Mac or PC?

Recently, in response to my brother getting older and having to use the family computer more often for school, I got my first laptop.  There was a bit of discussion even before researching the best computer because it was a large purchase and I of course did not want to hastily make the wrong decision.  Before researching, I talked to my parents about whether or not I should look further into Macs or PCs.  My dad is a big PC believer and strongly urged me in that direction and I'd heard from other adults that from a practicality standpoint PCs are the way to go.  So, I ended up getting a Dell and am happy with it.  

At my high school and even back in my junior high school, Apple products are and always were the preferred choice.  In junior high, surprisingly all of the school's computers were Mac products and nowadays, my friends tend to like Apple products over PCs.  So what really is better and what do Americans really think about when making a purchase of anything?

A friend of mine told me that anything you can do on a PC can be done on a Mac in response to m telling him my understanding that the majority of the working world uses PCs.  I had a hard time believing, however, that the whole world uses Mac products over PCs but have always wondered why someone would pick one over the other.

According to a couple of sites, it seems that Mac products are simply better.  The OS S Snow Leopard operating system beats out the Windows 7 system according to laptopmag.com.  The older Leopard OS beat out Windows Vista in a study conducted by Popular Mechanics' website.  According to these sites, there are a number of technical reasons they found the Macs better than the PC but what was interesting to me was the Popular Mechanics opening paragraph where the author writes that the guy in the Mac commercials is a, "hip, sport-coat-and-sneakers-­wearing type of guy who uses his computer for video chatting, music mash-ups and other cool, creative pursuits," and PC users,"probably think that Mac guy is a smug slacker with an overpriced toy that can't do any serious computing anyway."  The article does say that both of these stigmas are incorrect, though.  

So maybe my dad's original idea that PCs are more practical and Macs are a bit more artsy is incorrect, but what does the popularity of Macs suggest about the changing tides of American culture?  What do we care about?  The following is from an article titled, "You Can't Innovate Like Apple" on Pragmatic Marketing's website:

This is straight from Jobs’ mouth: We do no market research. They scoff at the notion of target markets, and they don’t conduct focus groups. Why? Because everything Apple designs is based on Jobs’ and his team’s perceptions of what they think is cool.

During the Industrial Revolution, Thomas Edison's goal wasn't to make something "cool" but was instead focused on making something practical and helpful to society.  Apple definitely does this and people will always tell you that their Apple product is very helpful, but there is another element essential to Apple's marketing ideals and that is aestheticism.  Mac products are cool, sleek, ergonomic, and appeal to a creatively-driven audience.  Mac products are unparalleled in this appeal and Steve Jobs has obviously built up an enormously successful company.  Looking at this somewhat apparent shift in what Americans look for in their purchases nowadays, what do you think this could mean?  Or does it mean anything?