I don't normally get geeky and I know that most people can't afford Apple products (shit, me neither - this is work gear), but here's why Apple trounce those other things into the dirt. With big boots on.

I got this MacBook about 6 months back. Open box. Turn it on. Mac is awake and ready to go. It took about as long to get started as it did for you to read that. Got on with my life.

At the back end of last week, I bought Ellie a Samsung Netbook (20% off in Tesco sale - she's been saving up for nearly a year bless her). Open box. Turn it on. Needs plugging in and charging. Turn it on again. Enter stuff. Restart. Enter more stuff. Restart. Contains Windows 7 Starter Pack - unable to change desktop background (pretty much top of the list when you're 14). And so it went on for another two hours until I figured it was safe enough to give her. Between Windows, Microsoft, Norton and all the other shit on there wanting attention, it's hardly surprising nobody working on a PC can get anything done very fast. This isn't a slur on Samsung at all - it's a solid bit of kit but all those other fucking bits and pieces don't half make it annoying. I reckon I could finish a magazine off on an Etch-A-Sketch faster than a PC these days.

Anyway, a few minor adjustments later based on experience (ie: fuck Internet Explorer off and replace with Firefox etc) and she's quite happy.

The moral of the story is, it doesn't matter what anybody says about Apple - they're overpriced and elitist for a reason. It's not being arrogant when you're really that damn good...