Apparently, I’m a “middle-of-the-road computer user, numbed by the soothing mediocrity of Windows machines.”

Now, I’m not ever going to debate the superiority of Macs over PCs. I love Macs, I think they’re fabulous and good looking and fast and user friendly. They are powerful development and design tools and I’ve been using them religiously since 1990. But while I freely admit that I am a “middle-of-the-road” computer user (read: average, typical, common, plebian), I resent the implication that choosing an affordable, powerful, workhorse of a computer that allows my budget to meet my demand for speed and functionality, somehow implies that I’m a brain-washed Podling.

This is the Mac I wanted (and mind you, I wanted it so badly I’d make special trips to the Apple Store to stare at it, I applied for Apple credit, it’s still probably sitting in my shopping cart at apple.com):

iMac with CD-RW
15-inch LCD flat screen
700MHz PowerPC G4
NVIDIA GeForce2 MX
128MB SDRAM
40GB Ultra ATA hard drive
10/100BASE-T Ethernet
56K internal modem
Price: $1,199

Compared to what Geoffrey just built me:

PC with CD-RW (52×24x52):
17″ CRT Monitor
40GB IBM Hard Drive (7200 RPM)
512MB DDR RAM
400MHz Intel Pentium 4 Processor
Asus V7100 32MB VGA Card
10/100BASE-T Ethernet
56K internal modem
Price: $712

That’s a savings of almost $500.

Macs are better. I think it’s possible for me to believe that and still own a PC.