There's a story for why I strongly dislike Dell, and this is going to turn into a flame war, but I guarantee you will not be able to beat me. Know beforehand that I have had AMPLE experience with both PCs and Macs, and have chosen Apple for personal use for a reason.
So, in January 2005, I bought a Dell XPS, as I was a heavy gamer at the time (Rome: Total War and Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion). Set it to 1GB of RAM for some extra power, and upgraded the video card. Decent specs, 2 GHz Intel processor and 80 GB Hard drive.
The day I recieved it (XPS M140), everything was working fine (XP Media Center). Then, within one week, my games started lagging. This is, remember, a gaming machine that more than surpasses the required specs of my games. It got so bad that I started running into 3 frames per second. Then, all of a sudden, MS Word wouldn't open. Then Firefox started acting funny, and would only boot in Safe Mode. Tech support was hell, I probably spent about two-thirds of my free time with them, trying to fix everything. Mind you, I do regular virus scans on my Windows PCs, Norton was very good at that time. I also had Ad-Aware and Spybot, not to mention Windows Defender. Finally, I had it with them. I sent my machine back after about two weeks with it, and got a full refund. I bought an Apple iMac with that money, and have not had a SINGLE problem for a year and a half, both in Mac OS and in Windows. Running Windows on the hardware is efficient, and using Boot Camp (free btw, not $79 like Parallels, though Parallels is good too) lets me game occasionally, though now I don't have as much time and removed the partition.
And to disprove the "lemon" computer skeptics, my sister had the EXACT same machine, she started having problems one year later (about six months ago). Tech support there was even worse. I had at least four two-hour chats with them, and got nowhere. They finally sent a repair box to send it back to them so a certified Dell tech could repair it. (Mind you, I had already diagnosed the problem: the Motherboard had issues, but I didn't want to crack open the laptop and void the warranty that allowed Dell to fix it). We sent it in, and had DHL records that the computer had been successfully sent. MORE hell with Dell tech support, and eventually, Dell admitted they had lost the laptop one month later. They finally sent us a new one (XPS M1410), which although is small, is now starting to have problems (the computer ALWAYS disconnects from our wireless network constantly). Once again, not a SINGLE problem with the iMac. It's running faster than the other two computers combined, and the specs are lower (less RAM, same Video Cad, only thing that's faster is the processor, 1.83 GHz Core Duo).
So THAT'S why I dislike Dell. I have no problem with Windows, I personally just find it's less efficient than *UNIX operating systems, including Linux and OS X.
As for those of you who are saying that Apple doesn't have malware due to it's small user base, it's NOT because of the 4.5% of Apple users out there. It actually has to do with the platform. OS X (Apple's OS) doesn't use the .exe files to run commands and such, but rather uses .dmg files, which opens a disk image and allows you to drag and drop the application into your application folder. If ANYTHING tries to install itself, you are given a message to type in your password, so you'll know if something funky's going on. The worst a virus can do on a Mac is take up space and transmit to other computers. Sure, viruses can affect Windows partitions through Boot Camp or Parallels, but they will not touch the OS X partition.
The Apple superiority complex comes with all Mac users. Deal with it, we all have it. You can mock it and make fun of it, but we'll be laughing when you all have viruses. It's true, we're egotistical, but that's Steven Jobs, let alone the Mac community, for you. ALL of my software runs efficiently and cleanly, and for every Windows application, there is a similar or better application for OS X, save gaming.
So, in January 2005, I bought a Dell XPS, as I was a heavy gamer at the time (Rome: Total War and Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion). Set it to 1GB of RAM for some extra power, and upgraded the video card. Decent specs, 2 GHz Intel processor and 80 GB Hard drive.
The day I recieved it (XPS M140), everything was working fine (XP Media Center). Then, within one week, my games started lagging. This is, remember, a gaming machine that more than surpasses the required specs of my games. It got so bad that I started running into 3 frames per second. Then, all of a sudden, MS Word wouldn't open. Then Firefox started acting funny, and would only boot in Safe Mode. Tech support was hell, I probably spent about two-thirds of my free time with them, trying to fix everything. Mind you, I do regular virus scans on my Windows PCs, Norton was very good at that time. I also had Ad-Aware and Spybot, not to mention Windows Defender. Finally, I had it with them. I sent my machine back after about two weeks with it, and got a full refund. I bought an Apple iMac with that money, and have not had a SINGLE problem for a year and a half, both in Mac OS and in Windows. Running Windows on the hardware is efficient, and using Boot Camp (free btw, not $79 like Parallels, though Parallels is good too) lets me game occasionally, though now I don't have as much time and removed the partition.
And to disprove the "lemon" computer skeptics, my sister had the EXACT same machine, she started having problems one year later (about six months ago). Tech support there was even worse. I had at least four two-hour chats with them, and got nowhere. They finally sent a repair box to send it back to them so a certified Dell tech could repair it. (Mind you, I had already diagnosed the problem: the Motherboard had issues, but I didn't want to crack open the laptop and void the warranty that allowed Dell to fix it). We sent it in, and had DHL records that the computer had been successfully sent. MORE hell with Dell tech support, and eventually, Dell admitted they had lost the laptop one month later. They finally sent us a new one (XPS M1410), which although is small, is now starting to have problems (the computer ALWAYS disconnects from our wireless network constantly). Once again, not a SINGLE problem with the iMac. It's running faster than the other two computers combined, and the specs are lower (less RAM, same Video Cad, only thing that's faster is the processor, 1.83 GHz Core Duo).
So THAT'S why I dislike Dell. I have no problem with Windows, I personally just find it's less efficient than *UNIX operating systems, including Linux and OS X.
As for those of you who are saying that Apple doesn't have malware due to it's small user base, it's NOT because of the 4.5% of Apple users out there. It actually has to do with the platform. OS X (Apple's OS) doesn't use the .exe files to run commands and such, but rather uses .dmg files, which opens a disk image and allows you to drag and drop the application into your application folder. If ANYTHING tries to install itself, you are given a message to type in your password, so you'll know if something funky's going on. The worst a virus can do on a Mac is take up space and transmit to other computers. Sure, viruses can affect Windows partitions through Boot Camp or Parallels, but they will not touch the OS X partition.
The Apple superiority complex comes with all Mac users. Deal with it, we all have it. You can mock it and make fun of it, but we'll be laughing when you all have viruses. It's true, we're egotistical, but that's Steven Jobs, let alone the Mac community, for you. ALL of my software runs efficiently and cleanly, and for every Windows application, there is a similar or better application for OS X, save gaming.