I know it’s a touchy subject in many circles, but I try to approach the great “debate” from a non fanboy perspective- I have a 10+ year history with Macs (and a Power Computing clone), and spent at least 5 years using both platforms side by side, though I’ve been using a PC exclusively at home for a while. But after looking at what Vista has to offer compared to Leopard (hell, even Tiger), the time has come to draw a line in the sand.

Ironically, the transition to Intel is probably the catalyst for getting me to go back. The cost issue is much less a factor now than in 2000, and as much as I love getting a truckload of parts from NewEgg, I find myself craving something that just works. There comes a point where replacing fans to get a couple extra FPS in a game is just not fun anymore.
Read on to see my major factors for making this decision:

1) Apple Exclusive Software: Keynote

I recently had a big presentation to work on at the office. We designed to go digital instead of printing boards, and for shits and giggles I spent a couple hours checking out keynote. Sucked right in, and was building a solid foundation for the presentation that night. A couples hours turned to days, and a couple days turned to weeks, and the results spoke for themselves. Not only was the presentation awesome, every time it was shown- internally to senior account folks, and externally to senior clients- people afterwards came up to discuss Keynote and how much more awesome than powerpoint it looked. One account guy even went on about how he fought to keep a mac when his department mandated a switch to PCs. It may not be the first thing people think of when they think “Apple”, but it’s definately one thing you just arent going to find on Windows. As I have gotten to point of my career where presenting and selling creative is as important as making it, this is a badass tool I simply NEED in my toolbet.

2) Apple Exclusive Software: iMovie, Final Cut, and associated DVD burning tools
So, my first real Windows “workstation” grade machine was built around Avid Xpress DV (back when it was $1500 and required a dongle- hey, i won it in a contest). Long story short, it was such a grueling experience my budding art film career got canned and the machine became an Unreal Tournament box. A very, very expensive playstation that served me well enough for a few years.
In the previously mentioned keynote presentaiton, i wanted to integrate in some motion graphics pieces. Have you tried cropping a clip on a windows PC? I am sure it is possible, but I ultimately found it easier and less aggravating to just wait till I got back to the office and used my Mac. Whereas video (from a creation standpoint) requires some black magic and sweat on the PC side, the mac just lets any ole retard do it.

3) I am a naughty boy and require discipline.

Or, at the very least, some guidance and structure. Lets take a look at my media.

Music: I have two main folders, aside from my incoming drop box. One is compeltly organzied and tagged with art, the other not so much. I try and wrangle it all through itunes for my ipod, Zune software for my 360, and WMC in vista for the 360s WMC integration. Oh and I also play shit in WinAmp alot. basically this mess sucks, and I want to just sign up to have apple force me to funnel it all through itunes. I already have ipods and airtunes stations throughout my house, so why fuck about maintaining multiple copies of the same library? Make me spend one weekend cleaning up tags when I reimport the stuff on the Mac and be done with once and for all.

Photos: same shit, different media. 8 years of digital photos- some crap, some priceless, scattered about with no management system. I am not sure whether I want to go iPhoto or Aperture, but one way or the other I am going to start funneling everything through some apple mandated library, for one good reason…

4) I have no reliable backup strategy.

Yes, i have my important stuff on redundant harddrives, but I am not real confident I am protecting my digital assets as responsibly as I should. Enter Leopard with Time Machine. Sure, it requires a new, seperate harddrive, but thats a few hundred bucks I’d pay to be sure my shit is going to be safe(r).

5) I have nothing to lose except sanity and data.

A couple years ago, this would be a tougher call to make. But thanks to a couple handy tools, it’s a nobrainer. If there is a tiny PC utility i need, Paralells will launch it fine. If i realy want to go back to Half Life 2, I can reboot into boot camp. So I dont really lose any functionality, but gain quite abit (see points 1-4).

As for what I am going with, I’ve been torn between a laoded 24 inch imac, or a modest Mac Pro with my existing monitors (a pair of sony LCDs-20 inch 1600×1200 and 17 inch 1280×1084). Since the machine is gonna live in my master bedroom, I am leaning heavily towards the 24 inch imac, but if you, dear reader, have thoughts either way, feel free to vote or leave a comment or something. You’ve got until the taxman gets me my 2006 return to influence me.

n