Is an apple computer a good idea or not?

[MrsFogi]

I've decided I need a computer at home so that I can spend hours at home on MN as my new job has severely curtailed my ability to spend hours lurking and (sometimes) posting.
So......I want a computer to surf the net and also to manipulate images (both photos and video). I haven't bought a computer since I was a student so have no idea where to start (so any suggestions welcome). I was thinking of an apple ibook or powerbook (as they look lovely - not a great reason for choosing, I know) but a friend suggested that this might be a bit of a shock to my system as I'm used to using windows/normal pc - has anyone got any views good or bad on apple computers?

We used touse VPC then MacLinkpkus, but our mac manhas installed Davev4 which does everthing automatically. It supports Jaguar and Mac OsX v 10.2.
I never have any problems with stuff sent to me or to anyone else, apart from photos to my dear father as he won't get broadband and so they take about 3 dyas for him to unstuff them!

Well you've convinced me, I've taken the plunge and ordered an ibook online. So can't wait until it arrives!

We use Maclink for converting common Winblows file formats like .doc (as used by Word) into something Mac applications can understand. It's a great utility, well worth having, and best of all it sits in the background on your Mac and kicks in automatically when it sees you opening a file it knows it will need to help you with.

By the way, further to what I was saying about Virtual PC, it's worth bearing in mind that it is not distributed by Connectix (its inventor) any more - it is now owned by none other than Microshaft itself. You can find out more about it at the Microsoft Mactopia webpage. Note that VPC version 7 is about to be launched, so don't go out and get v6 unless you can't afford to wait a few weeks.

Also bear in mind that when you buy VPC, you are buying two things: firstly a computer program that emulates a PC inside your Mac, and secondly a version of the Windows operating system. So, if you already have a legal copy of Windows, you can buy the cheapest version of VPC, which is the one that has the PC emulator programme but no Windows CD included, and load your own Windows CD onto it instead. You could save up to £100 that way, because you're not paying for another copy of Windows.

By the way, you can also load Linux or UNIX onto VPC, if you're in to that sort of thing.

So what did you think spook?
OK I've decided to go with another mac and a PC emulator. I notice that you can get microsoft office together with VP version 7....

I'm now wondering whether we should be looking at the high end eMac or whether to go for the entry level G5 imac. I'm not sure I understand what the difference would be- other than if we were using it for lots of digital movies etc- which I doubt we would be. For running virtual PC is there going to be a lot of difference?