Well, let me start by saying I am a PC owner, have several strewn about my house and on my network and have never owned a Mac. My next system will also be a PC (though i may get a Mac one of these days). Nonetheless, I have worked with and used Atari, Commodore, Timex/Sinclair, Tandy, Apple, Macintosh, DOS, Windows, Unix, Linux, and other systems in my time as a hobbyist, employee, trainer, enthusiast, troubleshooter, consultant, and professor. My current office at work has a Mac, a PC, and a Linux box in it - all of which get used. I also use a Windows and a Mac laptop regularly. Macs are very respectable computing machines for many tasks and to claim otherwise is simply inaccurate. Not only are they are simple to setup, configure, and use, but they also tend to crash less frequently than Windows-based boxes and have fewer OS-based problems. While they are certainly not for everyone, they should not be discounted as wortheless nor bashed with a baseball bat (they are a bit spendy for that!).
I have been using, installing, configuring, troubleshooting, and repairing both Win & Mac systems for years, so let me just say a few things about the raging Mac vs. PC debate that never ends, but has just been re-invigorated by this thread.
1) Believe it or not, not everyone is on fire to upgrade every element of their computer with every spare dollar they have. Folks like us may have the upgrade fever, but there are plenty of normal, everyday people out there who couldn't care less about the machine's specs as long as the thing works. The fact that the new iMacs aren't particularly upgradeable, isn't necessarily a drawback for a lot of folks - I have customers for whom it would be a blessing. Sometimes convenience, ease-of-use, space concerns, and yes - even style, trumps upgradeability. It is only one factor in the personal computer equation. Besides, the DIY market is NOT the target demograhic for this system. The Mac enthusiast, do-it-yourselfer, or power user would buy a G4 tower which is painlessly easy to upgrade (one pull fold out chassis) and has plenty of power as well as room and flexibility. Most of the folks on this board wouldn't buy an eMachines system, does that mean that there is no segment of the market that finds them appealing and useful? Does that mean that all PCs are slow, poorly made, and lack upgradeability? Of course not. Don't make the same mistake when considering Mac systems.
2) Some people do not play demanding games (or any games - gasp!) on their computer. If you are playing Diablo, mahjongg, Lemmings, chess, Starcraft, casino games, or You Don't Know Jack, a GeForce anything is NOT required. So the latest graphics card that blasts insane frame rates in Q3 but costs more than the processor and motherboard combined is not a requirement for all computer users. And though Macs have fewer games available, many popular games are available for Mac including Quake 3, Diablo II, and Unreal Tournament. Virtually all mainstream consumer applications are also available in Macintosh versions that work just as well as their Windows counterparts (sometimes better).
3) Comparing processor speeds of Macs and PCs directly is a waste. To do so completely misses the difference between the Motorola and AMD/Intel chip architecture. To compare CISC and RISC based chips clock for clock does not yield useful results, so please stop suggesting that a "1500 Mhz" difference is the same as it would be between two similar Intel chips (for example). Even AMD wants to get away from the "clock speed equals performance" mentality. Most of the AMD enthusiasts on this board will tell you that their slower clocked Athlons will outperform significantly higher clocked Intel chips. Hence the new AMD 1500-2000 processor ratings.
4) Style may not be your thing and the cheapest, or most upgradeable, or most overclockable system possible may be of the utmost importance to you, but not everyone is the same. Some people prefer stylish things, some could care less. Do you know anyone who has bought silver stereo components because they looked cooler? Do you know people who want to make sure all their audio components match? Why do they make black computer cases & peripherals if style doesn't matter? What about the entire community of case modification folks? Does a case mod boost performance? Clearly, style is an issue for some people more than others. Why buy a 2WD SUV instead of a minivan or a station wagon? Functionality? Not necessarily, both transport oodles of stuff from point A to point B. If you don't care about style, fine, but some folks do - and believe it or not, some would even pay a little extra to have that style on their desk.
5) Finally, Apple is in control of every element of a Macintosh computer - the case, the processor, the hardware, the OS, and even many of the applications. This allows for tighter integration and an ability to move forward and leave dated legacy technologies behind. That doesn't happen in the PC world. Dell could decide to jettison the almost 20-year old, slow, legacy 3.5" floppy disk with its paltry 1.44MB of storage from its systems, but consumers might rush to Compaq or Gateway, so it is still with us, even though many folks shifted to Zip disks or CDs a long time ago. How many people have an old ISA slot or a totally useless AMR or CNR slot taking up space in their speedy Wintel system because some OEM vendor somewhere *might* want to use it? Apple just decides to move forward and does it. Folks who really have a need can buy an external floppy, but for most people who would rather use a CD or DVD burner anyway, something useless has been elimnated and a far superior technology (faste, large, optical, durable vs. slow, small, magnetic, fragile) has replaced it.
Whether you do or don't care to own a Mac is irrelevant. Whether you choose to avoid it because you don't care for the design, think it costs too much, doesn't have a big enough selection of software titles, or can't be upgraded is fine. But please don't just universally dismiss all Macs as slow, expensive, and worthless -- they clearly are not. Some people come to these boards to learn something. It can be a great place for information. Save the blind Windows dogma, PC bigotry, and baseless anti-Mac blather for another location, PLEASE!
-- A Windows/Linux/Mac user
"It is easier to criticize than to correct our past errors." Titus Livius (Livy) (59 B.C.-A.D. 17)