The idea behind Macintosh is that everything is built on the basis of stability. The standard Mac package includes Appleworks 6 (think Microsoft Office for students), the iLife suite, and all the spiffyness of the Unix-based Mac OS X.
If you're big on digital media, the iLife suite is incredible. It's simply not possible to put something together that all integrates so smoothly and comes out of the box on a PC. iMovie really is a brilliant application--I used it to make a mini-film of my marching band's performance last Saturday. I've never been able to do something like that when I used my PC. Spend 2 hours downloading drivers so that the camcorders' video can be uploaded onto it, and then having to fumble around with the blasted application because it's so poorly made. I didn't have any experience with iMovie before this, and after an hour and a half (lots of rendering time), I had my video in the e-mail in to my Grandpa in FL.
I love my iTunes. I have my entire music collection on my Mac, and you can buy music instantly (downloads take 30 seconds on my cable modem) from the iTunes Music Store. However, iTunes will be out for the PC in mid-October, so it isn't really a consideration for buying a Mac. It's perfectly possible that iTunes will be just as good for PC as it is for Mac, but it won't be built so seamlessly into the architecture of the computer, so it's hard to say.
iPhoto keeps all your digital photos together in one place. Order albums--real hardcover books--from your desktop, order prints, and everything you need for sharing your memories with your buds around the country.
Sherlock, Address Book, and iCal are all built in as well, which I think would be a lot more of an advantage if you were using a laptop. However, I don't lug my 50 lbs eMac around with me, so I don't use them very thoroughly. Find any information over the internet like flights, phone numbers, stock quotes, and any other business needs instantly. Address book is your electronic rolodex, and iCal is your digital planner. All are simple to use and in the time I've spent fiddling around with them I've realized just how useful they could be for a travelling Mac user.
Now, about games. I don't play many games on my Mac, because when I made the switch, I lost the ability to use my enormous game collection. I don't miss it. My computer helps me be more productive in my life instead of being a distraction from it. And even so, Blizzard does simultaneous Mac-PC releases, and they're more or less the premeire PC game makers, so you're not at a loss when it comes to that. [EDIT: I didn't abolish games permanently
. I have StarCraft: Brood War, Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne, The Sims, Mah Jong, and Civilization III installed on my Mac.]
Macs cost more out-of-the-box, but you get more out of the box. Built-in 56k modem, Appleworks suite, ethernet port, firewire & USB 2.0, iLife suite, and OS X come standard on all Macs. There are some processor speed issues on low-end, but not only do Macs come with more out of the box, but hold their value better. A $799 iMac DV+ bought in the summer of 2000 is still worth between $400-$600 depending on what you've put in it.
I use my Mac on a home network with 2 PCs. No compatability issues, very "plug-n-play." Appleworks reads and writes Microsoft Office, but if you really need it, there's a $149 version of Office: Mac avaliable.
I made the switch, and I'll never look back
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Okok j/k it was a bad example.
