Computers

I love computers. I hate computers. I love computers.
My computer is broken. I spent the last three days suffering the excruciating experience of letting someone else take control of my computer from a distance while I watched him move the cursor around (how come technical support is always male?), delete things, wipe out my virus software, in order to find out what was wrong (and paying $99 for the privilege) only to find, after spending ten hours on the phone and dealing with five different people, that they couldn't find anything wrong. Even though Outlook Express wouldn't open and it was moving at a turtle's pace.
Fortunately I got to watch Live Earth (some great stuff but of course we got to see almost nothing of the non-English/American acts. Snarl.) while I was doing it, and discovered I like Linkin Park and AFI. (Hadn't heard the latter, thought I didn't like the former but I was wrong).
Anyway, back to computers. So I dragged my ass (and the laptop) to the big city Sunday morning (70 miles away), dropped the sucker off (never to buy from a Big Box again) and then went to look at Macs.
Fortunately my son has this laptop, so I'm not totally cut-off, but it doesn't have my address book or my bookmarks and I don't want to load it with all my stuff because it's his computer and I want him to bond with it. He's always kept his distance from computers, and he has learning differences and they could really help him. But he's finally said he wants to do e-mail and instant messaging and myspace and download music, so I don't want to put my cooties (so to speak) all over his computer. I put a Phish desktop on it (currently switched to one of the adorable Unfortunate Miss Fortunes ones (get them at www.unfortunatemissfortunes.com)
but I need to keep the machine his.
But trust me, it stinks trying to live on someone else's computer.

So, back to my dilemma. I have a choice (one always has choices, thank God). The problem with my sick computer is that I underbought -- money was tight (isn't it always) and I went for the cheapest I could buy. Big mistake. The one time I overbought my computer lasted close to four years. Usually I buy one with just enough power and it lasts a little over two years. The current dying one is only 18 months old.

So. Mac or Dell? The advantages to Dell are numerous, most important being that I can get it in pink. My software is all PC, and investing in new stuff would simply add to the price. I like PCs, I'm happy with them (when they work) and Dell is great for support. With the last one they weren't so hot, but at least they were better than this Big Box fiasco. I'm used to the keyboard, I could simply reload from my backup hard drive. And did I mention it's pink?

Unfortunately it's also Vista.

As for the Mac, everyone knows and loves Macs, and a number of my buddies have gone to the light side (PCs being the dark side). They're lighter than pcs, always a boon, they're sexy, they're cool, and I'm even reasonably familiar with them since I troubleshoot them for my mother, who got her most recent Mac at age 91. They'll run PC programs (though not at the same time) and Jenny Crusie (as Mac Addict) wants me to get one. Plus, my brother was a Mac addict and even a professional Mac technician, so I could do it in memory of him, poor baby.

Either way I'm stuck with learning a new operating system when I'm in the middle of a rushed deadline. Mac's about $500 more than the PC (I think I'm looking at 2k vs. 2.5k -- I'm overbuying).

So I need advice and I need a vote.

Mac or Dell?