Most people find that macs are better looking and just have a cooler design. I myself am using a 24" iMac which looks really good on my desk
Probably the weakest of reasons to purchase a Mac... but certainly an issue for some people. I guess if you prefer eye candy over available software, this is a good reason.
The operating system is the big plus of the apple pcs. (Windows 7 is getting there). Why? It simply works... no hangs, restarts, reboots, blue screens, driver issues, bad performance etc. Apple has the big advantage that they dont need to worry about device drivers for millions of different hardware pieces. They can make a OS that is totally optimized for their own hardware.
It's not an advantage to be forced into Apple's particular idea for what I might want to do with my computer and having to pay outrageous prices to find a system that matches my needs. Yes, it means that, much like a gaming console, Apple knows what hardware is in their systems... but this is far from an advantage.
Also, this common falsehood that the Macintosh never hangs, never restarts, never reboots, ie: never crashes or never has bad performance is exactly that: a falsehood. They tend to be less common on a Macintosh due to no "driver issues," but they certainly exist. That they don't "blue screen" is simply because Macs don't do "blue screens." If Macintoshes are so infallable, they'd have no need for their cute little "bomb icon" which indicates critical program or system failures.
User friendlyness... every one can use a mac... really.. they are easy to use and come with alot of programs pre installed that actually works. I have convinced a number of friends and family to chose Macs when got a new pc - result: They call me much less now than before! Thanks Apple.
I'll give you this one... the UI of a Macintosh is more "user friendly." It's also designed in a way that you'll never get much beneath your UI... which is good for average users. This, of all the reasons, is why someone SHOULD by a Macintosh. If you're not computer savy, you'll have an easier time with this system. You also won't become an advanced computer user on it. heh
Viruses - currently there are very few (if any) real viruses and trojans for OSX, that in itself is a big plus. (More will probally emerge as the client base grows)
The BIGGEST misconception about Macintoshes that exists. There are plenty of viruses for the Macintosh. They simply are not spread readily or easily. And while that number is far fewer than for Windows, it's an interesting reason... Those who write viruses are trying to cause major havoc... they aren't going to do that by writing a virus for 5% of the computer world. If everyone did as many Macaddicts would like and ran out and bought Macintoshes tomorrow, you'd see the falsehood of Apple's advertising come crumbling down on their heads.
It runs Windows - you can chose to create a seperate partition on your harddrive and install Windows XP/Vista/7 very easily... the whole process is helped along by a nice program from Apple, no worries about drivers for the hardware... everything is on the OSX DVD, so after installing Windows, just pop the DVD in and all drivers will be installed... Windows installed and ready to run in maybe 30 mins!
It runs Windows because Apple decided to start using Intel to make their processors. The older Macs that only run an emulated version of Windows are not Windows friendly and there are more app incompatibilities than there are compatibilities.
I will tell you that while Windows has crashed (though, I can't honestly remember the last system crash I had on Vista that wasn't caused by faulty hardware -- a fault that could have occurred on an Apple were Apple to allow outside vendors to make stuff for their machines), and I lived through the days of Windows 3.0 and later, and lived to tell about it, the Apple Macintosh has given me my favorite error message ever, and it was attached to a bomb icon. "Application Unknown has unexpectedly ceased functioning."
At that point, I actually knew more than what my computer knew about what was going on.
Now, to provide a proper answer: There is a group of people for which Macintosh computers are the proper choice. Those who do a lot of time gaming are not really among them. The Macintosh is great for education, great for graphics, and great for publishing -- mind you, these things are all things that they have going for them because of good, sound Apple marketing back in the day, and NOT because you can't do the same thing on a PC.
Before you purchase ANY computer, PC or Mac, sit down, figure out what you want it to do, how much you want to spend, and what your future plans are for it.
I'll end with Macs' biggest detriment: You cannot easily swap out components, and so if something with your hardware goes wrong, you're going to pay handsomely for repairs.
