Ah the age old question amongst computer nerds. You will see very passionate reasons for both sides when you talk to people. I am different from most. I am a user. I use what is in front of me. In fact I use both macs and windows machines on a regular basis. I will try my best to show some reasons for both here.
Macs
First I should tell you I am using a mac to write this. I have a mac book pro that I use for my personal stuff. I really do like it but it does have some limitations. First it's strengths.
1. It is easy to use. I like the clean interface and for the most part I don't have to worry or think to much about maintenance. It takes care of everything for me.
2. The screens on macs are always nice. In fact when you get a mac you are getting a high quality machine. I will exclude the mac mini here since you buy your own monitor and keyboard.
3. The customer service is outstanding. Just yesterday I was talking to them and my laptop is older and they still helped me out for free.
Windows
Windows is an excellent operating system. Windows 7 is anyway. They are not supporting windows xp any more and I will never use Vista. I am running windows 7 on three machines I use. It is an outstanding OS. It is secure and easy to use.
1. There is a ton of software out there for windows. If you are looking for an incredible range of choice windows is great.
2. There is a good range of prices. There are a lot of different machines that run windows 7 out there. So you will have a wide variety of choices when buying one. (A note here though I don't buy cheap computers as my mom used to say "you get what you pay for!")
In short I think both are great and I don't mind using windows at all. I do prefer my mac but that is because I love the keyboard and screen.
I think the best reason for making a choice is your phone! If you have an iPhone and or an iPad I think you should take a serious look at a mac. To put it bluntly they integrate the phone and computer better than windows. If you are not using an iPhone or iPad then I would look at a windows machine. My house we are invested into the iPhone and iPad so running a mac makes sense. I do have several machine that are windows here as well though. My son just got a computer that he paid for and he wanted a windows machine because he wants to play a game that doesn't run on a mac. A good reason from my point of view.
I guess it comes down to what are you going to use it for. Remember if you talk to someone at the store they may or may not know a lot about macs. Most IT guys are trained heavily in the windows side of things. To keep an open mind I always do my own research (I love the internet).
