I’ve been building my own PCs for many years and, through much pain and heartache, become something of a expert on the subject. As well as every version of Windows, I have also have owned and used many Mac and Linux systems (I’ve become quite a fan of Ubuntu) – so I understand the relative merits of the technologies quite well.

My main “digital darkroom” system just passed it’s 5th birthday (quite a milestone for a PC!) and was overdue for replacement. Not only that, but the main application programs I use were old and needed upgrading to the latest versions – not a small expense just for that.

Windows had become increasingly annoying – systems need to be re-built every year or two as they become clogged up with unused files and settings and slow down. Because of the stupid Windows registry (urgh!), this means re-installing all your software from the original media and re-applying all the patches and settings. The final straw was when my system refused to shut down, and I discovered there is no way to debug the problem. Windows 7 is an improvement, but all the core problems are just the same.

So, what about the usual objections?

1) The “Mac Tax”. It’s true you can buy (or build) a Windows desktop PC for very little money compared to a Mac tower (that’s the “Mac Pro” line), but investigate a little and you’ll find prices are not as different as they may appear. Dell lists a desktop PC for less than a third of the price of the cheapest Mac Pro, for example – but configure it to match the Mac, and you are soon very close on price. The Mac Pro is definitely a high end box – but if that’s what you need, then the price is not out of line for what you get.

(Another reason brand-name PCs are cheaper is all the “crapware” that come loaded on them to help defray the cost. Something Mac owners don’t have to put up with – that’s gotta be worth something!)

2) Choice. PC builders like me have long enjoyed being able to choose the “best” component for each part of the system: motherboard, power supply, memory, etc. This makes sense compared to brand name PCs designed to minimize cost by using the cheapest commodity parts, but the Mac uses many custom engineered parts and is designed from the ground up as high end system. I can still choose third party discs, memory and add-on cards but since the Mac unique parts are engineered to a higher standard than most PCs, the choice concern is really moot.

3) Software lock-in. Switching platforms usually means re-buying expensive software packages – if they exist at all on the other platform. In fact, in my case, my software probably cost more than the hardware! A unique ability of the Mac, however, is its ability to run Windows programs seamlessly alongside native Mac programs using software such as Parallels or Fusion. Although I can buy Mac versions of most applications, one of my key programs, Qimage, runs only on Windows and I wouldn’t leave it behind. On the Mac I don’t have to.

OK Then. It was now or never … time to go Mac.

(NEXT: What to get.)