I'm on a Mac and love it. Martin makes some very good points and his descriptions of Macs are accurate.

Good luck.

Cheers,
Logan.

I think a lot depends on whether your brother is willing to actually learn how to use a computer properly. If it's just his personality to "push buttons until something happens" and he doesn't want to actually learn the system, then it really doesn't matter if he's on a Mac or a Windows machine--or a manual typewriter. It's just not going to work as he wants.

So, this is probably the first question to answer. If he's not willing to learn, then a new computer isn't going to help, unless his attitude is because his cheap eMachines computer is such a piece of junk that it doesn't work properly and THAT is what makes him just push buttons until it does something.

But if he's willing to learn, Macs are great. I use a Mac as my main personal and work computer, although I still use Windows daily for work, too. Depending on what your brother uses a computer for, it really may not make much difference whether he uses a Mac or Windows. Using a mouse and starting programs, dragging files around, etc. are conceptually pretty similar, although there are differences that can be a bit strange at first when learning a new system.

You can probably get a better deal on a Windows machine than a Mac, but then again, I feel like I see people using their Macs much longer than for Windows machines, so over the long haul, the Mac may be cheaper.

Thanks for all this good info!

I hadn't even thought of having him use one at a computer store, as I don't think I've ever BEEN IN a computer store... That sounds like good advice.

Sue

Although this doesn't probably apply in your case, keep in mind that any business or industry specific software is almost certainly going to be Windows based. My wife works for an airline, and the software they use to check schedules is only available on Windows, for example.

Also, if you get a new Windows based system, be aware that many are coming with Vista-64. It is a better system, but it is does not have nearly as much 3rd party device support (scanners, cameras, etc). Vista 32 is a better option at least for now for less experienced users.

This is the issue I have with Apple, you can count on a break sometime yet Apple users still insist their hardware is so much better.

Remember everything works easy on the mac because you have to research a lot more up front and buy the Apple compatible hardware, you can't just buy the camera/scanner/printer that's on sale and plug it in, you'll have to be sure ask or research to make sure it will first. IMHO with that up front work its no different to search for the particular model on a linux site to see if its supported, then you plug it in and it works just as easy.

If you MUST run windows (as I do for Visio and for Outlook), you can run it - concurrently - on the Mac without any problems. I do it every single day without a hitch.

Sue,

I personally, like Mac's.

The menu system is the basis of all Windows that people use so much today.

Mac's are also less likely to pick up virus's because there are very few Mac language Virus's out there since most virus's are designed to infect IBM compatible systems.

If he can handle Windows, he can handle a Mac.

Has he checked out the Net pads that have come out now (approx $400 per copy). They get you on the internet, have word processing, database, and spreadsheet programming.

That's what I'm looking at getting within the next couple of months.

As usual Martin has summed things up very nicely. The other thing to keep in mind is that Apple does not intend to compete at every possible price and performance point. Where they do choose to play they are viewed by the industry (not me) as being very competitive and their quality ratings (independent) are 10% above their nearest competition. Having said that any computer is a very complicated machine.

I fully agree with Martin that everyone should start with a command line, preferably on a "REAL" (tm) computer - you know one that uses UNIX or it much younger brother LINUX. Hmmm - I think I just dated my self there.

- Eric

This depends a lot on the industry. A lot of the "creative" industries actually use or prefer Macs. This is especially true in graphic arts and some of the video editing fields since this is one area where Macs truly stand out. Having a fully integrated and unified color handling system is literally priceless in these areas. A lot of scientific and engineering work is moving to the Mac (from UNIX) since the move is relatively painless (UNIX lurks under the hood of OS X). On the other hand if they need business utilities, including many business focused web applications they may really need a Windows PC. DirectX and some of the other MS only things make many network applications fully dependent on Windows.

- Eric

Ok - this one I don't get.

I have had great luck with my Apple computers, starting with the old IIe and working my way up to my current computer, a 7 year old Tibook G4, my wife's 3 year old Macbook and the kids new Macmini. I have always gotten about 7 years out of my computers before toy envy finally drives me to get something newer. On top of that my Dad, who is notoriously hard on things and my computer challenged inlaws have all had great luck with their Macs.

Anecdotal information isn't worth much but I have direct experience with over 100 Macs used by my place of work and my family and friends. None of them have had any significant problems (well ok - my then 2 yr old daughter did destroy one computer, but the brand wouldn't have mattered in this case )

Any manufactured product will have the occasional escape due to statistics and tolerances. Or less nicely, occasionally uhmm.... stuff happens. If you ignore the fanboy inputs (on both sides) from forums etc. the statistical data is that Apple computers have had an excellent track record over the last 10 years when compared to the rest of the industry.

Of course if you really want reliability you can always step up to a "REAL"(tm) computer - maybe something nice from the IBM Power Series < thats a joke folks>. Those toys are expensive and really do require more than a fair bit of knowledge to setup and maintain. Of course for a "small", ongoing fee, IBM will be more than happy to help you out with that

Similarly - it used to a real pain to find things to plug in to the Mac (back in the bad old pre-OSX days). Haven't had any problems lately. Of course I do envy all the cool time wasters (games) that PCs have.

- Eric