To be fair, the hard disk crashes I touted as being frequent are from ten years ago when I had Windows machines. I agree hardware improvements have probably minimized this. Most of the people I know have Macs and none of them have had a hard disk crash, while a minority of my friends have PCs and I have heard of a few crashes. Yes, of course Vista is the source of many of the problems and viruses will make up for some as well.
Over the past ten years I have had to work on my wife's PCs and pay for repairs. Maybe it's just my good luck with Macs and my wife's bad luck with PCs, but I haven't had to replace anything on any of my Macs with exception to a burnt out wifi card on my current MacBook Pro (I used to leave it on 24/7 and failed to vent it when I use it on my leather laptop cover).
Viruses are a constant issue with PCs, regardless of the motives. The processor speed is better with Snow Leopard and the upgrade from Leopard is only $28.00. I bet there are a few Vista users who wish they could pay that for Windows 7. I get free updates for all Apple software. I was under the impression that this wasn't the case with Microsoft programs.
This review shows the speed comparison.
http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-31012_7...-10355804.html
Mac computers are more intuitive and therefore easier to use and run more reliably. If you like working on your computer, then the PC is the right choice. If you like working with your computer, Mac is the sensible choice.
If you are a gamer, then Windows is a better OS, no questions asked. I don't play video games, so that wasn't a factor for me.