"I've been on the front lines of the Mac-PC war for as long as I can remember."

"Since then, I've written dozens of books and hundreds or thousands of articles, columns and blogs about PCs and Windows. Along the way, I've earned the unending enmity of plenty of Mac folks. At one point several years ago, I was targeted by hundreds of Mac fans in an e-mail barrage because I used to write a column about shareware that covered only PC software and ignored the Mac. More recently on my Computerworld Windows blog, I've been called various schoolyard epithets when I've written anything remotely critical about Macs or people who use them."

"I asked for a laptop rather than a desktop, and what showed up on my front door about a week later was the latest MacBook Air, with an Intel Core 2 Duo processor running at 1.83 GHz, 2GB of RAM, an Nvidia GeoForce 9400M graphics processor and a 128GB solid-state hard disk. It sported a 13.3-in. screen and weighed in at a very svelte 3 pounds. And so began my journey with a Mac."

"When it comes to applications that ship with the operating system, Mac OS X beats Windows hands-down. The iLife suite of applications -- including iPhoto, iMovie, Garage Band and iWeb -- is superior to anything you'll find in Windows. You won't need them for work, but for home use, they're excellent."

"However, when it came to the operating system itself, there's certainly a difference, and a substantial one. Mac OS X is simpler to use and easier to configure, yet has more bells, whistles and "eye candy." And much of that eye candy, such as Exposé, is not just elegantly designed and entertaining, but quite useful as well."

"One of the big benefits touted by Mac users has been the Mac's ability to run Windows as well as Mac OS X. Boot Camp, which is part of the Mac operating system, lets you set up the Mac as a dual-boot machine that can boot into either Windows or the Mac OS. However, I was more interested in running Windows inside Mac OS X as a virtual machine, so I had to find another solution. Parallels Desktop and VMware's Fusion will both do that"

"Overall, though, Mac OS X beats Windows. There, I've said it. And lightning hasn't struck me yet."

• An initial look at the OS
• Networking with PCs
• Installing and upgrading software
• Getting work done
• The keyboard conundrum
• Running Windows on the Mac
• The final verdict