Yeah.
Now pay for legit recording software.
As well as, (actually valid,) video editing software, native DVD authoring software, photo editing software, etc, all of which is native, and totally cross functional in a way that only things like the Adobe Creative Suite has even sort of touched on.
Add a proven, rock solid and stable, and EFFICIENT OS to the mix.
Not to mention hardware from a company that actually uses reliable components. 'Cause, I don't know about you, but I sure haven't seen to many Gateways that could really, and I mean REALLY, take the kind of abuse that things like serious audio recording puts on then.
Then there's the little things like the native webcam, plug and play with pretty well everything, and even the ridiculously sleek casing of the iMac, and I think you have an awfully attractive package. Besides, I bet that you'll find that any 19" LCD that a company includes with an $800 computer for free, probably isn't really worth the trouble of tossing out your old CRT. Especially compared to the award winning ultra sharp displays on the iMacs.
And if you absolutely HAVE to have the doesn't-really-do-anything-important-that-xp-couldn't-do, except-that-it's-slower-at-it trainwreck that is ONE of the 7 versions of Vista, (compared to the 1 version of Mac OS that comes with everything, and does everything,) then it's (unofficially) functional on Macs as well, thanks to BootCamp.
Now, if Gateway starts making $800 computers that CAN run BOTH Mac OS and Windows, AND can do it out of proper components instead of just whatever they can get the cheapest that fiscal quarter, then I MIGHT be interested.
For five minutes.
'Till I go buy a mac.
Those are all good reasons why one could reasonably buy a Mac. They're not good reasons why one shouldn't buy a PC. For me personally, Garageband and all that video stuff are useless. Don't need 'em, don't want 'em, don't care at all.
And IME the stability of Macs is a tad overrated. They're great and all, but the idea that they don't have problems is overblown. Every Mac user I've known has had problems. That doesn't make them bad, or even worse than Windoze, but I have to admit, on a personal level, I get kind of tired of the more extreme forms of Mac boosterism I've seen (I'm NOT saying that you';re doing this).
And for recording purposes, you can't really compare Macs and out-of-the-box Gateways. You ought to compare Macs used for recording with PCs whose components have been chosen and set up for that purpose by people who know what they're doing. There's no earthly reason to believe that Mac components as a group are inherently of higher quality than PC components as a group. Good PC gear is just as good as good Mac stuff. You just have to be more careful about your choices in the PC world.
It's true that an average Mac is probably better suited for recording as it comes out of the box than an average Gateway PC is, but in the end, I can't see that that really matter all that much. What matters is the quality of the recording machine you actually end up with. If I have a fast, powerful, stable, efficient PC that runs the software I want without ever crashing or freezing and that didn't cost me an arm and a leg, then I don't care what had to be done to get that computer to that point. I don't care that the tweaking might have been easier or even unnecessary with a Mac. I only care that the computer now does what I want it to, and keeps doing it.
My own bias is that for most people, if you're comfortable with Windoze and experience few problems, there's probably no compelling reason to switch to another OS. Switch if you can't deal with Windows or if the software you want is Mac-only; don't bother otherwise. If you're happy with Macs, there's also no reason to switch. If the new Macs can run Win as well as people are saying (I'd kinda forgotten that real progress is being achieved with this), there may be no reason to switch from Mac even if the software you want is PC-only. Unless you just dislike the Mac environment (such people do exist, BTW).
I still think this is actually one of the lesser issues involved in computer recording, for most of us anyway. I think the choice of audio recording software--ProTools, Logic, Cubase, Nuendo, Reaper, Podium, Tracktion, nTracks Pro, Sonar, Audacity, what have you--is gonna affect your actual workflow more.
