Your comment demonstrates the common stereotype of criticizing while uneducated about the Mac platform. You could have avoided that gaff with a simple visit to Apple.ca.
You can get a Mac for as low as around $700 or a MacBook (laptop) starting at $1,150.
A woefully underpowered Mac mini starts at $729. You can find more powerful PC packages with a monitor and keyboard for the same price, or less.
A MacBook at $1150 is not a bad deal...though it is still quite overpriced compared to other 13" laptops on the market.
With Windows 7 coming out soon the whole OS issue won't be that much of one anymore.
If you're looking to spend less... well, you get what you pay for.
Or you might actually find some value. There are plenty of lower priced PCs that do a great job, with no trouble.
Apple has stated that they don't play in the basement prices field. If there isn't a Mac within your budget, there are plenty of cheap PC's available but then you have Windows to contend with...
A friend of mine from California spent the weekend with me. He also happens to be a Mac fan and is constantly telling me how great they are and how horrible Windows is. When I couldn't convert a few Mac fonts on my PC, he offered to help and show me how easy it was to use a Mac.
His demonstration was a disaster. The fonts opened up without a problem. When we found a program to convert the fonts, he tried to install it...but it was packaged with Stuff It. He didn't have Stuff It, so I just told him to download the free Stuff It expander. His MacBook couldn't handle it and froze. Yes, that's right. His MacBook froze as he tried to install
Stuff It, a basic compression utility. As he frantically tried to force quit some programs, he mumbled something about having to format his hard drive soon. All of this had me confused, as I thought Macs never crash and never have to be formatted. His MacBook seemed to "just work" like a PC is supposed to. When I pointed this out he got upset and told me it was my fault for making him download Stuff It in the first place. Apparently if a Mac crashes, it's my fault. I didn't realize I was that powerful
![Stick Out Tongue :p :p](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
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After a restart and a few tries he finally managed to get Stuff It installed and the fonts converted, so we had a happy ending. Good thing I had a stable Windows machine. After that little episode, I'm very happy to "contend" with Windows
![Wink ;) ;)](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
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I will say one thing though. His MacBook certainly looked nice.