Apple laptops vs PC laptops

Is there any downfall about Apple laptops?
Smaller userbase means not all programs are supported with an Apple version.
Apple's laptop pricing is much more than a PC laptop, why?
You get what you pay for.

I have a 12" iBook and love it for school work as well as most of my other computing needs.
I believe the iBooks are more rugged than the PowerBooks, and the batteries last longer.
Educational pricing for iBooks is pretty good.  I paid around USD 900 for mine IIRC.  Get the
AppleCare protection plan - it is deeply discounted education pricing and covers just about anything
could go wrong with the hardware for 3 years.   Mac laptops are better designed, better built, and
have much better built-in software than the ultra-cheap PC laptops you can find for a few dollars less.

If you want gaming then Macs are probably not the best choice.  Gaming support on the Mac is fairly limited, because generally Macs are built for a different purpose to standard PCs.

Software support on the Mac is another factor to consider.  Most applications that you are used to on a PC won't be available on the Mac, although more and more ported version are becoming available (Macromedia Studio, Photoshop, Microsoft Office, plus a few others).

Macs are built primarily for graphic, vide and scientific applications, so support for games is a lot lower.

Macs tho are inherently more secure than Windows based PCs, for the same reason as Unix and Linux.

Hope this helps.

Carl tawn brings up an interesting point about software support with Mac.  I guess if I had to install a program, would Apple's OSX support it...an example would be, if I had to install MS Project, or a complier for Java.

If OS X is not natively supported, your alternative is to use a PC emulator like VirtualPC with Windows XP.

Can I buy a PC emulator from Apple?  

Microsoft now owns the rights to VirtualPC. I do not believe Apple makes one of their own.

http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/unix_open_source/bochs.html
http://www.apple.com/business/mac_pc/applications.html

Something like Virtual PC will work for apps and stuff, but not very well with games due to the mac running OpenGL rather than DirectX.  Virtual PC simply isn't up to the job of simulating DirectX support.

However, having said that, if you look around you'll find that some bigger games comapnies have started to port a small number of games to the Mac, The Sims being one of the bigger titles.

It sounds like too much for me to get a Mac since I need to utilize software that the Mac doesn't support.  After reading these threads, I know I can get MS Virtual PC but it takes up 256 MB of RAM just to run it, besides the additional cost for it.  I am sure Apple makes a realiable computer but it just seems I would have to jump through too many hoops at this time.  If I am wrong, let me know.

I love computers of all kinds, running operating systems of all kinds. My primary machine is a PC desktop running Windows XP Pro and Mandrake Linux 9, but I also use a Mac G4 with OS X 10.3 and a Sony laptop with Windows XP Pro. And all of this is just what I use at home! If you're not ready to make the switch, then you are right and a Mac probably isn't what you want to get for now. If you're still looking for a gaming laptop, a Mac definitely is not what you want, but you'll still be paying the high price for a PC gaming laptop.

I think I am just going to stick to my desktop for gaming.  I am willing to give up gaming as a feature  and get a  well rounded laptop.  I guess, it's a feature I really don't need since I can still play games with my desktop at home.  

Thanks for the points.

No problem...thanks for the great input.