...then you get what you deserve. I still don't know why Apple is so great. It's products are among the priciest in their respective categories, and they don't even always do what Jobs & Co. say they will do.

In fact, most people are buying Apple products either to prove their non-allegiance to Microsoft or because they have the need to fit in. I'm so glad I'm not part of the sheeple that buy Apple.

Linux is the future today!

So, you are basically a member of the herd of "I don't like Apple, therefore it is my responsibility to call people who do idiots and evangelize against Apple for no good reason," people.

Somehow, I know that you've never purchased an Apple product that you had a problem with. It is just your innate ability to judge the quality of products and your duty to tell people to believe your baseless assumptions that motives you to try to save people from Apple...

Ooo, defensive, aren't we? BTW, I just adore your "I presume you're making presumptions, so I'll ridicule you with my own presumptions about you - nanny nanny boo boo" logic. I needed a good laugh today.

I come form a "mixed" family. Some of my family member swear my Apple. Others are smarter.My brother, for example, got a Macbook and raved on and on about, but behind closed doors was nearly tearing out his hair over how it wouldn't connect to any ISP, and Apple kept telling him this and that. After various attempts and numerous replacement parts and new batteries, it "mysteriously" stopped working (my brother tells people outside the family that he dropped it - of course, it can't be Apple's fault!). So my brother "had to" buy a Mac Air, and now he's shelling out for peripherals just to make it usable. Oh yeah, and it doesn't work as well as advertised either.

Then there's my brother's iPod drama...I'll spare you that.

Myself, I'm content with my ultra cheap Dell PC that's never failed to get me online, my $700-on-sale, better-than-I-hoped Tobisha laptop (that's with an optical drive and 6 USB ports, and it has way better graphics than my bro's Mac Air), and my trusty $70 iAudio MP3 player (which also has inline recorder, mic, FM/AM tuner and way better sound than any iPod).

So my brother get bragging rights and can show off his iPods and Mac Air to people who don't know they don't work as they should or how often he's had to replace them. I get to save money on tech that's reliable so I'm spared the aggravation of wasting time, wrangling with customer service reps or having to shell out for replacement parts, new batteries, peripherals and shipping. I don't necessarily think my brother's an idiot, but I do think it's a matter of personal choice. And I just don't see the value of making the same choices as my brother.

I have placed well in excess of 1000 Mac units in commercial and home applications. I have owned, just about, one of every major iteration of Macintosh hardware and some of the Mac compatibles that Apple licensed in the nineties.

I own 3 iPods.

I have placed about 300 units of various manufacturers Windows products in commercial and home applications.

Number of Mac units that were dead on arrival - 1 and, in that machine, the hard drive cable had loosened from the drive in shipping.

Number of Windows units that were dead on arrival - approx. 30. In one incidence, Gateway sent me three dead on arrival units in a row.

Number of Mac units I have owned/managed that required any visits to the service center, for other than upgrades, 2 - a Macintosh II, which was the first modular Mac, right after it came out, and the latch on my MacBook Pro broke. Turn around time on repairs - less than a week on "mail in" repairs. [To be completely honest, the optical drive on this iMac is going on the fritz, so I will, probably, have to have it worked on at some juncture.]

Windows units that have required service calls, for other than upgrades, too many to count. Failed hard drives and video being the most common reasons for service.

Sites I administered with Windows compatible machines required on an average about 10X the support that comparable Mac installations. Before I retired, I would have much rather supported Windows installations, because I made quite a bit more money off them than Mac installations. It required an average of 10 hours training on Windows machines for complete novices to produce anything. For complete novices on Apple hardware, two hours, if that.

I can't explain your perception of what you consider negative incidents in your brother's experience with Apple products.

The only MacBook Air specific "peripheral" is the external optical drive. I don't think this is a good way to handle software installation, nor do I think using another computer's drive wirelessly, is good design either. The only MacBook Air I would even consider buying is one with 32GB SSD. [My iPod Touch has a 32GB SSD and it works flawlessly.]

"...way better graphics..." is a completely subjective standard. Therefore, a comparison between your brother's Apple product and your el cheapo Windows product is completely irrelevant.

All of my iPods have worked, and still work, completely flawlessly. I have never had to replace a battery in the three years I have had them. One, a Nano, stays in my pickup full time, in temperatures that range from ~+90 to -30 degrees F and more dust than you could imagine. Everyone who I know - and that is quite a few people - who have iPods have never had any problems. I have never met anyone who bought a Zune or other competing MP3 player. If there were AT&T service to the area where I live, I would own an Apple iPhone. Since there is no AT&T service to the area where I live, I own an iPod Touch.

My girlfriend has a Dell Windows laptop that she bought new about two years ago. It has been nothing but trouble - hardware and software - from the day she took it out of the box. When it works, it is a perfectly acceptable computer. However, it is inoperative, at least, two or three days a month or more. This is, to me, an unacceptable amount of down time for something that she counts on to make a living. My MacBook Pro has never been down, (the broken latch didn't prevent me from using it).

Choosing Windows software and hardware is, to me, hardly an intelligent choice that a well informed person would make. However, I realize that people, in our free society, have a right to make decisions I don't agree with. Even if that choice results in decreased production and increased stress. Notice I did not try to convert anyone or call anyone names because they choose to use Windows.

FYI - It was a gift, I didn't buy it and no, I'm not dumb either. Your post should have been deleted.