Mac vs Windows - Round 1

I get people asking me all the time which is better.  My answer like the technology changes by the month.  But in the end I think Bill Gates is the devil incarnate and Steve Jobs is a dick.  With that aside my real answer is - it depends.

In my experience the best computer I have ever owned (and I have had a lot of them) is my current main machine - the Macbook White.  I use it for work, art, most of my browsing, blogging, and, yes, some gaming.  It was the best machine I have ever used for World of Warcraft, especially since the Mac install of the game had a few integrated features for recording in game footage that's not on the Windows install.  I have also successfully installed and played Steam games that are either based on Valve's Halflife engine or coded for the standard Windows machine of 2 years ago or older.  And if you were wondering, yes, there are a lot of great games that do not require an I7 PC to run.  I run my stock pile of old Windows games on Crossover - a Windows wrapper that allows me to run Windows based apps on a Mac.  It is not perfect but has kept me from going on a WoW relapse.

Now I am not really the total Mac fanboy I play up at work.  It definitely has its faults.  I would not suggest to a gamer to invest $1300 CAN in a Mac when there are better ways to spend that money for a gamer.  I, however, can suggest to people who have the $1300 and want a computer solely for productivity in media development, browsing, or coding anything non-Windows that don't want to deal with crashes and to some extent, viruses, that this is well worth the investment.

In Windows defense, the release of their new version, Windows 7, is oddly enough as successful as their XP release in the shadow of Windows Millennium.  Windows 7 is lighter than its predecessor, Vista, and the most stable Windows to date.  My 4 year old gaming windows PC was recently updated to Windows 7 which for once ran better than it did running any OS I previously installed.  Windows, however, despite its improvements still is not fool proof but overall for the stumbling new user is a lot less unforgiving than its predecessors.  If you are a total gamer or want an optimal to best gaming experience possible or are on the fence of computers for games or computers for productivity, I'd say pay Bill (erm Steve Balmer?) his dues and get a well endowed multi-core Windows 7 PC for the same price as my Macbook white.