I've been running Kubuntu on the laptops I've used as primary machines for a few years, as well as Ubuntu netbook remix on my Dell mini. I have a WinXP box with dual screen in my office I rarely use because I'm too lazy to switch to anything else on it. I also only do development work and no graphic creation for websites; so have only needed to use GIMP to chop stuff if necessary.
With that, I recently wiped my current laptop of a 32-bit Kubuntu OS to the 64-bit because I upgraded my RAM. We all know how shitty it is to start from scratch, but I must say this (K)Ubuntu route was pretty smooth. To get my system to where I had it under the previous OS version was:
Code:
sudo apt-get install [the program i need]
or use the update manager. Obviously, I had to configure local web server, and a bunch of other settings most people would never need to tweak, but from a basic install from scratch to getting back up and ready, I was pretty pleased.
Unfortunately, I need to test websites in IE browsers (pray to gawd they work in mac browsers, even though Safari for Windows doesn't perform the same as Safari on Mac). I just needed to install Virtual Box, which is free, install a Windows OS on it, copy that virtual machine three times, and for each iteration, I have IE6, IE7 and IE8 to test on (Anyone know how to properly run all three versions of Internet Explorer on one Windows OS install?).
Anyway... I'm not running video editing software, designing graphics, playing games, or anything special other than having a LAMP stack on my local box which seems to port well when I upload a website to a remote web server. The OS and software is all free, and Google usually can find community-driven help if an issue arises.
Regarding Mac computers - I just dislike them. I've had to test on some Macbooks and though it would take some amount of time figuring stuff out and getting used to, I just don't like them. Everyone I seem to work with has a Mac, and they all have crashes, issues, have to go to the "Apple Store", whatever. Anyone saying a Mac is just fool proof and never crashes is either full of shit or just uses their computer to play solitaire.
Like a bunch of others have said, it's more of an OS issue and software issue than hardware, since hardware is becomes a moot point at some level.
There's my dumbshit $.02.
Edit**: Obligatory Bash quote:
http://bash.org/?741630