OK, sorry to derail the thread, but I have to bust the myth about Apple and "it just works". Yes, 10 years ago, Apple meant "it just works". Today, they've gone to Intel processors (on Apple motherboards with Intel chipsets), and the former domination of Apple over the development process seems to be pretty much gone.

Yeah, it's a slick operating system. The peripheral devices like iPods do tend to "just work" on both Windows and Apple. Nevertheless, I spent quite a few hours setting up my wife's Macbook, tweaking a few settings, troubleshooting the wifi connection, installing virtualization software because she had an app that was Windows-only, yet required for school, etc.

The benefit to Apple from where I sit is how little time I need to fix things after I install them. My kids manage to break something regularly on their Windows box, while my wife's Mac (after the initial setup) has required perhaps six hours of tech support from me over the past year.

My mother's picking up a Macbook, too. It's actually going to match my wife's, because white was what was on sale from Apple at the time :) My hope is that, after the initial full-day or so of configuration, hers will be as trouble-free as Christy's.

The best-laid plans of mice and men...

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Matthew P. Barnson