Ah, memories......
I spent many an hour back in the day arguing with the Mac fans, it was fun. I do not know nor will I ever get so ingrained to an operating system or a computer that it runs my life. There's even Mac fans still out there who believe every machine is crafted by hand in Cupertino by loyal sandal wearing Mac brethren.
I did, however, get frustrated with product activation on Windows XP, and tried my hand at a Sawtooth. It was ungodly expensive, and as I recall I had to buy a $150 adapter so it would work with one of he early Cinema Displays. One was DVI, the other ADC, I don't remember which. The Sawtooth worked, but was slow, and at the time there wasn't a whole heck of a lot of software of OSX. On top of that, the clear plastic on the case was crazing and cracking all over.
I tried again a few years later, with a G3 laptop and a Mini. The laptop had fantastic battery life, but was interminably slow, and the white plastic finish was prone to scrapes and cracks. After only a few months of gentle use the power adapter connector went funny, so that you had to hold it a certain way to keep it charging the battery---odd since it wasn't even loose.
The Mini was an interesting idea, but on my standard PC LCD monitor I got occasional flickering red lines that I never saw on a PC. And again, it was simply too slow to get much done.
I briefly thought of a G5 when the prices on them dropped, but finally decided to just stick with PC's and go to Ubuntu if/when Vista gets to be too much. All Ubuntu really needs at this point is game makers and a few major software vendors to sign on board and it'll be the alternative OSX should have been.
I can already list the replies the few surviving Mac fans will make, so just save time and pick a number:
1. Apple should be "rewarded" for the quality it puts in it's products and I should have plunked down all my money and the newest and most expensive to get the whole "experience."
2. I was either lying or faking about using Apples and SHOCK! walking away! No one does that!
3. So what? G4's were two processors and at least three styles ago, we need to look at the new Apple TODAY.
4. OSX is simply the best OS ever made and it's my fault for not appreciating it, and (again) only the newest and fastest hardware can fully use it.
5. (My fave) Apple is a hardware company and not a software company, and it needs to keep making new hardware to survive. You don't really expect them to keep supporting a decade old processor, do you? (Usually spoken to me by the same sort of people telling me in 2000 they'd be using their G4's forever.)