Mercury News: Switching To The Mac Won't Kill You

J ohn Fortt has arrived, and he brings word straight from The Man: Switching to the Mac wonit kill you. Mr. Fortt writes from his usual haunt at the San Jose Mercury News about the idea of Switching to the Mac in a piece titled "Want to switch to Mac? You wonit die." Itis a straight-forward, no nonsense look at the pros and cons of Switching. From the article:

Take it from a guy who has gone back and forth a few times between Macs and Windows PCs, and who now uses both: You wonit die. You can use Microsoft Office on a Mac, share files with Windows users and have a lot of fun with a machine that actually adds to your decor. If your wallet can handle it -- a decent Mac will cost at least $1,000 -- a Mac can be a joy to use.

Before I go any further, I should admit a slight bias. I use a Mac at home. Itis a 667-megahertz Power Mac G4 running Mac OS 10.2 Jaguar, which Iive upgraded with 768 megabytes of RAM and two hard drives totaling 180 gigabytes of storage. I happen to love this 2 1/2-year-old Mac, I expect it will serve me well for another three years at least, and you would have to pry it from my cold, dead fingers.

Iim not a Mac zealot, however. Over the past three years I have recommended and configured two Dell computers for my parents, because for the money, a Mac didnit fit their needs.

Mr. Fortt goes on to look at who should and who shouldnit Switch, with an emphasis on 3D gamers, proprietary Windows software users, and those who want to buy on the cheap for those he thinks should go with Windows. For those who want to "like" their computers and be creative, however, he advises a Mac. We recommend this article as a very good read, and itis great advice.