On 25 Jul 2005, at 9:00 pm, Martin Thorne wrote: > The only problem with Macs is that they are expensive to buy > compared with > PC's (despite their problems) Actually, I dispute that to some extent. Once you count buying the software for the PC that is either unnecessary on the Mac (e.g. Spyware filters, for now anyway) or are given to you free with a Mac (AppleWorks, iPhoto, iMovie, iDVD, development tools -- if you're into that sort of thing) the price differential is much less severe. I just bought a Mac Mini for home. Cheap machine, and very nice. The integration of the entire system is also really nice; I love the way that, for example, if I'm composing an e-mail message to a friend, who happens to be online on AIM at the time, a tiny green ball appears next to their name in the To: header, to inform me that they're online and I could talk to them directly through iChat instead (or whatever IM client you prefer - I use Adium, which is a very nicely done Mac port of GAIM) > and they are not easily upgradeable. Depends on the model, and what you mean by "upgradeable". PowerMacs are upgradeable internally. The other models tend not to be (although I've upgraded the memory in my Mac Mini myself - a slightly scary experience involving a putty knife and some nasty cracking sounds, but is doable without breaking the machine and doesn't void your warranty). But the other models also tend to have decent expansion ports (both firewire and USB) so adding external peripherals isn't a problem. > Having owned Acorn Electron & Commodore Amiga computers (both of > which I > still have, and are in working order) before settling on a PC, I'd > be very > reluctant to change again to a Mac. > > Martin. I was very reluctant for a long time, largely because I absolutely loathed pre-OS-X versions of MacOS. I finally switched to OS X about two years ago, and it is just *so* much more pleasant than Windows XP to use that I haven't looked back. I find using my Windows machine at home really awkward these days. I've also stopped using Linux at home as well, because I find that all the UNIX-y things I want to do I can do on my Mac as well, so I get the best of both worlds all in one tiny and almost silent machine. Oh, and I can play World of Warcraft on my Mac Mini too, so I'm sorted for games. :-) Tim -- Dr Tim Cutts Informatics Systems Group, Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute GPG: 1024D/E3134233 FE3D 6C73 BBD6 726A A3F5 860B 3CDD 3F56 E313 4233