Computer Crossroads- your advice needed!

It is time to get a new computer. I think I graduated to this Dell laptop during the beginning of my third year of med school, which was about 4 1/2 years ago. While I was a bit wary of the switch to the laptop, I have been very happy with the PC. Until now.

I think it was sometime after Christmas that I noticed that my computer started to slow down and began to regularly freeze on me. I cannot reliably open word or powerpoint documents because the system seems to just think, think, and think (that hourglass is really annoying!) without very much happening. I am able to access any given saved document about 40% of the time, and this 40% is never predictable. I have (without assistance-- you may be surprised!) uninstalled and reinstalled the Microsoft Office suite, without any improvement in the above. I may have a computer system overrun with viruses or something, but I paid over $100 one time a few months back (when my always-reliable internet stopped working) to have a computer expert remotely access, diagnose, and repair my system and the friendly agent-guy seemingly got rid of all the junk that may have been screwing up my system. I have McAfee Antivirus software, and have been defragmenting the drive and all that (I know you computer experts are probably cringing at my terminology). And in case you were worried, yes, I have indeed backed everything up on an external harddrive.

I do admit that I am still quite technologically-challenged. As I mentioned in a recent post, I don't really trust the GPS and prefer paper- or (gasp) even personally-given directions. I continue to use a paper day- and week-planner over the Palm, which I found interesting (due undoubtedly to its novelty) for about a week. I don't like the idea of the Kindle or electronic book-reading and just want my good old paperbacks to hold in my hands and drag around in my checked luggage. I can't, for some reason, seem to "absorb" information read from online articles and have to print them out and highlight them in order to learn something :) When something happens to a camera of mine (including being dropped on Half-Dome, shutter buttons becoming detached in Peru, being lost on a ski slope....), I have typically replaced it with an inexpensive and simple (although not very good quality) alternative without fancy bells and whistles. I have gotten MUCH better at texting, but still prefer to be called, assuming I have daytime minutes ;). I don't think I will EVER own an I-phone. Actually, I don't think I could ever even figure out an I-phone. So I am debating on what my next move, computer-wise, should be.

For computer-purchasing advice, I immediately turned to my Dad, who is somewhat of a gadget genius and always has the latest consumer reports information on the best products nowadays. I can always ask him to tell me what research he has already dug up on any product I am considering buying. He also happens to be a happy Mac-owner, after making the switch a few years ago and he strongly feels, due to the lack of virus-infestations and apparent immunity from system crashes, that "once you go Mac, you won't go back." I used his Mac (desktop) when I visited my parents over Christmas and have to say that, for someone who pretty much uses a computer for playing music, the internet/blogging, and word- processing/powerpoint, I probably utilized a minute fraction of the "power" of the Mac; however, I remember just being frustrated by not having my PC commands work the same way, not being able to save things like I was used to, and not having blogger work the way I wanted it to. I know many of you are probably Mac owners and feel the same way.

So tell me, truthfully.... is the greatness of the Mac worth putting up with the frustration of learning a new operating system? Is it worth to put up with the Mac in a PC-dominated workplace and world (I really worry about the compatibility of documents across computers)? Is the cost (I think Mac laptops are running around $1000-1200, about 2-3 times that which I'd have to pay for a similar PC laptop) worth it? I know people tend to feel strongly about this, so I ask for your honest advice. If you were me, or, more importantly, LIKE ME in your approach to technology, which way would you go? Because I have this sense of dread that, any day now, my laptop will suffer sudden-computer-death, rendering it completely useless, I am probably looking to get a new machine in the next week or so. Let me know your thoughts!