I'm surprised no one has brought up this touchy subject yet. Of course, the subject is only touchy to Mac users, and they only make up something like 9% of all computer users, so that may explain the previous lack of a node.
But I digress...
As an office Mac (a Power Mac G4 w/ 192MB RAM running OS 9) user and a home PC (an old 133 MHz Pentium w/ 96MB RAM) user, I feel I can shed some light on the subject.
Macs...
- are much, much more stylish than the average PC (e.g., the G4 and the iMac)
- noticeably improve the performance of Adobe Photoshop (the graphics industry standard) and generally work well with most other graphics-oriented software and hardware
- are a bit more user-friendly...
- Want to change the look of an icon? Just copy-and-paste into the icon's info box.
- Want to move an application into a new folder, but you're worried that the shortcut/alias won't point to the correct location anymore? Don't worry, Macs update shortcuts/aliases on-the-fly.
- Want to know what applications are on your machine? Open up the Apple System Profiler and voila - there's an alphabetical list.
- Want to know how much memory a machine has? Again, just check the Apple System Profiler. There it is - memory type, size, location, etc.
- Want easy access to system controls such as monitor resolution, color depth, and volume? Use the handy control strip that clings to edge of your computer screen and pops up when clicked on.
- have a well-deserved reputation for easy hardware installation
- are very scriptable. If you are comfortable coding, you can write time-saving AppleScripts for all kinds of things. And if you are really ambitious, you can use ResEdit to customize the look-and-feel of Mac applications.
Windows PCs...
- have a greater pool of software and hardware from which to draw from (thus, the Win PC is generally considered the gaming platform of choice)
- work well with Microsoft products, the de facto standard in the office sector (and Microsoft's Internet Explorer is the current dominant Web browser)
- have a huge installed base, and thus the likelihood of knowing others that have Win PCs and of finding readily-available tech support is dramatically increased.
So what it basically boils down to is this:
If you work in the graphics industry, or if you dislike Microsoft, or if you really love the look of the Mac Cube, you'll use a Mac. Otherwise, you'll probably use a Win PC.
And then there's Linux, but that's been covered elsewhere...