Pros & Cons to Buying a Mac

Pros

• Good-looking — inside and out
• Better, more unified, easier-to-use OS
  • It "just works" — more hardware compatibility (like the iSight)
  • Easy to see what programs you have installed because they all go in one place
  • Expose, Widgets
• Software
  • Free: iMovie, GarageBand
  • Just for the Mac: Quicksilver, TextMate
  • Games: The Sims, Half-Life, …
• Hardware married to OS, so potentially faster
• Support from manufacturer, not just retailer

Cons

• Apple is a sneaky, sneaky corporation
• $500-1000 more for less raw power
• Have to familiarize myself with a different OS
  • Backend based on BSD, not Linux (different directory structure, missing tools)
  • Installing software is more manual
  • No automatic updates!
  • Less file-format interoperability
    • No illegal codecs
    • No NTFS support well, not through Samba
    • Linux can't read HFS+ (except through Samba) actually it can, read here
  • Less freedom (as in speech)
  • Less customizability (date/time, theme, etc.)
• Can't use Amarok, Grip, K3B, Rosegarden, LilyPond, or FluidSynth
• Have to buy more software ($100 each OS X update, Quicksilver, Textmate)
• Hardware married to OS, so parts are more specialized
  • Also there's plenty of hardware that's stuck in Windows land — would I have to buy a printer?
• Support isn't perfect — hidden policies and gimmicks
  • Have to find online support forum or something
• Risk of being grouped with Mac fanbois and Steve Jobs butt-wipers