Throughout my high school and college years, I was adamantly in favor of PCs over Macs. PCs, after all, allowed you more control, more flexibility and a much greater software selection, particularly for games. Macs obscured the inner workings from the user. The engineer in me scoffed loudly and frequently. I never expected that at some point in the future I wouldn't go anywhere without a miniature Apple computer in my pocket.
I'm certain I'm not unique in saying that my first apple device was an iPod. By 2001 my mp3 collection easily eclipsed my CD collection and the massive album of CDs I carted around in college was a burden I was unwilling to continue bearing. Early mp3 players such as the Rio were tempting but spending several hundred dollars on a device that would at most hold a couple CDs worth of music was out of the question. With the introduction of the iPod that all changed. I avoided early adoption thanks largely to the aforementioned financial concerns but by 2003 my resolve had worn and with the aid of several timely gift cards from Christmas, in January of 2004 I bought a 3rd generation 20 gigabyte iPod, and my world changed forever. I similarly resisted the allures of the iPhone until late last year, but the eventual (some would say inevitable) adoption was a revelation.
Recently we decided that we needed a new laptop. Our previous experience with a Dell taught us a few lessons. The first and most important was that no we really do not want to travel with a 17" desktop replacement. At the time I thought a nearly 10 lb laptop was nothing, and surely there was no way such a small weight would become a nuisance. Four and a half years later it's barely been used - I think we've left it home during vacations as much as we've taken it with us. The other lesson was that, when on vacation, I really don't want to tinker with my laptop to get it to do what I need it to do. At home, with my desktop, I have little issue with this practice. Sometimes it's almost theraputic. "Oh, Windows, you don't want to render this video in the correct aspect ratio with synced sound? I'll make you and I will feel victorious in overcoming your resistance." On vacation, I have neither time nor patience to engage in a contest of wills with Microsoft's operating system and the hodgepodge of nearly random components that Dell has decided to offer for my selection in an effort to make them cooperate. We wanted a laptop that was relatively lightweight, didn't have the battery life of the TurboExpress, and most importantly just worked. 
Yes, that's right, we bought a Mac. Last weekend we went to the Apple store and purchased a new 13" MacBook Pro. And much to my pleasure it's been a very painless transition to make. Every task I've requested of it has been performed painlessly and without question. The only problem I experienced so far was network sharing drives between the Mac and the PC and, of course, resolving the problem involved fiddling with the PC, not the Mac. I'm shocked to find myself already considering a Mac Mini for an HTPC in the future, though I'm currently quite satisfied to maintain PCs as our primary desktop computers.
I'm sure many of my PC friends are preparing rebuttals for how silly this purchase was, and many of my Mac friends are cheering my (admittedly partial) conversion. Ever shall the war rage between the two sides, but here my advocacy dies a very happy death.
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