I agree – go with a Mac, I wish I did – I am a software engineer and have two laptops ( one my business laptop, one belongs to the company I am consulting with, both PC based ), both stink. I purchased an imac for the family a month back and am now wishing I had taken the plunge and dropped the extra 5 – 800 into the mac ( you will pay a premium over a PC based laptop if you go with a mac ) – at the end of the day a mac is just plain easier to use and will not waste as much of your time ( with viruses / hassles installing software and learning how to use it / … etc )