Hardware-to-hardware, maybe you should compare the "more expensive" Mac with this:

http://sonysales.com/index.htm?sid=g...y+vaio+generic

I priced a Sony Viao TX Series with all the goodies I got with the Macbook and the VIAO would have cost me over $4000 vs. $1800 for the Macbook

Sony is POS they dont stand behind their products and the only reason they cost so much is looks and sony name seems to appeal to a lot of knowledgeless people (no offense to anyone here) sony needs to stick to making tv just like mitsubishi needs to stick to cars because when you have tv makers making anything and everything and car manufacturers making tvs you've got one big problem

Sony does make great TV's

Planning on getting this one

KDL-V32XBR2

Best price so far is J&R for $1,499 but then I have to pay sales tax.

A nice touch is making an appointment in a Mac store to get problems resolved. Taking free classes at the Mac store to solve any problems you may have and training for the applications that have been pre-installed on your Mac. Since i have owned a Mac (1988 till now) I have only had to send in a product for repair once. I took 5 days including turn around time and not one peep of resistance from Apple. During all that time I called Apple twice and both times what I thought was a problem was solved in 5 mins. Lastly the resources avaliable for solving problems are huge.

yes they do and thats all they should make, not computers thats not their field of expertise

are you a heavy user of the computer?

Not sure what you gettin at here? Could you explain please. Thanks

Ok so based on all this good info it sounds like a MAc may be better but I still wonder if she should wait until February when Vista will be a choice?

I would say so. Most of the time i have several applications open at the same time including Windows XP Windows 2000. and 2 of the 4 music applications i use and the internet spread over 2 monitors. All this is happening on a 5 year old Power Mac which has had no upgrades. :thumbup: And of course( knock on wood) No viruses. Oh there are a few hiccups now and then but nothing that i cant handle with once a month maintenance.

my fault should have clarified. The reason i asked this question is because you mentioned that you've only called in 2ce and sent in once since 1988 which is quite some time, i realize its not all on one machine but depending on how heavy of a user you are. for example internet use and word processing does not constitute heavy according to most. Heavy user is one that uses multiple intense applications, runs macros, and other programs that put a load on the system.