[Boar-Ral]

I have owned several PCs and Apple computers over the past several years and the more that things change, the more they remain the same.

Despite what many Apple owners told me prior to purchasing my first PowerBook, OS X does bloat with time. Booting takes longer, programs run slower, and things crash more often. I am not speaking in terms of years, but weeks. I do not use my PowerBook for anything heavy duty, nor do I tweak with settings that I should not be touching, but within six weeks, my PowerBook will often not come out of sleep mode and when it does, either wireless or Bluetooth is broken and requires a reset. The problem grows worse until reseting the computer does not fix the problem. At that point, I am faced with reinstalling OS X.

When this does not happen, I am plagued several times per week with applications that crash and require a restart. These applications are not even third-party, but applications from Apple, including Safari and Mail. Speaking of Mail, it occasionally makes a nasty habit of ****ting the bed and losing all of its settings including preferences, mail accounts, and mail.

Not only are thse problems that I experience regularly, but they are problems we experience everywhere here. Three years ago, the owners of the company I work at decided to dump PCs in favour of Apple computers, and everything I have stated here also occurs at work on a very regular basis. (The owners are very pro-Apple and very much form over function. They are the type of people to gloat over gold plated **** just because it is gold plated, even though at the end of the day it is still ****.)

And the problems with Apple computers do not end with software. If you do purchase one, by all means purchase Applecare, their extended warranty. We operate over 70 Apple computers here and with no exaggeration, about three-quarters have required hardware replacement. Fortunately, the problem is almost always the same: a logic board replacement. Your keyboard could stop working or your power adapter could stop working and the solution is always to replace the logic board. The bad news is that without extended warranty, these boards cost nearly $700.

As I write this, I currently have two PowerBooks, one iMac, and one G5 next to my desk waiting for Apple technicians to arrive to repair them.

Can PCs experience the same problem? Of course. But do not think for a moment that simply switching to Apple is going to eliminate these problems. It won't. And many people underestimate the amount of software they use that simply isn't available for OS X. Several employees have jumped ship on their home systems and went Apple even after I repeatedly asked them if they had any software that required a PC. Most of them thought of one or two programs that they could do without, but after getting rid of their PC, almost all of them come to me the next week and ask if "Program X" is available for OS X. And then they have the nerve to get upset at me when I tell them that it is not. Like it is my problem that they are deaf and stupid.

My point is that you use what works for you. I would recommend you try one out at the local store before you put down your money on one. As I first said, I use both PCs and Apple computers regularly and they both have their place. In a business environment with basic applications, they work well, so long as you have Applecare and can have the repairs performed as soon as possible to prevent downtime. (This can be a problem if there are no Apple-certified repair centers nearby.) In any other circumstance, I would stress purchasing a PC. If you stick to a name brand you will be more likely to get well built hardware and a name brand computer will ensure that every piece of hardware in it is certified to work well with Windows -- it is in their best interest to keep technical support calls to a minimum. And repairs can be made anywhere and by almost anyone. Even in the middle of nowhere, hundreds of kilometers from the nearest major city, we can get a Dell technician here the next day with parts and have our computers working. I have yet to see Apple get a technician here in less than 10 business days.

So there you have it. Take it as you would like. I am simply offering my experience with Apple, and it is not positive. I work with them daily, and in great numbers, and so I feel it is a better representation. (If you want biased one computer owner feedback, my parents have a PC that has not crashed once and works flawlessly. But I wouldn't use it to generalize how good PCs are.)

A final word of advice: do not install third-party "Windows fixers." Not only are most applications that are advertised to speed up your computer and clean it up really loaded with malware, but you've just sunk another $xx into software that does nothing, best case scenario. Even reputable software usually does not make a big enough difference to be worth your money. There is a reason many people call it "Norton Systemdoesn'tworks." Use a simple antivirus program like McAfee Antivirus, Norton Antivirus, or AVG Antivirus which is free, and an antispyware application like Windows Defender, and leave it at that. It will take care of you so long as you keep it updated and keep Windows updated. I cannot stress this enough. If I had a penny for every time I saw an employee abort a Windows update because it "slowed down their computer," I could afford another PowerBook. (i.e. I would be rich.) People who complain about their computer's performance while doing such obvious things to compromise it make me want to weep because I know I will be performing cleanup down the road.

Sorry to run on about this, but I have had to deal with this sort of situation often and I know that you need to be informed before you purchase it because each situation is as unique as the person using it. I recommended an iMac to my in-laws last week, but I know their situation.

So there you go. Definitely more than just my two cents.