Well, I'm a Mac man, myself, always have been, and always will be.

MACs still truely are faster when working with images, there's no doubt about it. Photoshop runs like a dream and you will know the difference when you first use it on large files with multiple layers and processor intensive filters.

The other point it that MACs are clearly easier to use. The OS is streets ahead of anything Microsoft has to offer, and unlike Windows, will take you no time what so ever to get used to.

Take my advice, the price difference is not that great, and you will not be sorry.

Join the Apple club.

That's simply not true.

In the old days, the Macs were faster it is true, but they also cost about double the price.

Now they only the latter is still true.

Intel and the other PC chip manufacturers have made great strides in making PCs faster, and add to that the fact that so many more programs and software sollutions are availble on the PC than the Apple, and it should be a no-contest.

PCs rule.

#1 Macs are not faster than PCs, in general
#2 Macs are NOT double the price*
#3 All major apps are on a mac

Now that macs and pcs are sharing many of the same components - capabilities and prices are very close. Sharing files between platforms is a no brainer. The apps you need, are on a mac - you want a gaming machine, buy a friggin xbox.

Film and Video editing, graphic design - mac is the industry leader. Walk into any serious graphic design, creative agency, film or photo studio, post production house - and they are running apples. You want a job in any of these industries? You need to know how to run a mac.

The two reasons to own a mac...

Viruses - you need to meet a deadline? Have a client in the studio? You need a reliable machine. You can count on your fingers the serious security threats to the apple os in the past decade. How many have there been on windows in the last year?

Usability - this is a personal taste issue. lets use a car analogy - lets take a ford and a honda. both are just cars - they both do the same thing fundamentally. but one does everything a little better. all the pieces fit together just a little better - all the details are thought out carefully. all these incrementally better design choices make up for a much better user experience as a whole.

*there have been several head to head price comparos' in the last 6 months. go to info world.com, look for...
Mac vs. PC cost analysis: How does it all add up?

To read this you must assume that windows vista does not exist, vista is the operating system of the future (not because it is good, but because it needs resources not yet discovered), maybe 20 years from now, no computer runs smoothly on it, not even if that is all you have installed.

Back on the topic:

The debate will never end, you can do almost the same things in both platforms, it all depends on how much you would like to pay.

Anonymous is right on the viruses subject, if you will pay A LOT of money you can at least be sure that there will be no problems in that area, I am a Linux user and I can't tell you how nice it is to never have to worry abut viruses and malware and spyware and all kinds of ware.

Another reality, if you ever look for a job in that field, you HAVE to know Mac, even if you didn't like it.

Mac WAS the top notch in video and imaging, don't get me wrong, I am a Linux lover and therefore a Microsoft disliker (if that word exists), but I must also admit that Mac is not what it used to be, don't think that it means that it is a bad platform, it still is great, but you can't close your eyes and pretend that they are what they where 10 years ago, putting Intel Inside is one of the worst things they could have done.

If you can get a taste of it before buying one, do it, get the feeling, I would have one if it all depended on the looks, but I am in real life a programmer and Mac would just be a nice decoration in my room, I need something that I can open and replace parts and burn parts at free will.

My point is, IT IS UP TO YOU, with a huge tendency towards Mac.

Hope it helps.

Regards,
Felipe

The linux option is an interesting one, but I am a little conserned about software support.

In the industry that I work, I need to use programs like Adobe Photoshop. Are these available on Linux?

There is no official support, there are several options to run this applications, but they all require virtualization, if you are not into the computer wold, it means to 'virtually' run one system into the other, and it does not only sounds complicated, it is complicated.
We are all looking forward to the day when there are releases for this applications that can be run natively into Linux, but there are none at the moment. We have alternatives like Gimp, I spoke with Ed and he will be speaking about this options in the future, and they can also be run in Windows.

If you want security and power, go with Mac. I would love to tell you to go to Linux, but it is still a world a little restricted for your needs.

Without barriers in the internet, why do you want windows and gates?

Just a little Linux joke ; )