a desktop computers or their operating system *shrugs). The people in these commercial look at some laptops that run windows, then proceed to look at the price points and specks on the Macs, and then head back over and buy a Windows machine based on price point. A couple days ago, Apple took a jab back at Microsoft with their own add basically stating that consumers want a computer that's reliable and doesn't get viruses (or "crash," I assume they mean BSOD because I've seen a Mac freeze up before).

Now I'm a ride the fence kind of guy when it comes to computers. My motto is "if it suits your needs best, it's what you need." I don't buy into this whole Mac vs PC argument because frankly, a Macintosh is a Personal Computer (PC) when it all comes down to it right? I mean wasn't that the whole idea when Apple started off, to make a
personal computer for regular people? Now I'm not hating on Apple for kicking up dust on itself, nor am I saying that Microsoft has it just right yet.
From my standpoint, yes I'm currently a Windows user running on an HP machine, the first thing I consider is my budget. Then I consider what I can get for my budget. Being the teenager that I am (at least for the next 9 months or so) my budget isn't quite over the $1000 price point just yet, so I ended up getting a computer while it was on sale during the summer of 2007. During that time, sure I could have gotten a Mac mini, but I was looking for a powerful (enough) desktop that could get me through the start of college pursuing a Computer Science degree (I am now wishing I had saved the money and gotten a nice laptop, possibly a MacBook...-anyway). So yes, the new Microsoft commercials do have some truth to them when it comes to price point, but is that really a selling point for Microsoft? I thought they sold operating systems and software that run on several platforms all over the world. I must say, it sure can't be streamlined to run on specific hardware, like Mac OS X. However, OS X is only intended to run on Apple hardware, so where is the competition here? Apple sells hardware to push it's software sales. Microsoft mostly sells software to PC manufacturers and those that already have the hardware to push it's sales (and I know I'm not even talking about the Zune, iPod, or the Xbox but I really don't see the need to address this yet). Okay, I need to cut this short before I get too ranty.
I guess my point is:
-that Microsoft shouldn't be trying to sell PCs because it has it's operating system to worry about. Vista has a bad rap, and while it may be improved, most people are still using XP (they need to do something like the Mojave experiment again and focus on selling the OS, even though I know they're waiting on Windows 7 which is getting a thumbs up from people all over)
-that Apple needs some better arguments:
*A Mac is a PC
*Windows Vista doesn't crash as much anymore and the consumer can just get antivirus software (there is some good free stuff out there).
Bottom Line:
If you're really concerned about quality build, stability, and price point all at once, build a PC and load up you're favorite Linux distro on it. Then when things go haywire you can only blame yourself for building a crappy computer and not fixing the bugs in the software yourself. As for me, I'll stick with my crappy PC (usually running the worst os ever windows vista, sometimes some form of Linux) and might buy a crappy, expensive Mac just because I'm really curious and haven't used one since the days of PowerPC.