I've been using apple for almost 10 years now and I'm pretty happy with it. I'd recommend and iMac, but they have a bad habit of becoming obsolete after 3 or 4 years (I've got a 800mhz iMac G4) because you can't upgrade them like you can a pc or power macs.

I switch between Pc's and Apple pretty regularly and I just like the Apple OS more. I also like not having to worry about getting viruses over AIM or other programs.

As far as I know the powerbooks are great computers (we have two). When you look at buying an Apple you'll probably notice that their processors aren't rated as high as PCs usually are, but don't let it scare you. The computers run differently and Apple's are usually as fast as PC's with a higher rated processor speed.

I think Intel is going to start producing their processors soon, so Apple's new computers should be even faster than they are now.