Jerry has more money then he will ever use anyway
I have a question about Dell are you able to upgrade on your own or do you need to buy there hardware such as hard drives?

Linux is an Operating System. Just like Windows (7, Vista, X, ME,98, etc) is the one that generally comes with PC and Apple has their Mac OS (Leopard, Tiger, Panther, Jaguar, etc). It's essentially the software that makes everything work.

I'm far from an expert, but I've been around computers since the days of BASIC and storing programs on audio cassettes and IMO, Dell seems to make the best machines available now. I practically have a computer in every room of my house, but the one that's stood the test of time the best and the one I use the most is a Dell laptop that's now around 7 or 8 years old! It's not that fastest in the world if you have 9 windows open, but from a reliability standpoint, it's taken a lot of abuse and keeps on chugging. In fact, I just changed the original battery! My personal experience with Mac is limited, but comparing PC to Mac is sorta like comparing Ford with Chevy. They both work well, but both have their downfalls and it's a personal preference thing. The biggest thing is that they are both totally different. PCs are prone to Virus', spyware, etc mostly because Windows and Internet Explorer are so vulnerable to it (and generally just has a lot of...problems). Mac is more secure and reliable from that standpoint (possibly because there's less of them compared to PC , so there's less people trying to hack them), but finding software for Mac can be a pain (if what you're looking for exists). Everything PC also tends to me less expensive, so that's something to keep in mind. However, you can get emulators to run Windows based programs on Mac. PCs work quite well, if you get away from the software they come with. For instance, I use plenty of Anti-Virus, Spybot, etc software as well as avoid Internet Explorer all together. I presently use Google Chrome or FireFox. A different OS is in the works (probably Linux, once I get around to it).

What about a used Mac? I figure true mac-heads to be pretty inclined to upgrade their hardware often (or then again maybe not: a Mac “just works” for a lot more time than a PC on average), and an iMac from, say, 2 generations ago should still be a pretty good machine (with an awesome screen, and very quiet, and with rock solid software).

For what it's worth, I use Windows, Mac *and* Linux, and each system has its niche which I'll try to briefly summarize

- Windows: cheap, everybody says it's easy to use although it's not that true but everybody knows and uses it anyway, easy to get software because there's tons of it, great to play games (actually I use Windows for gaming only), easy to "break" and to get infected by viruses. I'm talking about software only, though: I know by first hand experience that Dell computers are rock solid. Asus, a bit less. The other two brands are not imported here in Italy.

- Linux: cheaper than Windows, harder to learn, no games, but *all* the software is free of charge and you can do lots of stuff with it, although the advanced stuff is where it really shines. Plus, it's virtually immune to viruses. You can run Linux on any PC, and even on Macs, and that's the beauty of it: you get to decide whether to use it or not, and if you do, it won't (ever) cost you a penny.

- Mac: expensive, but it's like Linux dressed like Windows and it's easier to use than both. The hardware is excellent, and as I said before, Macs are all very quiet: you barely hear them. The Mac is the only machine you can run everything on, that's why most computer geeks like me get one sooner or later. It's decent for gaming too, though PCs are better in that department.


With all 3 systems you can do the "usual stuff" of surfing the net, sending e-mails, writing texts, computing spreadsheets, watching movies, chatting on line... there really is no one better than the other in this department: all have the same capabilities, with more or less pizazz but who cares as long as they get the job done?

I want to thank all of you for the advice you have given me. Now I just have to decide what to get...and Tim, NO I don't have a lot of money. I saving for retirement ya know...

The last thing to consider here is that the PCs won't allow you to install Mac's OS X (latest version: 'Snow Leopard') on 'em, but Macs will let you partition the hard drive to whatever size you want so you can install Windoze as your 'other' operating system ... just keep in mind that you'll still get all the Windoze virii and Trojans, etc - they just won't migrate to your Mac environment ... they'll live on the Windoze side ... You can load all your Windoze software and games on there, too - and they'll run faster ...

The suggestion about a used Mac is a good one ... if you decide to do that, make sure you get an Intel-chipped machine (Core Duo, QuadCore, etc) instead of the Power PC-chipped machines - y' can't upgrade their OS to anything beyond 'Leopard' without buying a new machine ...

no used machines....I already have one of those...

Yeah ... me too ... that's why I'm upgrading to a new Mac ... got to in order to be able to continue the software upgrades ... Photoshop CS5 won't run on anything earlier than 'Snow Leopard' ... sooner or later, everything hits 'EOL' ...

... except Linux.

Of course new programs won't run on older versions of the operating system, but since all updates are always free, that's really not a big issue.

As a side note, I've been using my second-generation Mac Mini (the first with Intel chips, cheapest model) with Linux for more than two years because it had become unbearably slow with OSX Tiger. Then as I was about to get a MacBook Pro I decided to re-train myself using OSX, so I reinstalled it on the Mini, and was disappointed big time as I found out that in just two years Tiger was *completely* abandoned and not even Google Chrome would run on it.

But!

Being the geek I am, once I got my shiny new MacBook Pro, I used it to install OSX Snow Leopard on the Mini's hard drive (because the installer wouldn't run on the Mini itself), and surprise! it was even faster than Tiger. Still slow, but at least usable and I can run Chrome on it now.

So, thumbs down for Apple for trying to prevent me to install the new operating system on an old machine, and thumbs down again for failing to do so.

Can't really help you from personal experience regarding those brands, since I custom build my own PCs- (right now intel quad 2.40ghz), but if I would go with reliability I would put my money on Dell or Asus. Gateway has a few good pcs, but they cost more. My brother bought a gateway laptop, it's huge and cost him like 1500 bucks, but again he uses it to play games on it.

Can't really help you from personal experience regarding those brands, since I custom build my own PCs- (right now intel quad 2.40ghz), but if I would go with reliability I would put my money on Dell or Asus. Gateway has a few good pcs, but they cost more. My brother bought a gateway laptop, it's huge and cost him like 1500 bucks, but again he uses it to play games on it.

Thanks for your input, Atlantis..